Sillitoe, Storey, Hines: their contribution to the sociology of sport and physical education.

The place of sporting activity in literature is reviewed and attention is drawn to the outstanding depth and quality of much of the American writing in this genre. The focus of attention, however, in this paper, is the contribution of contemporary English literature. In recent years a number of novels, short stories and plays have translated sport into dramatic terms as well as placing such action within a recognisable and definable sociological framework. Selected writings by English authors Sillitoe, Storey and Hines are studied and examined to illustrate the many sources available to identify, describe, analyse and complement academic and empirical researches in the sociology of sport and physical education. There is unlimited scope for sports literature (especially in the North American situation) to provide a viable tool for sociological investigation.