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 G L O B A L C U LT U R E A N D S P O R T
SPORTS AND THE
GLOBAL SOUTH
Work, Play and Resistance
in Sri Lanka

S. Janaka Biyanwila
Global Culture and Sport Series

Series Editors
Stephen Wagg
Leeds Beckett University
UK

David Andrews
University of Maryland
USA
Series Editors: Stephen Wagg, Leeds Beckett University, UK, and David
Andrews, University of Maryland, USA.
The Global Culture and Sport series aims to contribute to and advance
the debate about sport and globalization through engaging with various
aspects of sport culture as a vehicle for critically excavating the tensions
between the global and the local, transformation and tradition and same-
ness and difference. With studies ranging from snowboarding bodies, the
globalization of rugby and the Olympics, to sport and migration, issues
of racism and gender, and sport in the Arab world, this series showcases
the range of exciting, pioneering research being developed in the field of
sport sociology.

More information about this series at

http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/15008
 S. Janaka Biyanwila

Sports and The

Global South
Work, Play and Resistance In Sri Lanka
S. Janaka Biyanwila
Randwick, NSW, Australia

Global Culture and Sport Series

ISBN 978-3-319-68501-4    ISBN 978-3-319-68502-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68502-1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018930499

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018

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 Preface

I was an athlete long before I was an academic. I was a competitive spring-

board diver from 1971 to 1996, and participated in the 1982 Asian
Games, 1994 Commonwealth Games, and 1996 Atlanta Olympics. I
was also a diving coach from 1987 to 1992, mostly but not entirely, in
the United States.
When I was training for the 1996 Olympics, I was also watching the
1996 cricket World Cup, when Sri Lanka upset Australia. It was a widely
celebrated victory at home. At a time of counterinsurgent warfare against
militant Tamil nationalists, pitched as a “war against terrorism”, the cel-
ebration of Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism through sports was an uncom-
fortable experience, to put it mildly. This prompted my curiosity into the
sports consumer culture, incomplete at the time, but increasingly focused
on issues of patriarchy, ethno-nationalism, and state violence.
As my competitive career slowed down, I began coaching other com-
petitive divers. I worked as a diving coach at the University of Utah for
five years, while I was also in graduate school studying heterodox eco-
nomics. Diving provided an opportunity for me, as a member of the
South Asian diaspora, to participate in elite sport culture in the US, and
to coach for a North American university. But, it also increasingly discon-
nected me from my own culture of origin. Meanwhile, aquatic sports in
general remain inaccessible to most in South Asia, while springboard div-
ing is marginalised in dominant sports cultures.
v
vi Preface

I returned to Sri Lanka in 1992, and took on multiple roles as a com-

petitive diver, coach and a coordinator. After seven years of immersion in
the local diving culture, while working for USAID (United States Agency
for International Development) and a small research NGO (Social
Scientists’ Association), I migrated to Perth, Australia, in 2001, to pursue
a PhD in labour studies.
Since completing my PhD, in 2004, I have been in the periphery of
academia with limited resources for research or opportunities to continue
in the area of labour studies. I have studied workers’ lives and their strug-
gles for justice. As a migrant sports worker to the global North, I was able
to hone my skills as an academic worker, although in employment con-
siderably more precarious than my time at the edge of a 10-metre
platform.
My research into the labour movement and trade unions in Sri Lanka
since the mid 1990s focused on the realm of work, but it also included
the workers’ living conditions. My research examined workers in tea
plantations, garment factories and in public health service. Women pre-
dominated in each of these labour markets, and though their jobs made
harsh demands on their bodies, their working lives barely included any
sports. Their leisure activities involved mostly community rituals and cel-
ebrations. In the plantations, with high rates of poverty and malnutri-
tion, sports participation was minimal. Among the nurses, the conservative
patriarchal cultural tendencies, exacerbated by heavy workloads, meant
limited opportunities for sports. In contrast, the garment workers with
whom I spent time, mainly young women and men, were more likely to
engage in some sporting activities. A few garment factories also encour-
aged sports among workers as a way to maintain “company loyalty”.
Despite taking part in sports culture as consumers and audiences, what
these case studies illustrated was a general lack of household and com-
munity capacities to participate in sports.
My life experience as an athlete and as an academic contributed to my
analysis, but a third element is equally important. I also became a father,
my partner at the time pursued her academic career, and I was my daugh-
ter’s main caregiver. We read and danced and played games and sports,
but the only time my daughter got on a diving board was in Sri Lanka.
Most public pools in Australia removed or avoided diving boards because
 Preface
   vii

of public liability insurance. Of course, in places like Sri Lanka, those

risks are internalised by participants. Nevertheless, notions of care giving
and offering support—through insurance or, more readily, through per-
sonal relationships—run throughout the book.
During my short visits to Sri Lanka, I would connect with the local
divers, mostly students between the ages of eight to seventeen. In the
mid-1990s, the sport of diving in Sri Lanka expanded with access to a
trampoline as well as other equipment (such as belt rigs, which allowed
the divers to practice different tricks while the coach pulled them on the
trampoline with ropes). But, in the last decade or so the divers in Sri
Lanka have slowly lost access to this equipment. Nevertheless, I am always
inspired by the enthusiasm of the young divers as well as the commit-
ment of the coaches and some officials who do their best in very dismal
circumstances.
Meanwhile, the sport of diving has accelerated in pace, with much
more difficult and dangerous dives being performed in mega-events.
Despite having some fond memories as well as some enduring friend-
ships, I still remember the competitive diving experience as an intensely
stressful period. I hit the board two times, receiving stitches, and one
time hit the board, neck up, miraculously surviving without any major
injuries. Springboard diving is not for the faint hearted, especially at its
current standard. Yes, springboard diving has broadened its audience, but
fewer and fewer young people actually get to participate in the sport.
A key actor making my migration to the US possible was the diving
coach at Indiana University at the time, Hobie Billingsley. After leaving
Hobie’s diving team in the early 1980s, I saw him again at the NCAA
(National Collegiate Athletic Association) championships in 1987, and
at the 1996 Olympics. At the 1996 Olympics, Hobie was honoured by
being selected to take the officials’ oath at the opening ceremonies. Hobie
also introduced me to Mark Lenzi. Mark was three years younger than
me and, like me, he relocated and enrolled at Bloomington North High
School to train with Hobie. Unlike me, he attended Indiana University
and was a star diver who, in 1996, won a bronze medal behind two
Chinese divers. (I placed 35th in that competition.) Mark was the 1992
Olympic gold medallist in the three-metre springboard competition, and
he was a friend. Following his competitive diving career, he became a
viii Preface

