Free Essay on How the Draft of WW2 Impacted Professional Sports in the US

The United States in the year 1940, constituted the selective training and service act which required all men whose age ranges from 21 to 45 to register for the draft. Hall (2010) argued that those who were selected for the lottery it was a requirement for them to serve at least one year in armed forces. At the time the United States decided to enter world war, the draft that had been instituted earlier was extended throughout the duration of the fighting. At the time when the war was coming to an end that is 1945 around 50million men between the ages 18 and 45 had registered for the draft and another 10 million had been absorbed into the defense forces. According to Duncan (2013), this World War II contributed significantly in disrupting the daily lives of a lot of people around the globe and resulted in food rationing, shortages of all kinds, death, and even destruction of the major cities and towns. Sports and entertainment were used by the countries to try to maintain the normality among the citizens of given country and to boost up their general morale though it was not on a silver platter. During the world war II, a lot of sports in the US almost came down on their needs due to lack of men, new sports were formed to entertain the nation and to enhance the relationship of the citizens of the country with the new powers emerging from the different forms of sports. On the other hand, some sport almost shut down as a result of poor quality and unskilled players. Lack of men also resulted in the introduction of girls' games and leagues such as softball league which is a unique game that is used to provide moral support to the girls. It was formed to absorb those who show little interest in the baseball which was the most popular game at that time. Most tournament hats were continuing before the start of the battle were canceled due to either severe lack of players who had deliberately joined the military services or drafted to do so. This resulted in some sports organizers looking for retired individuals (Duncan, 2013).

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According to Hall (2010), in the united states during 1930's and 40's the sports that were mostly expected were boxing, majorly baseball, college football and horse racing. Boxing was that most loved and popular professional sport in the US. This gained the fame after Joe Louis who was a great boxer at that time won a rematch and regain the world heavyweight championship against a very close rival who was also good in boxing German Max Schmeling in 1938. Louis was later drafted and he spends the war with USO thus providing and giving boxing sports exhibition at bases around the country. World War II greatly impacted the professional sports in the countries especially the US

MacLean (2013) again added that the outbreak of the war affected the American sport scene for instance in 1948 an automobile and motorcycle racing was halted throughout the duration of the war as a result of gas and rubber rationing which was an outcome of the war that broke ,this is also referred as Baseball's war. Deferment from the defense bodies which commence as early as 1942 were limited and far between resulting to many nations top sportspersons such athletes and boxers whose ages range from 18 and 35 themselves in different kind of uniforms(Duncan, 2013).

For example, in the US after Japanese attacked the Pearl Harbor, the baseball commissioner consulted on the guidance on whether to hold or suspend an upcoming major league baseball season. Several major and minor league players were heavily affected as they were trading in their on their material for khaki. Some of them even went to a point of losing their lives in the process (Hall, 2010). These really affected the baseball sport as two top best-talented ballplayers that are captain Elmer who was a US air force pilot and Marine Harry lost their lives in the combat during the war. This resulted in having unqualified or less skilled players who had to take their positions and even the organizers went to a point of looking for those who had retired to help with the services for the team. Despite the fact that the major league baseball level of being played being lower during the world war it still gained popularity this is a direct indication that reflects the country's embracement of baseball as a truly national pastime. The people of US had embraced baseball making it become more popular than any other game. The game had to survive with the young stars after the professional talented players were absorbed into the war. The major league baseball attendance suffered a great deal during the war despite the presidential endorsement of the game and addition of more games. This low attendance shows and proves that the Americans during the Second World War years were greatly affected and could not follow what they had always followed. However, the game was used to significantly rally around the Americans. And destruct them from so many sacrifices they are going through during the war which was lowering their morale.

Another important professional sport which was also important in the lives of the society was a women professional league in the US. It was greatly affected by the World War II negatively because so many men had volunteered and some were forcefully drafted into the military services. A women professional league was formed in the year 1943 and the league constituted 15 Midwestern teams. The league consisted of a combination of baseball and softball (Duncan, 2013).

