Sport in History

New podcast host and Editor Max Portman talks to Dr Matthew L McDowell about Dr McDowell's new book ' Surfing and modernity in the North of Scotland', published in September 2024 with Cambridge Scholars Publishing. The book discusses the existence and evolution of surfing in the region, from the 1960s to the present day. It does not, however, focus just on surfing: it also acts as a history of the...

In this seminar paper, the enabling potential of ‘speed’ is theorized to study how bowling fast on cricket field has increasingly allowed a section of working-class and lower-middle class young Indian males to assert their claim over the metropolitan and cosmopolitan world of the game in contemporary India. The argument developed in this paper is how a bodily ideal and aspiration espoused by a gro...

Taking inspiration from Derek Birley's 'The Willow Wand,' this talk begins by exploring some of the myths surrounding Ethiopian running. Michael Crawley explores some of the insights gained through 15 months of ethnographic fieldwork with marathon runners in Ethiopia. In particular, he argues that Ethiopian runners understand 'energy' to be a limited resource, which makes training together, and th...

How can we understand the meaning of wartime football? This talk tries to tackle a small part of this question by exploring the history and contemporary reception of one wartime result. In doing so, it aims to illustrate some of the influences on Football’s Great War by writers like Tony Mason, Mike Huggins, and Adrian Gregory, and how they helped shape an approach to tackling this question. This...

Our Friends over at the History of Jackson have been kind enough to share this short podcast interview with David Horspool with the Sport in History Podcast, with Jackson Van Uden, founder of History with Jackson, interviewing David at Chalke History Festival about his book 'More Than a Game: A History of How Sport Made Britain' published in late 2023 by John Murray Publishing.'More Than A Game' i...

While the decline in Black American baseball players has received lots of scholarly attention in the last three decades, scholars have not spent as much time studying the decline of Black American fans at Major League Baseball (MLB) games. The few of examinations of the number of Black American fans at MLB games that exist tend not to take the structures of the fan experience at MLB games into acc...

Throughout the twentieth century women’s rights to compete in sport at international level started to be realised, with major tournaments and competitions starting to, reluctantly, open their doors to female athletes. Nonetheless, this battle had been difficult and long for many women’s sporting organisations who relied on dedicated committee members to push forward an international playing agenda...

This emerging, ongoing research project delves into the historical influence of class distinctions on cricket in Greater Manchester, focusing on grassroots cricketers and their connection to their playing kit. With a background as a Salford native, the researcher is intrigued by the interplay of sport and social class, especially through the lens of cricket attire. Leisure time is a realm where sy...

Dr Michael Connolly is currently lecturing in Sport Management at the University of Stirling, placed within the Faculty of Health Science and Sport. His research is centred within the Sport division and over the past five academic years he has worked towards producing the world's first biography of Brother Walfrid - most recognised as the prime founder of Celtic Football Club in Glasgow in 1887/88...

This episode is a recording of a Roundtable discussion during the first Cricket Research Network conference, held at the Museum of Welsh Cricket in Cardiff on 23 February 2024. The discussion was Chaired by Professor Dominic Malcolm (Loughborough University) and the participants (in the order in which they appear on the recording) were:Michael Collins, Associate Professor Modern History, UCL and m...

'For those who like the life nothing could be better’: The Games Mistress in Interwar BritainDuring the Edwardian period the ‘sporting girl’ was increasingly being framed as modern and aspirational. Intensive exercise programmes had been introduced at many British girls’ schools and the physical education colleges were graduating substantial numbers of women gymnastics and games teachers, the dema...

In the decades surrounding the turn of the twenty-first century, few brands across the globe gained more recognition than that of FC Barcelona. During this period, the club engaged in two mission that were seemingly at odds with one another. The first was to globalize the club’s reach and expand into international markets. The second was to retain its historic nationalist significance. This paper...

Clem Seecharan, the distinguished historian of Guyana and Caribbean cricket, talks to David Woodhouse at a special event to celebrate his being given the Howard Milton Award for cricket scholarship. Clem talks about his youth growing up on Berbice in then British Guyana and the effect on him of reading the CLR James classic, 'Beyond a Boundary'. He also reflects on the great players that Guyana ha...