­ iving coach, but it was a difficult troubled life. In 2012, Mark died at
d
the age of 44, due to a “heart ailment”. To me, his death highlighted the
“waste of lives” in sports consumer markets, the causalities of a toxic
notion of work and play, as well as the crisis in the realm of care.
In this study, I relocate sports from the realm of production and the
consumer culture of entertainment into the realm of households and
communities, in terms of the care labour that sustains sports labour. I
excelled as a diver because a range of people along the way extended their
care labour that looked after me. It began when my mother took our fam-
ily, especially my younger sister and me, to swim lessons. It continued as
the women in the foster families I lived with in the US generously enabled
my progress through the sport.
By returning to the realm of care, I hope to identify an urgent need to
change the ways in which we derive pleasures from competitive sports.
Not only does sports culture’s aggressive masculinity incorporate multi-
ple forms of violence—including self-harm—but it also undermines the
emancipatory potential of sports. By framing sports from a Global South
perspective, my aim is to highlight the violence that most endure in
places like Sri Lanka because of poverty, cultural marginalisation and
political exclusion.
Despite the cessation of an ethnic war in 2009 that lasted over thirty
years, patriarchal Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist and militarist tendencies
continue to nurture structures of violence, particularly against women
and marginalised ethnic communities. While a few of my peers in
Colombo have benefited from the spread of capitalist markets in Sri
Lanka, a majority of workers, particularly young men and women, strug-
gle to make living. Nevertheless, amidst contemporary exploitation and
suffering, students, workers, women, unionists, and communities are
demanding more democratic alternatives, for opportunities to play as well
as work under their own direction. This book is dedicated to their strug-
gles as well as struggles of progressive academics in the fraught terrain of
knowledge production. The academics that nurtured me in the US and
Sri Lanka were engaged in reclaiming science as an emancipatory project,
particularly for the oppressed majority, the voiceless, in the global South.

Randwick, NSW, Australia S. Janaka Biyanwila

 Acknowledgements

This study traverses my experience as a competitive springboard diver as

well as an academic in the area of labour studies. In effect, I have to thank
a range of people in realm of sports as well as academia that have nur-
tured this project in different, knowing and unknowing ways. In terms of
sports, while all my diving coaches (in Sri Lanka and the US) were com-
mitted and generous people, I have to recognize the special contribution
made by Hobie Billingsley, at Indiana University, in the early 1980s. Not
only did he help improve my diving skills, but he also inculcated a strong
sense of dignity and self-discipline as a young South Asian teenager,
amidst mostly white American culture. Without the support of the older
university divers, in their early twenties at the time, I might not have
lasted in the sport of diving in Bloomington, Indiana.
I am also in deep gratitude to my foster family, the Morgans (Bill, Jill,
Aimee and Heather), and their extended kinship relations, in rural
Indiana, for their care and support throughout my high school and uni-
versity diving days. I also have to acknowledge the diving community at
the University of Oklahoma, University of Maryland as well as the
University of Utah. I especially want to thank the divers, the diving
coaches and officials in Sri Lanka, who at present continue to sustain the
sport despite multiple challenges.
In terms of academia, I want to thank Kumari Jayawardena, in particu-
lar for her encouragement to write about sports in the mid-1990s. I am
ix
x Acknowledgements

grateful to Dan Clawson, at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, for

his friendship and advice. I also want to thank Raewyn Connell, David
Rowe and Helen Lenskyj for their kind support. Of course, thanks also
go to my friends, Ajith Kumarasiri, Krishantha, Ethan Blue, Fausto Buta,
Matt Withers and Ezreena Yayah.
I want to thank Sharla Plant at Palgrave for accepting this project and
the series editors Stephen Wagg and David Lawrence, for extending me
the freedom to indulge in a broad integrated approach to understanding
sports in the Global South.
 Contents

1 Introduction   1

2 The Spread of Sports Markets in the Global South  25

3 Sports Workers in Workplaces and Communities  67

4 Sports Revenues from Property Rights and Cities 107

5 The Role of Media in Sports Consumption 137

6 Development and Sports in Sri Lanka 179

7 Authoritarian Sports Cultures and Sports Workers 219

8 Changing Sports Through Resistance 259

9 Conclusion: Sports as Play and the Sports Commons 299

xi
xii Contents

Appendix. Life Story of a Migrant Sports Worker 321

Bibliography 327

Index 367
 List of Abbreviations

ADB Asian Development Bank

BCCI Board of Cricket Control India
CAS Court of Arbitration for Sport
CIES International Centre for Sports Studies
COHRE Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions
CON Counter Olympics Network
CP Communist Party
CPA Centre for Policy Alternatives
CSN Carlton Sports Network
CSO Civil Society Organisations
CSR Corporate Social Responsibility
CTB Ceylon Transport Board
FFSL Football Federation of Sri Lanka
FIFA International Federation of Football Associations
FINA International Swimming Federation
FTZ Free trade Zones
GATS General Agreement on Trade in Services
GPN Global Production Network
GUF Global Union Federation
HLRN Housing and Land Rights Network
IAAF International Association of Athletics Federations
ICC International Cricket Council
IFIs International Financial Institutions

xiii
xiv List of Abbreviations

ILO International Labour Organisation

IMF International Monetary Fund
IOC International Olympic Committee
IPL Indian Professional League
IPR Intellectual Property Rights
ITGLWF International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation
JVP People’s Liberation Front (Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna)
KSIA Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics
LTTE Liberation Tamil Tiger of Eelam
ManU Manchester United Football Club
MCC Marylebone Cricket Club
NBA National Basketball Association
NBL National Baseball League
NCAA National Amature Athletic Association
NCPA National College Players Association
NFL National Football League
NGO Non-governmental Organisation
NIDCL New International Division of Cultural Labor
NOC National Olympic Committee
ODI One Day International
PTA Prevention of Terrorism Act
PWC Price Waterhouse Coopers
RTI Right to Information
SAF South Asian Federation
SLBC Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation
SLC Sri Lanka Cricket
SLFP Sri Lanka Freedom Party
SLMoS Sri Lanka Ministry of Sports
SLPL Sri Lanka Premier League
SLTDA Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority
TNCs Transnational Corporations
TRIPS Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
TUC Trade Union Congress
UN United Nations
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNEP United Nations Environment Programme
UNESCO United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation
UNI UNI Global Union
 List of Abbreviations
   xv

UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund

UNP United National Party
USAS United Students Against Sweatshops
WFSGI World Federation of Sporting Goods Industry
WTO World Trade Organisation
 List of Figures

