This book is about reimagining the pleasures of sports and providing a critical perspective from the Global South. The elaboration of sports markets is transforming both work and play while undermining human as well as ecological capacities. Analysing the spread of sports markets in Sri Lanka along with a range of struggles, the book highlights how the celebration of 'sportive nationalism' promoting sports markets in the Global South reinforces patriarchal ethno-nationalist authoritarian sports cultures. By explaining how the realm of social reproduction, involving households and communities, is integral for play and sports, the book challenges the market-driven 'sports and development' agenda while arguing for a 'sports commons'.  By foregrounding issues of justice and care, the book highlights how struggles for recognition, redistribution and representation are central to reimagining sports within an alternative notion of work, play and resistance.

S. Janaka Biyanwila is a former Olympic athlete, former Sri Lanka national diving champion, and a published author with a PhD in Organisational and Labour Studies from the University of Western Australia.