On the soccer field and the basketball court, in the football stadium and the baseball park, far more is played out than a game of athletic skill. In this collection of essays, the influential sports theorist Alan Tomlinson delves into the phenomenon of contemporary sport and reveals much about its impact on local, national, and global culture. This far-reaching book includes essays ranging from an in-depth examination of sport culture in one working-class English community to a theoretical discussion of how national identity is often linked to sport. Through ethnographic techniques, Tomlinson uses sport and leisure to explore issues of identity, globalization, American cultural hegemony, and the media. Whether analyzing the legacy of the World Cup or the Olympics; urban games or suburban leisure; historical traditions or modern spaces in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia - his essays show how sport and leisure cultures contribute to the dynamics of power in societies.