Barbara Buttrick and the History of Women’s Boxing in BritainThis paper explores the life and career of Barbara Buttrick but also the way in which her achievements have been remembered (and forgotten). Born near Hull in 1930, Buttrick faced discrimination and disapproval in the UK and was frequently banned and boycotted. Moving to the United States in 1952, she enjoyed greater opportunities and re...

‘I've been with them longer than my wife.’ Searching for emotional clues in published fan culture. The highs and lows of following Lincoln City 1945-2000Histories of emotions in sports have been mainly noticeable by their absence. This paper aims to begin to fill the gap Ross McKibbin identified when he questioned the failure of historians to seriously investigate the emotional experiences of thos...

This episode Souvik Naha gives a paper on the relationship between cricket, nationalism and postcolonial identities in 20th century India. What cricket tells us about the making of a postcolonial cityIndian cricket mobilized a large and diverse popular following in the twentieth century. What was so special about cricket and why was it so important to a large number of people? Why do postcolonial...

This episode Geoff talks to cricket historian Jeremy Lonsdale about the MCC tour to India in 1926-27. The tour, led by Arthur Gilligan, was a pivotal moment in Indian cricket history with Indian cricketers proving that they were worthy to play Test matches in the very near future. Jeremy also talks about the political implications of the tour at a time when demands for self-government were becomin...

This episode features the keynote presentation at the 2023 BSSH Conference at Manchester Metropolitan University. Dr Heather Dichter gives a wide ranging overview of the relationship between sport and soft power over the past century from the turbulent politics of the 1930s through the Cold War to the Beijing Games. Dr Heather Dichter of De Montfort University is a leading scholar on twentieth cen...

'The enemy within' football hooliganism and the miners' strike' During the 1980s Margaret Thatcher’s government attempted to reduce the economic power of the industrial working class by legislating against the trade unions and defeating the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike. At the time English football was an important part of male working-class culture, particularly for northern industrial workers and was...

Join Conor Heffernan as he interviews Turlough O'Riordan and Terry Clavin, co-editors of the wonderful 2022 collection Irish Sporting Lives. We are also delighted to be joined by Irish Sporting Lives contributor (and force behind a successful conference) Carol Osborne. Irish Sporting Lives can be purchased directly from the Royal Irish Academy at https://www.ria.ie/irish-sporting-lives This podcas...

Roger Domeneghetti is Senior Lecturer in Journalism at Northumbria University while maintaining a career as a freelance journalist where he has worked for Associated Press, Sporting Life and the Morning Star among others. In 2015 Roger’s book, From the Back Page to the Front Room, a history of England’s football media, was short-listed for the BSSH’s Aberdare Prize and he has now followed up with...

Conor Heffernan on US Women's Weightlifting in the 80s by British Society of Sports History This podcast is a British Society of Sports History (BSSH) production from the UK's leading society for the history of sport.. You can find the podcast on all social media & major podcast platforms here . Likewise, Click through to the BSSH website for further information on our events and to find out h...

The geographies and finances of bare-knuckle prize-fighting in Britain, 1860-1880From the mid-nineteenth century bare-knuckle prize-fighting in Britain was reported as being in retreat. Yet, despite opposition and condemnation prize-fighting retained a ubiquitous social and cultural presence, both inside and outside the ring. Large crowds made up of people from all classes and walks of life contin...

Andy Carter - Victorians and sport in the classical world by British Society of Sports History This podcast is a British Society of Sports History (BSSH) production from the UK's leading society for the history of sport.. You can find the podcast on all social media & major podcast platforms here . Likewise, Click through to the BSSH website for further information on our events and to find ou...

This episode features a paper given by Katie Holmes at the IHR on women's running. Until October 1975, women in the UK did not compete in marathons, nor were they allowed run in any other long-distance road races. Women’s Amateur Athletic Association rules prohibited them from racing further than 6000m. Road racing was an almost entirely male preserve. In May 1964, Scottish runner Dale Greig compe...