Do the working class, and middle and upper class play different sports in your country?
October 20, 2025
Are the different sports that are popular in your country often associated with different social classes in your country?
29 comments
Tennis is the one that comes to mind that is much more commonly played from upper middle class and upwards.
Yes, we do have such things as White Sports, which are usually sailing, rowing and golf. It is accessible beyond the gates with fees and hundreds and thousands of Euros in equipments and membership.
Skiing is often seen as a White Sport in other countries, but in Norway, it’s quite accessible with little to no cost.
Sports have started to cross class boundaries a bit more in recent years, but there’s still a noticeable difference.
The elites traditionally play field hockey, golf and tennis. New money elites also often practice more expensive sports/hobbies like kitesurfing. Football has dominated the working class, as is the case in most of Europe, but there are also elitist football clubs. Smaller sports like rugby, volleyball and basketball are not really tied to any social class.
This is a difference I’ve noted between my Birth country (Spain) and the UK.
In Spain, Golf and Tennis were always seen as upper-class sports.
Now I live in Scotland, in a middle-class neighbourhood, and I can see my neighbours walking with their golf carts, and I know plenty of people who play golf.
Similar to tennis, I can play here for free at council courts or join a club for a very reasonable fee, and when I visit family in Spain, free council courts are not maintained and don´t have nets, or if maintained, charge a fee similar to my Scottish club fee. I haven´t experienced Spanish clubs, but I assume they would be much more expensive.
On the other hand, paddle courts are quite expensive to book in the UK, from 20 to 40 pounds an hour, whereas in Spain courts can be booked from 8€ in a gym or council sport facilities.
Yes,I’d say in general that’s true.
Football is a kind of ‘national’ sport but its probably more of a working/lower middle class sport to play.
The more ‘upper class’ sports tend to be those that cost a lot of money! At least down here in Sicily.
Sailing,horse riding,skiing,golf.Tennis is more upper middle class too,its not easy to find a place to play and joining a tennis club costs a fair amount.
That may be different in some areas..skiing is not so elitist in Northern Italy,for example.
The largest split in the UK, especially amongst school-age boys is football and rugby; football being predominant in state schools and rugby union being predominant in private schools. Rugby league is a caveat however, as it’s seen as a working class sport of sorts. Otherwise the obvious ones, horse riding, clay pigeon shooting and rowing for example are also sports of the higher classes. These social “rules” are especially evident at university level sport, but also at professional level too.
I used to play rugby, most of my team mates and people I got to know were ex public school upper middle class people, bar a few. I now play tennis and go cycling, and pretty much everyone is middle class
In Italy I’d say equestrianism and golf are for sure more associated with upper classes. Also Tennis, although in recent years the federation promoted the sport a lot to make it more widespread in across the country and classes.
Skiing for a period was a relatively middle class sport, but costs have been raising for some years and I think it’ll be soon again a sport for the upper class.
All the other sports are not really associated with any classes, like it happens in the Anglosphere. Rugby for instance is not considered at all a private school sport.
Working: Darts, Snooker, Rugby League, Boxing
Middle: Tennis, Rugby Union, Golf
Upper: Equestrian, Polo, Rowing
Mixed Class: Football, Cricket, Horse Racing
In terms of mass participation team sports, we’ve only really got football and rugby. Football is run by and for the working classes for the most part. Rugby is run by and for the middle classes for the most part although they will point out that have broad appeal and that’s true to an extent.
Golf will allow anyone to play provided that you have the money required to join a club. There’s plenty of elitist clubs though that have huge fees to play so that normally keeps the riff raff out.
Tennis is very much a minority sport.
There’s loads of athletics disciplines that are not class based at all.
Almost every working class town or village will have a lawn bowling club. Its very working class in its admin and player pool.
Upper class sports like shooting and equestrianism are very minority. If they have competitions, they only get reported on at the Olympics or in specialist posh people magazines.
I will try to add something different to what has already been said.
Sport in general is quite middle class, except football. If you’re in a working class area you’ll probably only do football or go to the gym – maaaaybe some form of martial arts too.
One sport that is super popular among old people is bowls – literally just bowling on grass. There are lots of bowls clubs in Scotland at least – even small villages. I think it transcends the working-middle class divide.
Germany:
Martial arts for lower class.
Horse riding and golf for middle class.
Polo for upper class.
Polish society is not class based so the answer is „no” by definition.
Well yes, tennis, horse riding and golf for the upper class.
Football for the working class.
And the rest of the sports is pretty mixed, upper middle class from Paris loving running and indoor climbing specifically.
Equestrian and golf are rather clearly middle to upper class. Ice hockey maybe too, I think, but only because the equipment is expensive.
Football is for everybody, but very popular with Workers.
Other sports are for everybody, yes.