Fig. 2.1 Sports governance: consent and coercion 42

Fig. 2.2 Sports in the Global North and South 54
Fig. 3.1 Sports and social reproduction 72
Fig. 3.2 Sports consumer culture and citizenship 86
Fig. 3.3 Sports as cultural production and workers 90
Fig. 3.4 Commodification of sports labour 97
Fig. 4.1 Sports mega-events, cities and collective aspirations 116
Fig. 7.1 Sri Lanka: Sports consumer culture and community sports 232
Fig. 8.1 Social spatial parameters of sports organisation 269
Fig. 8.2 Sports commons and counter movements 289
Fig. 9.1 Sports commons and politics of transformation 314

xvii
Indiana High School (Boys) Swimming & Diving State Championships, Indiana
University Natatorium, Indianapolis, February 1983. Source: Sunday Herald Times
(Bloomington, IN), 27 February 1983

xix
 1
Introduction

In June 2013, there were mass protests in Brazil, which began in São
Paolo, then spread across other urban centres, against increases in public
transport fares, which also targeted government spending on sports
mega-events, such as the 2014 World Cup Football and the 2016
Olympics. The 2016 Olympics, following the 1968 Olympics in Mexico,
was the second time this spectacle of sports consumer culture to be hosted
in the Global South. The 2013 social protests targeting the 2016
Olympics, overlapped with the global labour movement campaigns
against the plight of migrant workers in construction projects in Qatar,
in preparation for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Most of these migrant
workers were from South Asia, including Sri Lanka.
This shift in sports mega-events, elite spectator sports with global audi-
ences (Horne and Manzenreiter 2006) into the urban centres of the
Global South, is a distinctive emergent phenomenon. The Indian Premier
League (IPL) cricket spectacle introduced in 2008 was worth $4.5 billion
in 2016 (NFL $13 billion and English Premier League $5.3 billion) with
a total TV viewership of several million people globally. Expanding mar-
kets into sports cultures catering to an affluent sports consumer culture,
in the North and the South, highlights the contradictions related to notions
of leisure or play, and desires for well-being.

© The Author(s) 2018 1

S. J. Biyanwila, Sports and The Global South, Global Culture and Sport Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68502-1_1
2 S. J. Biyanwila

The relationship between sports and work is significant for the Global
South, which represents the majority of the global labour force and the
working poor. The concentration of sports markets in the Global North
as well as few emerging urban centres in the South, illustrates the uneven
and combined process of profit-making through sports. This geographi-
cal configuration of sports markets is shaped by an expanding global divi-
sion of sports labour, particularly in terms of cultural (athletic) labourers,
“players” or “athletes” as well as producers of sporting goods and mer-
chandise. The media-driven focus on athletes, mainly “superstars”, is
based on disconnecting this interdependence amongst a range of workers
engaged in the production of sports spectacle and the sports consumer
culture. Migrant workers are central to this global division of sports
labour. The migration of workers, from North to South, and from rural
to urban centres in the South, highlights not only the inequalities and
economic subordination, but also the crisis of households and communi-
ties in the Global South.
The elaboration of local sports cultures in the Global South is interde-
pendent with issues of socio-economic development. The “sports and
development” agenda promoted by the United Nations, along with the
International Sports Federations, and the international institutions of
economic governance (the World Bank, the International Monetary
Foundation and the World Trade Organisation) involve issues of both
labour as well as culture. The “sports and development” discourse,
grounded in notions of charity and humanitarian philanthropy, trans-
forms localised sports cultures and social provisioning values, towards
sports consumer culture and commercial values. At the same time, the
coupling of “sports development” with performance at sports mega-­
events is grounded in reinforcing “sportive nationalism”. This unifying
force of “sportive nationalism”, along with the “sports and development”
discourse is not without contradictions. The expansion of migrant sports
workers complicates assertions cultural “uniqueness” and “authenticity”
through “sportive nationalism”.
The articulation of sports within these dominant narratives involves a
notion of an inherent goodness of sports or an “evangelical sports” narra-
tive (Giulianotti 2004). This also relates to locating sports as a sacred,
value-free, cultural space outside of messy master–slave relations and
 Introduction 3

power struggles. A range of actors in sports markets, such as corporations,

governments, global institutions of governance, and civil society organ-
isations nurture this “evangelical sports” discourse. Thus, sport is seen as
a catalyst for development, education, health promotion, and the empow-
erment of girls and women, while facilitating social inclusion, conflict
prevention and peace building (UN 1993). What this sports internation-
alist, cosmopolitan and humanitarian tendencies hides is how “our”
(Global North) sport is sold or distributed to “them” while “they” make
“our” sports equipment (Nauright 2004). More importantly, “they” make
“our” sports equipment in a context of poverty wages and dismal working
conditions.
In terms of labour, what is unique about the Global South is that for-
mal wage work represents dispersed enclaves in a sea of informal work,
encompassing a range of livelihood strategies. Formal wage work is also
increasingly less secure, precarious or casualised, owing to the promotion
of “flexible” labour markets (Munck 2013). Lacking decent jobs and live-
able wages, means making a living (in the realm of production) in the
Global South is more intensely integrated with the realm of care, or
unpaid work, within households and communities (the realm of social
reproduction).
The realm of social reproduction, the unpaid work or care labour, is
also the realm of culture and play. It is also a realm of consumption,
involving families, neighbourhoods and communities. While the domain
of social reproduction relates to enhancing affective human capacities, it
also involves tensions and contradictions. While women are absorbed
into wage labour within global production networks, they are simultane-
ously subordinated within households and communities as the biologi-
cal and cultural producers of the “national community” (Yuval-Davis
1997). The struggles of women athletes in the Global South coincide
with the struggles of women workers in the sports apparel manufacturing
factories.
The emergence and the expansion of sports markets in the Global
South particularly, since the mid-1990s, illustrate a dramatic shift in the
relationship between media and sports. The nascent sports cultures driven
by media sports programming depicts mediated sports, or MediaSports
(Wenner 1998). The media TNCs (transnational corporations), such as
4 S. J. Biyanwila

Disney (US), News Corp (US), Vivendi (France) and Bertelsman

(Germany), are central in reframing sports entertainment and notions of
sports pleasures. For example, in 2014, a new sports market, known as
the Pro Kabaddi League, was created in India. Kabaddi, mostly a rural
community sport played across South Asian countries was popularised
with its introduction into the Asian Games in 1990. The league was
established by the Mahindra Group, an Indian transnational corpora-
tion, while Star Sports (News Corp) was awarded media rights for
10 years. The first week of the 2016 season of the Pro Kabaddi League
attracted over 77 million TV viewers. While there are franchises desig-
nated to the main Indian cities, the actual sports entertainment process
creates a placelessness beyond the arena of play (Bale and Maguire 1994;
Vertinsky and Bale 2004).
Despite the seeming placelessness of sports consumer culture, expand-
ing sports markets depend on urban development processes shaped by
an emergent sports–media–tourism complex (Nauright 2004). The bid-
ding for sports mega-events by nation-states illustrates how sports mar-
kets integrate with inter-urban competition for investment, and state
strategies of urban development. In 2011, Sri Lanka spent US$8 million
(around 880 million rupees) bidding for the 2018 Commonwealth
Games to be hosted in Hambanthota, a small town in the midst of rural
poverty and unemployment, but a key electorate of then president.
The emerging processes of urbanisation and sports markets in the
Global South are interrelated with the climate crisis and recurrent extreme
weather events (UNEP 2015). Even in the Global North, increasing
summer temperatures have meant rescheduling sports leagues and events.
More importantly, urban transport, which is central to the coordination
of cities and the expansion of travel, particularly by the car system, has
exacerbated the problem with living conditions (Urry 2004; Engler and
Mugyenyi 2011; Miller 2001). The 2013 protests in Brazil against trans-
port price increases reflect the overall pressures of making a living in cit-
ies. In the context of increasing privatisation of public transport, the
emergent sports markets in the Global South mainly cater to an expand-
ing middle-class consumer culture, which simultaneously celebrate the
car culture. Following the 2016 Olympic Games, when the star female
Indian gymnast, Dipa Karmakar, was presented with a BMW car by the
 Introduction 5

