Bücher der Reihe Sport, History and Culture

This book is the first major examination of the history of physical education in Irish primary and second-level schools in the twentieth century. Set within the context of major international developments in the subject, it examines its state in Irish schools prior to the partition of the country in 1921.

Using largely untapped local press and archive sources, five of these six essays trace the historical emergence of a professionalised sport out of the family of pastimes that were traditional 'football.'The final historical essay recounts the 'Crook Town affair, a once-famous 1920s 'shamateurist' football scandal in County Durham.

This book is a case study of an African-Caribbean-founded football club, Meadebrook Cavaliers, from the English East Midlands. Covering the years 1970 to 2010, it seeks to address the paucity of research on the British African-Caribbean male experience in leisure and sport as well as on the relationship between race and local-level football. The development of the club was intimately connected to wider changes in the social and sporting terrain. Based on a mix of archival and ethnographic research, the book examines the club's growth over four decades, exploring the attitudes, social realities and identity politics of its African-Caribbean membership and the varying demands and expectations of the wider black community. In doing so, it shows how studies of minority ethnic and local football clubs can shed light on the changing social identities and cultural dynamics of the communities that constitute them.

This book offers a unique examination of women's increasing involvement in sport during the period 1919-1939. Focusing primarily on sites of participation, it analyses where and how women accessed sport and their participation across class, age and marital groups. It also demonstrates the diverse ways in which sport was incorporated into women's everyday lives, with particular emphasis on the important and yet often neglected area of informal participation, so fundamental to understandings of women's sport. The unique combination of in-depth studies, drawing on the voices of the women themselves through oral testimonies, and the tracing of broad national and international trends, contributes to an innovative and comprehensive exploration of the evolution of women's sports participation across Britain during this significant period.

This book offers the first ever academic study of women's cricket in Britain from its origins in the 18th century to the present day. Through use of interviews with many former players, the book argues that women's cricket was a site of feminism across its history and an important source of empowerment to women who participated in the sport.