National sports and national landscapes: In defence of primordialism

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between landscape, sport and the formation and reproduction of national identities. Central to this discussion is the concept of national sports with evidence being taken from various genres of sports-related literature and from a variety of nations. Just as the landscape provides the context in which national sports are played and watched, it is the playing and watching of these sports which in turn give the landscape added meaning As a consequence of this, the nation, sport and landscape come to be recognised as interconnected texts which taken as whole offer significant insights into the primordial formation of national identities.