New Directions in Sport History

Despite its relevance to the study of race, gender and class in society, sports history has long struggled to gain acceptance as a valuable sub-discipline by those operating within more traditional realms of historical research. This book examines how sport history may capitalise on its previous successes, be recognised more widely as a valuable contextual tool by other branches of historical research, and overcome the challenges posed by the recent administrative and financial changes in the UK’s higher education sector. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport.

Emerging from the ‘history from below’ movement, sport history was marginalised for decades by those working within more traditional historical fields (and institutions). Although a degree of ignorance still exists, sport history has now acquired a level of credibility through the dedicated work of professional historians. And yet, as this authority has been established, changes to UK higher education funding (the removal of direct state funding, the Research Excellence Framework, and tuition fees) and academic publishing (open access) have the potential to damage, or even end, sports research. This book examines sport history from a variety of perspectives. Do mainstream historians need to engage, or ‘play’, with sports historians? Has the postmodernist ‘cultural turn’ in sports history been helpful to the sub-discipline? How can the teaching of sports studies be more innovative and inspiring? How can oral history and sport history be utilised in the study of other branches of historical interest. Although changes are required in dealing with the current political reality of UK higher education, sport history still has a great deal to offer students, future employers and the public alike. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport.