Just to be clear, I meant professional sports in regard to betting activities which forever altered the competitions. Ffs, even chess is rigged now. However, sports as a leisure and a way to transform the body is still great. You ever wonder why rugby is originally played 15 vs 15 and football (soccer) 11 vs 11? Although modern sports are the equivalent of bread and circus, there are still valuable things hidden within. 

 maybe in a village context but everywhere else it's just a way to calm down the herd 

 Weren't competitive sports also just training for battle? 

 that's the first use case, second would be bread and circuses, aka 2 minutes of hate 

 Not necessarily. The ancient Greek schools were interested in sporting activities. Although after the children turned 18y, the focus in the gymnasiums was more or less directed for military purposes. I imagine there was little choice once you grow up in a city which is constantly attacked by rival cities.