Identity is analysed by showing how European nations define sport in their own way; Germany including naturalism, Spain - bullfighting, England - cricket and croquet, and so on. The editors' approach refuses to confine 'sport' or 'gymnastics' to a single, culture-specific definition. The globalisation of sport is acknowledged to be constantly giving sport new meanings and activities.

The contributors are eleven sports historians whose intention is both to provide an insight into the unique development of sport in European society and to reveal the related historical processes that have shaped European sport over the last two hundred years.