head of the Hyderabad District Badminton Association, who also owns a

car dealership, she promptly refused it, highlighting that in her region
(Tripura) there were no suitable roads or service centres for luxury cars.
The sports markets are embedded in the fossil fuel economy and
extractive industries. Car companies are major sponsors of sports events
and sports media programmes (PWC 2011). A sports car is often an
appendage to most elite male sports celebrities, projecting fantasies of
autonomy. The glamour of Formula One car racing, are co-produced by
urban middle-class sports cultures in the Global South to suit local con-
ditions. In 2010, Sri Lanka introduced car racing at night in Colombo,
mainly to a narrow affluent middle-class consumer market, symbolising
“sports and development”.
The car culture is rife with contradictions in terms of the “evangelical
sports” narrative, which overlaps the “green sports” discourse. While con-
tributing to urban pollution, congestion, fatalities and global warming,
the car system relies on global resource extraction networks (Engler and
Mugyenyi 2011). These networks are intertwined with the militarisation
of the state and “resource wars”, particularly in the Global South (Bridge
2008; Shiva 2016). The struggles of local communities to protect their
livelihoods and lands from extractive industries are often reframed as
issues of “national security”, involving “terrorists” and demanding mili-
tary responses. While the car system and automobile companies are sig-
nificant for expanding global sports revenues, the urbanisation processes
that create the conditions for the car culture also rely on authoritarian
modes of governance.
Creating “safe” regulated spaces for sports consumption (sports ven-
ues, recreation and parking places) relates to issues of urban governance.
This reconfiguration of space for middle-class consumers and tourists
includes enforcing new commercial laws as well as criminal laws. In order
to “beautify” the city, the enforcement of criminal laws by states involves
displacing the urban poor into the periphery of the city. Maintaining
these secured spaces for sports consumption depends on state and private
security forces, including new surveillance technologies.
For the 2016 Rio Olympics, the security forces included around
48,000 police officers and fire fighters combined with 38,000 military
personnel costing over a billion dollars. The new security-influenced
6 S. J. Biyanwila

urban redevelopment, under the aegis of “national security”, is based on

reinforcing the coercive apparatus of the state from policing to prisons.
Meanwhile, the military is also integrated with sports institutions in fos-
tering its legitimacy. Even in the Global North, the US Department of
Defense allocates considerable resources to self-promote through sports
leagues and teams. This “normalisation” of the military with sports con-
sumer culture is of particular significance for the Global South, where
multiple struggles for social justice endure demanding economic redistri-
bution, cultural recognition and political representation.
This book argues for an alternative culture of sports production and
consumption, which involves transforming both work and play. The
Southern standpoint highlights enduring relations of subordination,
marginalisation and exclusion in former colonies as well as complexity
and emergence (Amin 2010; Santos 2007b). It highlights how sports
intersect both the realm of production (in the field, the track, the court
and the pool, as well as the factory) and the realm of social reproduction
or households, neighbourhoods and communities. The aim is to fore-
ground how different social forces with complex entanglements also cre-
ate the conditions for a range of actors that are in perpetual ferment to
democratise sports and reframe sports as a public good or the commons.
The cultural self-realisation of “modern” sports emerged out of the
struggles of organised workers. The demands of European organised
labour in the mid-1800s, for a shorter working day and improved work-
ing conditions, or better work–life balance, was instrumental in expand-
ing collective participation in leisure and public life (Jones 1986; Kruger
and Riodan 1996; Spracklen 2011). Of course, the elimination of child
labour, along with the relegation of women into household labour, coin-
cided with this socialisation of labour markets. The eight-hour workday
campaign, which asserted demands for rest and play, was essential for
nurturing community sports cultures. While this applied only to a small
nucleus of the labour force at the time, and expressed specific Eurocentric
masculine notions of “work” as only paid work, it nevertheless trans-
formed the realm of social reproduction and collective consumption.
The struggles to transform work and play in the Global South not only
relate to worker struggles but also the broad anti-colonial movement
towards self-determination and cultural self-realisation. The influence of
 Introduction 7

the labour movement within post-independence nationalist “develop-

ment” projects encouraged the expansion of collective consumption and
the provisioning of sports as a public good. The state social provisioning
of sports which broadened sports participation was mostly within urban
areas and involved both authoritarian and democratic tendencies.
Nevertheless, the reintegration with global markets since the mid-1970s
reconfigured the sports cultures firmly within the realm of markets and
consumer culture. Despite the promises of the “evangelical sports” narra-
tive, the authoritarian and exploitative structures of sport cultures in the
Global South highlight the necessity and possibility of transforming
sports through collective struggles.
This book argues for the reimagining of the sporting pleasure in terms
of transforming work (the realm of production) as well as play (social
reproduction). A range of social movements, activist networks and local
groups are engaged in diverse efforts to re-embed sports markets in local
communities, not in order to expand profits, but in the interests of people
(Millward 2011; Wilson 2007). Meanwhile, a range of critical perspec-
tives on sports point towards the possibility of less harmful and more
liberating alternative sports cultures (Kidd 1995, 2008; Messner 1992,
2007; Eichberg and Loland 2011; McKay and Sabo 1994; Lenskyj 2008).
The dominant Eurocentric mainstream sports discourse around “clean
sports” or anti-corruption overlaps with the “green sports” sustainability
discourse. The encouragement towards “ethical” sports consumption
consisting of an ethical code of conduct in sports, “good governance”,
waste recycling in sports stadiums and other similar efforts are important.
However, this utilitarian and elitist sports discourse continues to mystify
the generative mechanisms of sports consumer culture, creating “testos-
terone dreams” (Hoberman 2005). When the commercial values of sports
are prioritised over the social provisioning values of sports, sports cultures
become disembedded from communities and shaped by interests of prof-
its. Promoting non-market sports cultures, enhancing household and
human capacities to participate in sports, relates to the socialisation and
democratisation of sports markets.
Reflecting on sports within the realm of production as well as social
reproduction involves emphasising how sports cultures are co-dependent
on our material transaction with nature. While the building of ­mega-­event
8 S. J. Biyanwila

