The tour was marred by mutual hostility between the teams involved, and the games were generally violent affairs. The writer sought to explain how it was that sport is the arena for such animosity, even among teams from two countries who had been allies in the war. Nearly all sports practised nowadays are competitive. You play to win, and the game has little meaning unless you do your utmost to win. At the international level sport is simply mimic warfare.
Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play.
Instead of blah-blahing about the clean, healthy rivalry of the football field and the great part played by the Olympic Games in bringing the nations together, it is more useful to inquire how and why this modern cult of sport arose. The inaugural World Cup was held in 1930. While these sentiments were most likely genuine, the very concept of organised sporting competitions between nations mitigates against such unity. These tournaments could not be, and are not, separate from the society in which they arise. One of the most infamous sporting events of the twentieth century was the 1936 Olympic games held in Berlin, Germany under the auspices of Hitler's Nazi regime.