Sport in History Podcast

This episode Geoff is joined by the co-editors of a special isssue of the BSSH's journal Sport in History on women's sport. Fiona and Carol talk about the state of research into women's sport now, and how it has developed since their previous special issue on the subject in 2010.

This episode Conor Heffernan talks to Conor Murray about sport in Ireland in the twentieth century and the way in which the histories of soccer and rugby are entwined with political developments on the island of Ireland.

And we're back! After a break following the British Society of Sports History's virtual Conference the Sport in History podcast returns with an interview with Professor Dilwyn Porter of De Montfort University, who talks about his latest book, English Gentlemen and World Soccer: Corinthians, Amateurism and the Global Game which he has co-authored with Dr Chris Bolsmann. He talks about the Corinthians, an amateur club whose reputation has been inflated over the years to epitomise the spirit of...

The final podcast from the BSSH 2020 Conference with a round table discussion on the future of Sports History. On the panel are Dr Christienna Fryar of Goldsmiths, University of London, Dr Geoff Levett, editor of the Sport in History podcast, Dr Carol Osborne of Sporting Heritage and Prof Kay Schiller, the Editor-in-Chief of the BSSH's journal Sport in History. The four panellists give brief opening remarks on future directions for research areas in British sports history, as well as...

Sporting Inequalities in the fifth instalment from the BSSH 2020 Conference with a panel chaired by Dr Lisa Taylor which features three young researchers looking into women's sport, representations of women, and disability sport.

It's the keynote in the fourth instalment from the BSSH 2020 Conference as we hear previous podcast guest Dr Prashant Kidambi deliver a wide-ranging Sir Derek Birley Memorial lecture on the writing of sports history. Informed by CLR James's classic text Beyond the Boundary Prashant discusses the boundary in sports history - both as a literal dividing line and as a metaphor for ways of thinking about sports relationship to wider events.

The Writing of HIstory is the subject of the third panel from the BSSH's 2020 Conference, chaired by Dr Nick Piercey, with a wide ranging discussion between scholars researching in a variety of fields. In A ‘better attendance than usual’: Deconstructing the History of Sport and Recreation at Port Sunlight Samuel Clevenger of Towson University questions the benevolence of model communities and whether workers engaged in organised recreation as much as is assumed by conventional narratives. Dr...

Boxing history in the second in a series of podcasts brought to you from the BSSH's 2020 Conference, which was held online in the last week of August. The session is introduced by Matt McDowell of the University of Edinburgh and features Ben Duncan-Jones (De Montfort University) with a paper titled, ''[T]he advantage of science, and of the affinity which exists between the natural and the artificial weapon.’ Digital history and nineteenth century boxing.' The second paper is given by...

This is the first in a series of podcasts brought to you from the BSSH's 2020 Conference, which was held online in the last week of August. The first panel is introduced by BSSH Chair Dr Raf Nicholson and chaired by Dr Conor Heffernan and features two papers by leading British sports historians, Professor Martin Polley of De Montfort University and Dr Luke Harris of the University of Birmingham talking about sport in Edwardian England.

Cricket this week with Nigel Hancock, who is the Chair of the Cricket Society. Nigel is the Chair of the Cricket Society, which is an organisation which exists to promote the study of the history of cricket, with a regularly published Journal and bulletin as well as live events with cricketers and the people who write about them.

The history of sports chaplaincy this week with Conor Heffernan talking to Will Whitmore, who is currently completing a PhD at the University of Gloucester. Will's PhD focuses on the role of sports chaplains in professional sports teams in a comparative study between soccer in the UK and American sports. He describes the special role that sports chaplains in the UK play in clubs' relationships with their fans and contrasts this with the close relationship that the chaplaincy has with NFL...

The history of Physical Culture this week with Dr Conor Heffernan of the University of Texas at Austin talking about his research into physical culture in Ireland in the twentieth century, as well as the history of weightlifting and the search for the 1000lb bench press. There's chat about Sinn Fein's trash-talking of the English physique in the 1900s and an insight into the use of tennis balls and tight towels in power-lifting. You can also read his article on Irish body building at the...

Olympic and Paralympic History on this week's podcast with a recording of an online symposium sponsored jointly by the British Library, the International Centre for Sports History and Culture at De Montfort University and the British Society for Sports History The event was chaired by Dr. Raf Nicholson with four speakers talking about different aspects of researching the history of the Games.

Irish soccer history this week with Conor Heffernan talking to Dr Conor Curran, who is Dublin City Council's official football historian. Conor talks about his ground-breaking study of sport in Donegal which was publish as The Development of Sport in Donegal, 1880-1935 in 2015. He also talks about the oral histories he conducted when writing about the experience of Irish migrant football in the post-War years for his Irish Soccer Migrants: a Social and Cultural History, which was published...

In another short lockdown episode Helena Byrne drops in to talk about the British Library's upcoming symposium on Olympic and Paralympic History which will take place on Friday 19th June from 3pm to 4.30pm.

In a short episode Raf drops in to talk about the BSSH's 2020 Conference which this year will be an online event to be held on 26th-28th August. The conference features a keynote from previous podcast guest Prashant Kidambi as well as a round table on the future of sports history with a diverse line up of leading sports historians. Registration will be free and open to all interested parties, not just BSSH members.

Sport and the Cold War is the focus for this week’s episode with Geoff talking to Dr Heather Dichter of the International Centre for Sport History and Culture at De Montfort University.

This week it's the history of Indian cricket with Dr Prashant Kidambi of the University of Leicester. His latest book, Cricket Country: An Indian Odyssey in the Age of Empire, tells the story of the first All-India team to visit Britain in 1911 and much, much more.

This week on the podcast it's the history of black college basketball in the twentieth century with Raja Rahim, who is currently researching a PhD at the University of Florida.

The history of international cricket in this week's podcast brought to you by the British Society of Sport History in association with the Institute of Historical Research with Geoff talking to Allister Webb about Yorkshire and Glamorgan County Cricket Clubs.