I think many sports that are not football are not that popular with the working classes, simply because they don’t know or don’t care about them.
Traditional sports like Hornussen and Schwingen are clearly not just “worker”, but rather Farmer class coded.
Yes definitely, just like most people have said, equestrian, sailing, rowing, golf are all considered rich people sports here.
I grew up working class and the most common sports tended to be football, handball, athletics, swimming, mostly stuff you can access at school and/or municipal/public facilities, and which don’t require specialised equipment. I did gymnastics because my city had a gym and a cheap program for it, but I wouldn’t necessarily associate gymnastics with the working class as much as football, mostly due to accessibility.
Stuff like padel and pilates I would currently consider middle to upper middle class.
Golf is played by students and rich and retired people in germany. Sport itself isn’t that expensive compared to other hobbies, but it takes so much time.
Very much so in France. Basically every sport that requires an “entry” fee – buying equipment – is seen as upper (middle) class. Sailing, windsurfing, riding, golf and even tennis only attract people with a certain income.
Cycling (although a good bike can be incredibly expensive) football and other team-ball sports are more accessible and attract lower incomes, too
i don’t think there’s a split based on class (or more precisely income bracket). The change will be in quality or club prestige.
/edit: in Poland
Golf and Tennis are rich people sports. Also sport with horses….at least the people are not poor who have horses.
Football is everyone’s sport.
Working: GAA, soccer, boxing
Middle: GAA, soccer
Upper: Golf, Rugby
*GAA is hurling and gaelic football
**More upper class:**
* Tennis
* Sailing
* Equestrian sports
* Hunting (not exclusively though)
**More lower class:**
* Soccer
* Ice hockey (specifically rural, ethnically Swedish/Finnish lower middle class, and yes, this is despite the outrageous costs of the sport.)
Tennis is seen as upper class, but actually the cost of entry is reasonably low. You can rent a racquet and a court for like 20 eur per hour.
Basketball is by far the most popular sport, all classes watch it and play it.
Actual upper class stuff is something that you rarely see, like sailing, paragliding, cross-country racing in supercars.
It’s very mixed except for golf, tennis, padel (middle). There’s no upper class in Finland 🙂
It all depends on the amount of money your bank account holds. Any horse based sport will attract the higher income ‘class’. But there is a difference in old and new money. The old money class do polo and equestrian competitions in NL. New money field hockey, sailing and tennis (upper middle class). Football and other sports are more mixed.
Ya 100%.
Working and middle-class people would have easy access to GAA (Gaelic football, hurling, camóige and handball), soccer, rugby, boxing, kickboxing, Irish dancing, darts, pool, golf, angling and road bowling/ból a’bhothair.
Rowing, horse riding, Golf, Tennis and Rugby fall between them all.
Upper Class sports would be the likes of sailing, cricket, fencing, hockey, archery ect. Especially sailing. Sailing is so expensive in Ireland it’s ridiculous. It’s also a very clicky group to get into.
Now the best sailors and rowers in my opinion are the working class sailors and fishermen from Conamara who sail húicéirí, púcáin, gleoiteogaí and row currachaí. Conamara currach rowers are in a league of their own.
Yes, golf and tennis are definitely very much seen as upper class or at least upper middle class sports. This image is strengthen even more by the fact that we in Scania have the annual international tennis tournament in Båstad, which basically exclusively caters to the super wealthy elite and celebrities, who invade that quiet little seaside town every summer. As well as the fact that golf courses are nearly always found at the most attractive locations, such as by the sea or next to (or even inside) beautiful natural areas, where they are kind of ruining the experience for regular people who just want to enjoy nature.
There was also a big trend quite recently among middle management people in particular (so upper middle class) of playing padel, although that trend has as predicted receded quite a bit since. Ice hockey is also a very expensive sport, so any kids who are getting into that must likely have parents who are at least upper middle class or higher. Handball and floorball are not as expensive as ice hockey, and are therefore more for the regular middle class.
Also, if you have a “von” between your first and last name, denoting nobility or upper class, there is a much higher than average chance that you are an avid horse-back rider or horse breeder, since horses are quite an expensive sport or hobby and of course requires a lot of space and estate. Although, to be fair, riding school fees are within reach of the regular middle class as well, and since horses and horse-back riding are a very integral part of rural culture here in Scania in particular, horse ownership is not quite exclusively for the upper class here, even if they do dominate at the professional level.
The most working class sport is definitely football (soccer), which is also by far the most popular sport among immigrant communities.
The most common sport among all classes is getting together to eat and drink. And now everybody seems to be going to the gym as well.
The only sports that comes to mind that you don’t see people with lower class income play, are the ones that require expensive equipment.
Field hockey and golf come to mind.
Other than that, there isn’t really that much difference. Especially football, with is played by all levels of income.