stadiums, Formula One racing tracks and golf courses, along with the car
culture, transforms the external nature or the lived environment, the
enhancement of bodily performance through biotechnology, or “drugs”,
transforms human nature or embodiment (Miah 2004). Recognising
how the realm of sports (play) interacts with nature, both in terms of
embodiment and lived environment, is significant for the reimagining of
sports in terms of well-being. In arguing for public-driven sports cultures
or the sports commons, the main aim is to foreground issues of justice
and care, both in the realm of work as well as play.
This study draws from my own experience as a competitive diver and
a coach, mostly in the US (1980–92). It is an autoethnography of a
migrant sports worker from the Global South to the North. Given the
hypermasculine individualism of dominant sports cultures, my aim is not
to confuse sociological analysis and insight with masculine angst or “sub-
jectivist slippage into asocial solipsism” (Giulianotti 2005: 96). The auto-
ethnography entails narratives of “life history” linking ontology (being)
lived experience, involving social relations and institutions, with episte-
mology (knowledge). By reinterpreting my own experiences, however
incompletely through knowledge, or conceptual analysis, the aim is to
reveal the limitations of world sports, in order articulate a vision of resis-
tance and possible, more pleasurable, alternatives.
This study articulates a Southern perspective on the production and
social reproduction (consumption) of sports. The Global North–South
distinction foregrounds how the spatial configuration of capital accumu-
lation (including the spread of markets) relates to processes of regulation
and emancipation in the North, which, in turn, depends on the reappro-
priation and violence in the South (Santos 2007b; Basu and Roy 2007).
Each of these categories are differentiated and stratified, meaning there
are many differences as well as layers of disadvantage. In the South,
national sports cultures co-evolve with histories of colonialism and anti-­
colonial struggles. These struggles are replicated in different ways in the
Global North in the form of marginalised people, such as indigenous
people, the unemployed, and people with disabilities, along with ethnic,
religious and sexual minorities. The Global North also exists in the South,
among the privileged (leisure) classes in urban centres. The network of
urban centres or global cities, integrating the North and the South,
 Introduction 9

reflects core regions of global production networks and expanding sports

markets.
The knowledge production of sports, paralleling sports markets, mostly
takes place in the Global North, focusing on concerns in the North and
of market interests (mainly focused on enhancing consumer experience).
This knowledge production often contains Eurocentric and masculine,
able-bodied tendencies, projecting universalist accounts of European
modernity and the diffusion of European sports cultures through pro-
cesses of colonisation (Dimeo 2003; Mills 2005a; Magan 1998). These
dominant tendencies subordinate and marginalise knowledge production
as well as local sports traditions in non-European cultures (Connell 2007;
Santos 2007a). This moral–cultural hegemony of the North is repro-
duced and co-produced by a range of institutions and cultures, such as
sports-media and academia within the South.
This study contributes to an ongoing research programme around rei-
magining sports (Giulianotti 2004, 2005; Nauright 2004; Donnelly
2008; Eichburg 2010; Hargreaves 1999; Kidd 2008; Horne 2006; Lenskyj
1986; Levermore and Beacom 2009; Maguire 2004, 2008; McKay 1992).
In keeping with the vision of the International Sociology of Sport
Association, the objective is “to contribute to our understanding of sport
and also to inform policy that will make the sports experience less waste-
ful of lives and resources” (ISSA 2016). My aim is also to highlight how
the dominant experience of sports in the Global North is based on a more
extended waste of lives and resources in the Global South.
The Global South perspective in this study draws from a South Asian,
particularly Sri Lankan context. The South Asian context is significant for
the study of sports cultures in many dimensions (Mills 2001a). The urban
centres in the South Asian region represent expanding sports consumer
markets (professional leagues in cricket, football, basketball, badminton,
and kabaddi). Workers in the region are a significant labour force, inte-
grated within global production networks of sports cultures. Workers in
India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan make a range of sports goods
(balls, bats, shoes, shirts, shorts, etc.); provide care labour as migrant domes-
tic workers for urban middle-class sports consumers; build sports venues as
construction workers; and produce food as farmers for sports nutrition
markets. A large portion of the global poor lives in the South Asian region
10 S. J. Biyanwila

with more than 200 million living in slums, and about 500 million with-
out electricity (World Bank 2016).
The South Asian region as “a front-line region in the battle against ter-
rorism” (US State Department), illustrates how the spread of sports mar-
kets are integrated with authoritarian militarised state forms. These state
forms reproduce hypermasculine ethnonationalists (communal) politics
in the region, which draws on sports cultures to reinforce communal
identities. The conditions of violence and reappropriation (of land, liveli-
hoods and communal property) in the South is also a site of struggle. The
Southern perspective is a strategic orientation, in solidarity with struggles
in the Global North, asserting demands for alternative democratic sports
cultures based on justice and care.

1.1  nderstanding Sports in Society: Theory

U
and Practice
Central to the practice of sports is the notion of play, which links with
concepts of joy, conviviality, and cultural self-realisation (Soper 1995;
Ryle and Soper 2002). Culture is broadly defined as all things that are
intelligible, or things that have the disposition of being understood by
someone (Archer 1988). The cultural activities of sports, as other similar
social phenomena, are shaped by enduring structures and ongoing
human interaction in many domains (actual, empirical, and real) and
levels (human ecological, social–material, social–institutional and social–
cultural levels). The sports spectacle is grounded in producing rituals.
Rituals and play are mutually interacting forms of cultural expression.
Rituals are seen as an expression of beliefs and values, with predictable
outcomes, while play is seen as a display of fun and joy, with uncertain
outcomes. Play as imitative performance can be a form of transmitting
ritual knowledge, as in the case of certain religious festivals in South Asia
(Husken 2012).
The notion of play involves bodily cultures and movement, encom-
passing games, dance and aesthetics (Huizinga 1971; Caillois 1961;
Turner 1982; Sutton-Smith 1997). There is also a range of n ­ on-­Eurocentric
approaches to notions of play shaped by specific historical and cultural
 Introduction 11

contexts (Mills 2001b, 2005b). This bodily organisation of the human

movement includes the whole historical, social and inner contradictions
of human bodily existence (Eichberg 2010; Ingham and Loy 1993). The
aspect of enjoyment, or laughter, from a spectacle to a carnival can be
both harmless and harmful. In effect, the notion of play is not without
aesthetic judgement (what is beautiful?) and moral valuation (what is
right? or what is good?).
The distinctions between sports, play, leisure and recreation remain
porous and shaped by the context. Nevertheless, the separation of these
categories is significant for analytical purposes. Sports involve three inter-
acting yet different dimensions: elite sports, mass sports, and popular
festivals and games. Elite sports relate to competitive identities and oppo-
sitional patterns; mass sports contain social discipline and fitness; and
popular sports comprise a sense of community or “emotions of encoun-
ter” (Eichberg and Loland 2011). Competitive sports are characterised by
the following elements: quantifiable progress derived from competitions
and exact measurement of performance—the standardisation of perfor-
mance conditions and the sporting record ideal; specialisation; and
instrumental rationality—training methods, equipment, technical and
tactical patterns to enhance performance (Eichberg and Loland 2011;
Guttmann 1992). These characteristics of “modern” European sports
also integrated notions of hygiene and health, emerging from positivist
notions of science.
This book is framed within a cultural political economy perspective
(Sayer 2001), with a critical realist philosophical approach. The critical
realist frame suggests a transformational model of social activity which
foregrounds the possibilities and limitations of social change through
individual and collective agency (Bhaskar 1989; Bhaskar et al. 2010; Archer
2000, 2003). From this approach, social structures always pre-exist
human agency, but they are reproduced or transformed in the course of
our ongoing social activity. As opposed to seeing society as a summation
of individual decisions in an atomised social context (based on a positivist
notion of science), this approach is grounded in a relational conception
of society. More specifically, the focus is not on behaviours, either indi-
vidual or collective, but on enduring relations between individuals shaped
by structures and cultures. Rather than an amalgamation of individual
Another random document with
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Fig. 47.—Interior View
of M-2 Mask.
 Fig. 48.—French Artillery Mask,
Tissot Type.

