Interwar Crazes and Sport Diffusion: The Case of French Ping-Pong, 1932-1939

Although the 1929 economic crisis affected France from 1931 osnwards, the sport system continued its ascent during the 1930s. Some sports, such as ping-pong, also called table-tennis for questions of legal risk between the federations and the ping-pong brand, took advantage of this context of crisis to develop. A fashionable sport in 1932 and 1933, this new practice developed in drinking establishments where the sporting culture was already well established since bars often served as the head offices of many clubs. However, once the craze had subsided ping-pong struggled to evolve in a spatial and economic environment that was less favorable to its expansion.