29 comments
Tennis is the one that comes to mind that is much more commonly played from upper middle class and upwards.
Yes, we do have such things as White Sports, which are usually sailing, rowing and golf. It is accessible beyond the gates with fees and hundreds and thousands of Euros in equipments and membership.
Skiing is often seen as a White Sport in other countries, but in Norway, it’s quite accessible with little to no cost.
Sports have started to cross class boundaries a bit more in recent years, but there’s still a noticeable difference.
The elites traditionally play field hockey, golf and tennis. New money elites also often practice more expensive sports/hobbies like kitesurfing. Football has dominated the working class, as is the case in most of Europe, but there are also elitist football clubs. Smaller sports like rugby, volleyball and basketball are not really tied to any social class.
This is a difference I’ve noted between my Birth country (Spain) and the UK.
In Spain, Golf and Tennis were always seen as upper-class sports.
Now I live in Scotland, in a middle-class neighbourhood, and I can see my neighbours walking with their golf carts, and I know plenty of people who play golf.
Similar to tennis, I can play here for free at council courts or join a club for a very reasonable fee, and when I visit family in Spain, free council courts are not maintained and don´t have nets, or if maintained, charge a fee similar to my Scottish club fee. I haven´t experienced Spanish clubs, but I assume they would be much more expensive.
On the other hand, paddle courts are quite expensive to book in the UK, from 20 to 40 pounds an hour, whereas in Spain courts can be booked from 8€ in a gym or council sport facilities.
Yes,I’d say in general that’s true.
Football is a kind of ‘national’ sport but its probably more of a working/lower middle class sport to play.
The more ‘upper class’ sports tend to be those that cost a lot of money! At least down here in Sicily.
Sailing,horse riding,skiing,golf.Tennis is more upper middle class too,its not easy to find a place to play and joining a tennis club costs a fair amount.
That may be different in some areas..skiing is not so elitist in Northern Italy,for example.
The largest split in the UK, especially amongst school-age boys is football and rugby; football being predominant in state schools and rugby union being predominant in private schools. Rugby league is a caveat however, as it’s seen as a working class sport of sorts. Otherwise the obvious ones, horse riding, clay pigeon shooting and rowing for example are also sports of the higher classes. These social “rules” are especially evident at university level sport, but also at professional level too.
I used to play rugby, most of my team mates and people I got to know were ex public school upper middle class people, bar a few. I now play tennis and go cycling, and pretty much everyone is middle class
In Italy I’d say equestrianism and golf are for sure more associated with upper classes. Also Tennis, although in recent years the federation promoted the sport a lot to make it more widespread in across the country and classes.
Skiing for a period was a relatively middle class sport, but costs have been raising for some years and I think it’ll be soon again a sport for the upper class.
All the other sports are not really associated with any classes, like it happens in the Anglosphere. Rugby for instance is not considered at all a private school sport.
Working: Darts, Snooker, Rugby League, Boxing
Middle: Tennis, Rugby Union, Golf
Upper: Equestrian, Polo, Rowing
Mixed Class: Football, Cricket, Horse Racing
In terms of mass participation team sports, we’ve only really got football and rugby. Football is run by and for the working classes for the most part. Rugby is run by and for the middle classes for the most part although they will point out that have broad appeal and that’s true to an extent.
Golf will allow anyone to play provided that you have the money required to join a club. There’s plenty of elitist clubs though that have huge fees to play so that normally keeps the riff raff out.
Tennis is very much a minority sport.
There’s loads of athletics disciplines that are not class based at all.
Almost every working class town or village will have a lawn bowling club. Its very working class in its admin and player pool.
Upper class sports like shooting and equestrianism are very minority. If they have competitions, they only get reported on at the Olympics or in specialist posh people magazines.
I will try to add something different to what has already been said.
Sport in general is quite middle class, except football. If you’re in a working class area you’ll probably only do football or go to the gym – maaaaybe some form of martial arts too.
One sport that is super popular among old people is bowls – literally just bowling on grass. There are lots of bowls clubs in Scotland at least – even small villages. I think it transcends the working-middle class divide.
Germany:
Martial arts for lower class.
Horse riding and golf for middle class.
Polo for upper class.
Polish society is not class based so the answer is „no” by definition.
Well yes, tennis, horse riding and golf for the upper class.
Football for the working class.
And the rest of the sports is pretty mixed, upper middle class from Paris loving running and indoor climbing specifically.
Equestrian and golf are rather clearly middle to upper class. Ice hockey maybe too, I think, but only because the equipment is expensive.
Football is for everybody, but very popular with Workers.
Other sports are for everybody, yes.
I think many sports that are not football are not that popular with the working classes, simply because they don’t know or don’t care about them.