Tissot Mask. The French deserve great credit for their

development of the Tissot type mask. This was first issued to
artillerymen, stretcher bearers, and certain other special classes of
soldiers to furnish them with protection and yet enable them to work
with greater efficiency because of the decrease in resistance to
breathing. The mask (Fig. 48) resembles the British box respirator in
that it consists of a canister and rubber facepiece, but differs in that
the mouthpiece and noseclip are lacking. The inhaled air enters the
mask from two tubes which open directly under the eyepieces and
allow the air to sweep across them. This removes, by evaporation,
the condensed moisture of the breath from the eyepieces, which
otherwise would obstruct the vision. The circulation of the fresh air in
the mask also removes and dilutes lachrymatory gases which may
filter through the mask. The exhaled air escapes through a simple
outlet valve. This type of mask is advantageous because:

(1) The facepiece is tight and comfortable.

(2) The eyepieces do not become dimmed.
(3) There is no difficulty in speaking.
(4) Salivation is eliminated because of the absence of the
mouthpiece.
(5) It is generally more comfortable than the box respirator.

This mask, however, was made of thin rubber of great flexibility

which, while affording a perfect fit, did not possess sufficient
durability to recommend it as the sole defense of the wearer.
The canister is markedly different from all other canisters
described in this chapter in that a highly hygroscopic chemical
absorbent is used. An approximate determination showed about 70
per cent sodium hydroxide. The use of caustic soda in the canister is
made possible by the intermixing of steel wool with the granules of
caustic. A layer of absorbent having the appearance of vegetable
charcoal is placed at the top of the canister.
The canister has the shape of a rectangular prism 8 × 6½ × 2½
inches; and, owing to the use of steel wool, is large in proportion to
the weight of absorbent contained. Valves are supplied which
prevent exhalation through the canister. When not in use the opening
in the bottom of the canister is plugged with a rubber stopper to
protect the absorbents from moisture. The canister is carried against
the body and is connected to the facepiece with a flexible rubber-
fabric tube.
A. R. S. Mask (Appareil Respiratoire Special). One of the latest
types of French mask is the so-called A. R. S. mask, which is based
upon, or at least resembles closely, the German mask. This is a
frame mask made from well rubberized balloon material, provided on
the inside with a lining of oiled or waxed linen and fitted with a drum
which is screwed on. The mask is provided with eyepieces of
cellophane, fastened by metal rings into rubber goggles, which are
sewed in the mask. A metal mouth-ring is tied in the mask with tape.
This ring is placed somewhat higher than in the German mask, in
this way reducing the harmful space under the mask. An inlet and
outlet valve is placed in the mouth-ring; the first is of mica while the
other, which is in direct communication with the interior of the mask,
is of rubber. On the inside of the mask, in front of the valves, a baffle
is sewed in, whereby the inhaled air is forced to pass in front of the
eyepieces to prevent dimming and, at the same time, condensed
vapor is prevented from entering the valves.
 Fig. 49.—French A. R. S. Mask.

The mask or head straps are arranged in the same way as on the
latest M-2 mask, i.e., one elastic band is placed across the top of the
head and the other across the back; the two are joined by an elastic.
Below these two straps is an adjustable elastic neck band. The drum
is made of metal similar in shape to the German drum and fits in the
mouth-ring by means of a thread. It is made tight by a rubber ring as
in the German mask. The thread differs from that on the German
mask, making an interchange of canisters impossible. The canister
or drum includes a bottom screen, springs and wire screens between
the layers. It is closed by a perforated bottom. There are three
layers. On the top is a thin layer of absorbent cotton. Beneath this is
a central layer of charcoal, which is a little finer than the German
charcoal. The lower layer consists of soda-lime, mixed with charcoal
and zinc oxide and moistened with glycerine.

German Mask
The early type of German mask probably served as the model for
the French A. R. S. mask. The facepiece was made of rubber, which
was later replaced by leather because of the shortage of rubber. The
following is a good description of a typical German facepiece:
“The facepiece of the German mask was made of one piece of
leather, with seams at the chin and at the temples, giving it roughly
the shape of the face. The leather was treated with oil to make it soft
and pliable, also to render it impervious to gases. The dressed
surface was toward the inside of the mask. A circular steel plate, 3
inches in diameter, was set into the facepiece just opposite the
wearer’s nose and mouth, with a threaded socket into which the
drum containing the absorbents screwed. A rubber gasket
(synthetic?) held in place by a sort of pitch cement, secured a gas-
tight joint between the drum and the facepiece. There were no
valves, both inhaled and exhaled air passing through the canister.
The eyepieces were inserted by means of metal rims with leather
washers, and were in two parts: (a) a permanent exterior sheet of
transparent material (‘cellon’) resembling celluloid, and (b) an inner
removable disc which functioned as an anti-dimming device. This
latter appeared to be of ‘cellon’ coated on the side toward the eye
with gelatin, and was held in position by a ‘wheel’ stamped from thin
sheet metal, which screwed into the metal rim of the eyepiece from
the inside. The gelatin prevented dimming by absorbing the
moisture, but wrinkled and blistered and became opaque after a few
hours’ use, and could not be changed without removing the mask.
The edge of the facepiece all around was provided with a bearing
surface consisting of a welt of finely woven cloth about one inch wide
sewed to the leather. In some instances this welt was of leather of an
inferior grade. The edge of the facepiece was smoothed over by a
coat of flexible transparent gum, probably a synthetic compound.”
Fig. 50.—German Respirator.
 Fig. 51.—The German Respirator

1. Smoke Filter Extension.

2. Canister.
3. Ring for Protecting Eye Piece.
4. Anti-dimming Disc Envelope.
5. Carrying Case.
6. Cloth Wallet for Extra Canister (1918).
7. Can for Extra Canister (1916).
8. Assembled Respirator.
9. Face Piece.
10. Anti-dimming disc.

German Canister. The general appearance of the canister

(Sept., 1916 Type) is that of a short thick cylinder slightly tapered
and having at the smaller end a threaded protrusion or neck by
which it is screwed onto the facepiece. The cylinder is about 10 cm.
in diameter and about 5 cm. in length. In the canister are three layers
of absorbents of unequal thickness separated by disks of fine mesh
metal screen. The canister is shipped in a light sheet iron can 10 cm.
in diameter and 8 cm. high. The can is shellacked and is lined with
paper packing board. The container is made air-tight by sealing with
a strip of adhesive tape.