Football which was also a popular game n United State also got the better share of the impact of the war and the draft. During that time the most popular game was the college game although professional games also existed college games were considered to be the best. The war that broke shifted the services of the colleges from serving the Alma matters. During this period, several schools suspended football for about the entire duration of the war because of the security of the players and the students at large. The US government decided to ban large public gatherings on some parts of the country which were considered not safe like west coast since the government feared that it could be invaded by the Japan.it is at this time that a game was scheduled to be held in west coast specifically Pasadena, California. it had to be moved to another different place which was safe and there are no fears of invasion. it was also at this period that the US national football league top officials i.e. coaches and referees together with more than thousand players were depleted as result of them matching to serve their country in different defense bodies in the military . this coasted the players as their number decreased and they could not manage the program that were organized forcing the teams that were greatly affected to merge .in the US as a result of college and professional football laws had a positive impact in the military sides as they gained from the services offered by the players who played regularly in large teams but it contributed negatively for the football team as their opponents took advantage of this. Some national football league players also lost their lives in World War II.

Hall (2010) continues to argue that after the war was declared, other games were also affected such as professional hockey, which also went through difficult situations during the ongoing battles. Somewhere directly related to the war while others were not just coincidental. The national hockey league during this period emerged to be so much stronger than before with a more stable team and formation and a game which had been transformed by the introduction of the center red line. When the players to the national hockey league went to serve in the military and aided the war while some lost their lives during the battle. This really interrupted heavily on the game and the league competitiveness was ruined as the many varied careers were lost and some interrupted. The main challenge of the league owners during the World War II was to try and keep the fans come to spectate the hockey league in the areas where they were being hosted. Also, the fans could not drive to the arenas in that there was rationing of gasoline and rubber. Hockey teams in the given cities which were disadvantaged in the sense that they lacked streetcar networks or subways were hit heavily. The only concern of the hockey organizers was the availability of the players as compared to the fans showing up to spectate the hockey games. The US border suffered some unique logistical and the general public relations wrinkles. Other professional games such as rugby suffered the same problem the games were completely suspended during the war. Basketball was also played in the United States of America, however, it was considered a relatively minor sort and t was played before World War II began, when the war began, a number of players went to join the military leaving a big gap in the basketball team. This negatively affected the basketball team as the players who had become warriors were significant figures in their respective teams they played on. For example, the national basketball league which was organized in 1937 was forced to merge with American basketball league to form a strong team that could compete favorably with competitors, some of the players went to appoint or even dying in the process of the battle.

Hall (2010) again added that since most of the football stadia's were located in urban centers with close proximity to industrial areas. They become the target as the war was majorly taking place in the cities. Due to fear of attack football games could not be planned as usual leading to the cancelation of all the games that have been planned during that season. With the professional soccer players having no alternative they were drafted into military services. This resulted to the national league players taking drastic measures due to manpower shortage in that, as the world war took a better part of the members of the national football league it was followed by a severe manpower shortage this even forced some of the retired players to come back into the playing fields to assist the remaining youngsters who had no or little experience on the football world. For instance the player shortage forced the Cleveland Rams who was an organizer of the football league competitions to suspend the games for the season 1943, while the clubs or teams that were majorly affected agreeing to merge and form a single team that can attest participate in any competition that is to be organized i.e. the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles agreed to merge. And they decided to split the home games between the cities. However, the merger was terminated before the beginning of the next season. The national football league also experienced a number of casualties that affected their operations. In that, the war that broke claimed the lives of its members 21 in total, with the best players being included in the list. Some players were not having the qualities that were required to join the military services but they insisted on joining the army with the reasons being associated with the military and not with the games. An example of search a person is Blozis who insisted despite his challenges. Some of the most influential people in the USA who were of much significance the football section due to their abilities and nice talents were awarded congressional honors with recipients to join the army and were awarded top jobs in the respective wing they were posted. With this hey could not resist and eventually, they seized being sportspersons to security person ells.

MacLean (2013) also added that cricket was a form of professional sport that was practice before World War II though i...