The article looks at the organization, function, and ambivalence of sports in the British Army during World War I. It considers the informal and formal ways sports were established in the British Expeditionary Corps and places the practice of football, boxing, and horse racing in the evolution of the British Army's command and organization. Topics discussed include the emergence of war sports, the values of sport and war and the development of sport based on ideologies, and the role of sports as a means to distract soldiers from war and boredom.