Fig. 52.—Cross Section of 1917 and 1918 German

Canisters.

Absorbents.

Absorbent. Composition. Weight.

Volume.
1917. No. Chemical Absorbent.
66 gr. 105 cc.
1.
No. Impregnated
36 gr. 85 cc.
2. Charcoal.
No. Chemical Absorbent.
15 gr. 45 cc.
3.
1918. No. Impregnated
58 gr. 185 cc.
1. Charcoal.
Absorbent. Composition. Weight.
Volume.
No. Chemical Absorbent.
29 gr. 45 cc.
2.

Total Volume of 1917, 235 cc. 14.3 cu.

Absorbents, = in.
1918, 230 cc. 14.0 cu.
= in.
Total Weight of 1917, 117 gr.
Absorbents,
1918, 87 gr.
Volume of Air Space above Absorbents = 50 cc. =
3.1 cu. in.
Body. The body of the canister is made of sheet metal (probably
iron), which is protected on the outside with a coat of dark gray paint
and on the inside with a japan varnish. For ease in assembling the
sides of the canister have a gentle taper, and are formed so as to
supply a seat for each of the follower rings. The protrusion or neck
has about six threads to the inch, the pitch of the screw being 4 mm.
The lower part of the body is rolled so as to give a finished edge, and
the upper part of the cylinder is grooved to receive the top support.
The first screen is double, consisting of a coarse top screen five
to six mesh, per linear inch, and immediately below, a finer screen of
30-40 mesh, per linear inch. The top support is a rigid ring of metal
with two cross arms, which give added, strength to the ring and
support to the screens. It springs into a groove at the top of the body
and forms the support for the contents of the canister. Both screens
are made of iron wire and the top support is made of iron (probably
lightly tinned).
 The second screen, which separates the second and third
absorbents, is double, consisting of two disks of 30-40 mesh iron
screen. Both screens are held in place by a follower ring.
The third screen is single, but otherwise it is exactly similar to the
second screen. It serves to keep separate the layers of absorbents
No. 1 and No. 2.
The fourth screen (30-40 mesh) is made of iron wire and is held
to the bottom support by six cleats which are punched from the body
of the support. The bottom support is simply a flanged iron cover for
the bottom of the canister. It is punched with 79 circular holes each 4
mm. in diameter and is painted on the outside to match the body of
the canister. The screen and the inside of the bottom support or
cover are coated with a red paint.

American Mask
At the entrance of the United States into the war, three types of
masks were available: the PH helmet, the British S. B. R. and the
French M-2 masks. Experiments were made on all three of these
types, and it was soon found that the S. B. R. offered the greatest
possibilities, both as regards immediate protection and future
development. During the eighteen months which were devoted to
improvement of the American mask, the facepiece underwent a
gradual evolution and the canister passed through types A to L, with
many special modifications for experimental purposes. The latest
development consisted in an adaptation of the fighting mask to
industrial purposes. For this reason a rather detailed description of
the construction of the facepiece and of the canister of the respirator
in use at the close of the war (R. F. K. type) may not be out of place.
The mask now adopted as standard for the U. S. Army and Navy is
known as the Model 1919 American mask, with 1920 model carrier,
and will be described on page 225.
 Fig. 53.—Diagrammatic Sketch of
Box Respirator Type Mask.

Facepiece. The facepiece of the R. F. K. type Box Respirator is

made from a light weight cotton fabric coated with pure gum rubber,
the finished fabric having a total thickness of approximately ¹/₁₆ inch.
The fit of the facepiece is along two lines—first, across the forehead,
approximately from temple to temple; second, from the same
temporal points down the sides of the face just in front of the ears
and under the chin as far back as does not interfere with the Adam’s
apple. In securing this fit, the piece of stock for the facepiece is died
out of the felt and pleated up around the edges to conform to this
line. After this pleating operation, the edges of the fabric are stitched
to a binding frame similar to a hat-band made up of felt or velveteen
covered with rubberized fabric. All the stitching and joints in the
facepiece are rendered gas-tight by cementing with rubber cement.
This facepiece is made in five sizes ranging from No. 1 to No. 5, with
a large majority of faces fitted by the three intermediate sizes, 2, 3,
4.
Harness. The function of the harness is to hold the mask on the
face in such a way as to insure a gas-tight fit at all points. Because
of the great variations in the conformation of different heads, this
problem is not a simple one. Probably, the simplest type of harness,
as well as the one which is theoretically correct, consists of a
harness in which the line of fit across the forehead is extended into
an elastic band passing around the back of the head, while the line
of fit around the side of the face and chin is similarly extended into
another elastic tape passing over the top of the head; these should
be held in place by a third tape, preferably non-elastic, attached to
the mask at the middle of the forehead and to the middle points of
the other tapes at a suitable distance to hold them in their proper
positions.
The discomfort of the earlier types of harness has been
remedied, in a large measure, by the development of a specially
woven elastic web which, for a given change in tension, allowed
more than double the stretch of the commercial weaves. There is still
much room for valuable work in developing a harness which will
combine greater comfort and safety. The following points should
always be observed in harness design:
(1) The straps should pull in such a direction that as large a
component as possible of the tension of the strap should be
available in actually holding the mask against the face.
(2) The number of straps should be kept to a minimum in order to
avoid tangling and improper positioning when put on in a hurry by an
inexperienced wearer.
Eyepieces. One of the most important parts of the gas mask,
from the military point of view, is the eyepiece. The primary
requirement of a good eyepiece is that it shall provide a minimum
reduction in clarity of vision with a maximum degree of safety to the
wearer. The clarity of vision may be affected in one of several ways:
(1) by abrasion of the eyepieces under service conditions; (2)
irregularities in the surface and thickness of the eyepiece, causing
optical dispersion; (3) absorption of light by the eyepiece itself; (4)
dimming of the eyepieces due to condensation of moisture radiating
from the face or in the exhaled air.
Three types of eyepieces were used but by the end of the war the
first two types had been abandoned.
(1) Ordinary celluloid.
(2) Various hygroscopic forms of celluloid, known as non-
dimming eyepieces.
(3) Various combinations of glass and celluloid, known as non-
breakable eyepieces.
Celluloid was used first, due to its freedom from breakage. It is
not satisfactory because it is rapidly abraded in use, turns yellow,
thus increasing its light absorption, has relatively uneven optical
surfaces and becomes brittle after service.
The various forms of non-dimming lenses function by absorbing
the water which condenses on their surfaces, either by combining
individual drops into a film which does not seriously impair vision, by
transmitting it through the surface and giving it off on the exterior or
by a combination of these mechanisms. With the exception that they
are non-dimming, they are open to all the objections of the celluloid
eyepiece and, as a matter of fact, were never tried out in the field.
The so-called non-breakable eyepieces are formed by cementing
together a layer of celluloid between two layers of glass.[25] This
results in an almost perfect eyepiece. Any ordinary blow falling upon
such an eyepiece does no more than crack the glass, which remains
attached to the celluloid coating. Except in extreme cases, the
celluloid remains unbroken and there is relatively slight danger of a
cracked eyepiece of this sort leaking gas.
In the matter of flying fragments, the type of eyepiece consisting
of a single layer of celluloid and glass with the celluloid placed next
to the eye, has probably a slight advantage over the type in which
there is glass on both sides. However, the superior optical surface of
the latter type, coupled with its greater freedom from abrasion of the
surface led to the adoption of this type known as “triplexin” in the
mask produced in the later part of the American manufacturing
program. It should be pointed out in connection with this type of
eyepiece that it is possible to make it as perfect optically as desired
by using the better grades of glass. While the optical properties of
these eyepieces undoubtedly suffer somewhat with age, due to the
discoloration of the celluloid, it can be safely said that this material,
located as it is between the layers of glass and relatively little
exposed to atmospheric conditions, will probably be far less affected
in this way than is the ordinary celluloid eyepiece.