Traditional sports like Hornussen and Schwingen are clearly not just “worker”, but rather Farmer class coded.
Yes definitely, just like most people have said, equestrian, sailing, rowing, golf are all considered rich people sports here.
I grew up working class and the most common sports tended to be football, handball, athletics, swimming, mostly stuff you can access at school and/or municipal/public facilities, and which don’t require specialised equipment. I did gymnastics because my city had a gym and a cheap program for it, but I wouldn’t necessarily associate gymnastics with the working class as much as football, mostly due to accessibility.
Stuff like padel and pilates I would currently consider middle to upper middle class.
Golf is played by students and rich and retired people in germany. Sport itself isn’t that expensive compared to other hobbies, but it takes so much time.
Very much so in France. Basically every sport that requires an “entry” fee – buying equipment – is seen as upper (middle) class. Sailing, windsurfing, riding, golf and even tennis only attract people with a certain income.
Cycling (although a good bike can be incredibly expensive) football and other team-ball sports are more accessible and attract lower incomes, too
i don’t think there’s a split based on class (or more precisely income bracket). The change will be in quality or club prestige.
/edit: in Poland
Golf and Tennis are rich people sports. Also sport with horses….at least the people are not poor who have horses.
Football is everyone’s sport.
Working: GAA, soccer, boxing
Middle: GAA, soccer
Upper: Golf, Rugby
*GAA is hurling and gaelic football
**More upper class:**
* Tennis
* Sailing
* Equestrian sports
* Hunting (not exclusively though)
**More lower class:**
* Soccer
* Ice hockey (specifically rural, ethnically Swedish/Finnish lower middle class, and yes, this is despite the outrageous costs of the sport.)
Tennis is seen as upper class, but actually the cost of entry is reasonably low. You can rent a racquet and a court for like 20 eur per hour.
Basketball is by far the most popular sport, all classes watch it and play it.
Actual upper class stuff is something that you rarely see, like sailing, paragliding, cross-country racing in supercars.
It’s very mixed except for golf, tennis, padel (middle). There’s no upper class in Finland 🙂
It all depends on the amount of money your bank account holds. Any horse based sport will attract the higher income ‘class’. But there is a difference in old and new money. The old money class do polo and equestrian competitions in NL. New money field hockey, sailing and tennis (upper middle class). Football and other sports are more mixed.
Ya 100%.
Working and middle-class people would have easy access to GAA (Gaelic football, hurling, camóige and handball), soccer, rugby, boxing, kickboxing, Irish dancing, darts, pool, golf, angling and road bowling/ból a’bhothair.
Rowing, horse riding, Golf, Tennis and Rugby fall between them all.
Upper Class sports would be the likes of sailing, cricket, fencing, hockey, archery ect. Especially sailing. Sailing is so expensive in Ireland it’s ridiculous. It’s also a very clicky group to get into.
Now the best sailors and rowers in my opinion are the working class sailors and fishermen from Conamara who sail húicéirí, púcáin, gleoiteogaí and row currachaí. Conamara currach rowers are in a league of their own.
Yes, golf and tennis are definitely very much seen as upper class or at least upper middle class sports. This image is strengthen even more by the fact that we in Scania have the annual international tennis tournament in Båstad, which basically exclusively caters to the super wealthy elite and celebrities, who invade that quiet little seaside town every summer. As well as the fact that golf courses are nearly always found at the most attractive locations, such as by the sea or next to (or even inside) beautiful natural areas, where they are kind of ruining the experience for regular people who just want to enjoy nature.
There was also a big trend quite recently among middle management people in particular (so upper middle class) of playing padel, although that trend has as predicted receded quite a bit since. Ice hockey is also a very expensive sport, so any kids who are getting into that must likely have parents who are at least upper middle class or higher. Handball and floorball are not as expensive as ice hockey, and are therefore more for the regular middle class.
Also, if you have a “von” between your first and last name, denoting nobility or upper class, there is a much higher than average chance that you are an avid horse-back rider or horse breeder, since horses are quite an expensive sport or hobby and of course requires a lot of space and estate. Although, to be fair, riding school fees are within reach of the regular middle class as well, and since horses and horse-back riding are a very integral part of rural culture here in Scania in particular, horse ownership is not quite exclusively for the upper class here, even if they do dominate at the professional level.
The most working class sport is definitely football (soccer), which is also by far the most popular sport among immigrant communities.
The most common sport among all classes is getting together to eat and drink. And now everybody seems to be going to the gym as well.
The only sports that comes to mind that you don’t see people with lower class income play, are the ones that require expensive equipment.
Field hockey and golf come to mind.
Other than that, there isn’t really that much difference. Especially football, with is played by all levels of income.
Upper class = Tennis, Rugby Union, Cricket
Working Class = Football, Rugby League