Fig. 54.—American Box Respirator,

Showing Improved Rubber Noseclip.
 The position of the eyepiece is very important; the total and the
binocular fields of vision should be kept at a maximum.
Nose clip. The noseclip is probably the most uncomfortable
feature of the types of mask used during the War. While a really
comfortable nose pad is probably impossible, the comfort of the clip
was greatly improved by using pads of soft rubber and springs giving
the minimum tension necessary to close the nostrils.
Mouthpiece. The design of the mouthpiece should consider the
size and shape of the flange which goes between the lips and teeth;
this should be such as to prevent leakage of gas into the mouth and
should reduce to a minimum any chafing of the gums. The opening
through the mouthpiece is held distended at its inner end by a
metallic bushing to prevent its collapse, if, under stress of
excitement, the jaws are forced over the flange and closed. Rubber
has proved a very satisfactory material for this part of the facepiece.
Flexible Hose. The flexible hose leads from the angle tube to the
canister. This should combine flexibility, freedom from collapse, and
extreme physical ruggedness. These specifications are met
successfully by the stockinette-covered corrugated rubber hose. The
angular corrugations not only give a high degree of flexibility but are
extremely effective in preventing collapse. The flexibility gained by
this construction is not only lateral but also longitudinal; a hose
having a nominal length of 10 inches functions successfully between
lengths of 8 and 12 inches. The covering of stockinette, which is
vulcanized to the rubber in the manufacturing process, adds
materially to the mechanical strength by preventing incipient tears
and breaks.
Exhalation Valve. The exhalation valve allows the exhaled air to
pass directly to the outside atmosphere. (This valve is not found on
the German mask.) This valve has the following advantages:
(1) It tends to reduce very materially the dead air space in the
mask.
(2) It prevents deterioration of the absorbent on account of
moisture and carbon dioxide of the expired air.
 (3) It reduces the back pressure against expiration, since it is
unnecessary to breathe out against the resistance of the canister.
The disadvantage, which may under certain conditions be very
serious, is that, if for any reason the valve fails to function properly,
inspiration will take place through the valve. It can be readily seen
that any failure of this nature will allow the poisonous atmosphere to
be drawn directly into the lungs of the wearer.
The type of valve generally used is shown in Fig. 55, which
shows one of these valves mounted and unmounted. While it is
rather difficult to give a clear description of its construction, the valve
may be considered as a flattened triangular sack of rubber, whose
altitude is two or three times the base and from which all three
corners have been clipped, each giving openings into the interior of
the sack. The opening at the top is slipped over the exhalation
passage of the angle tube, and the air passes out through the other
two corners. Closure is obtained by the combination of two factors,—
first, the difference in atmospheric pressure, and second, the tension
due to mounting a section which has been cured in the flat over an
elliptical opening.
 Fig. 55.—American Type Exhale Valve,
Mounted and Unmounted.

In order to protect the flutter valve from injury and from contact
with objects which might interfere with its proper functioning, the later
types of valve were provided with a guard of stamped sheet metal.

Canisters
During the development of the facepiece, as discussed above,
the American canister underwent changes in design which have
been designated as A to L. These changes were noted by the
different colored paints applied to the exterior of the canister.
Type A canister was exactly like the British model then in use,
except that it was made one inch longer because it was realized that
the early absorbents were of poor quality. The canister was made of
beaded tin plate and was 18 cm. high. The area of the flattened oval
section was 65 sq. cm. In the bottom was a fine wire dome 3.4 cm.
high. The valve in the bottom was integral with the bottom of the
container, there being no removable plug for the insertion of the
check valve. The absorbents were held in place by a heavy wire
screen on top and by two rectangular springs.

Fig. 56.—American Canister, Type A.

Inhaled air entered through the circular valve at the bottom of the
canister, passed through the absorbents and through a small nipple
at the top.
The filling consisted of 60 per cent by volume of wood charcoal,
developed by the National Carbon Co., and 40 per cent of green
soda lime, developed and manufactured by the General Chemical
Company, Easton, Pa. The entire volume amounted to 660 cc. The
early experiments with this volume of absorbent showed that ⅖
soda-lime was the minimum amount that could be used and still
furnish adequate protection against the then known war gases. It
was, therefore, decided to use ⅖ soda-lime and ⅗ charcoal by
volume and this proportion has been adhered to in all of the later
types of canisters. It is interesting to note that these figures have
been fully substantiated by the later experimental work on canister
filling.
The charcoal and soda-lime were not mixed but arranged in five
layers of equal volume, each layer, therefore, containing 20 per cent
of the total volume. The layers were separated by screens of
crinoline. At the top was inserted a layer of terry cloth, a layer of gray
flannel, and two steel wire screens. The cloth kept the fine particles
of chemicals from being drawn into the throat of the person wearing
the mask.
This canister furnished very good protection against chlorine and
hydrocyanic acid and was fairly efficient against phosgene, but it was
useless against chloropicrin. These canisters were never used at the
front, but served a very useful purpose as experimental canisters
and in training troops.
It was soon found that better protection was obtained if the
absorbents were mixed before packing in the canister. This
procedure also simplified the method of packing and was used in
canister B and following types. Among other changes introduced in
later types were: The integral valve was replaced by a removable
check valve plug which enabled the men in the field to adjust the
valve in case it did not function properly. The mixture of charcoal and
soda-lime was divided into three separate layers and these
separated by cotton pads. The pads offered protection against
stannic chloride smokes but not against smokes of the type of
sneezing gas. The green soda-lime was replaced by the pink
granules. In April, 1918, the mesh of the absorbent was changed to
8 to 14 in place of 6 to 14.
About July 1, 1918, the authorities were convinced by the field
forces of the Chemical Warfare Service that the length of life of the
chemical protection of the standard H canister (the type then in use)
was excessive and that the resistance was much too high. Type J