Sport in History Podcast British Society of Sports History

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. Formed in 1926, the All England Netball Association (AENA) was the first dedicated governing body for the sport, aiming to expand netball’s reach by providing opportunities for girls and women to participate in such activities beyond the confines of the schools within the United Kingdom by disseminating rules and establishing competition across the Commonwealth. However, with no globally agreed laws, there was difficulty providing international competition. To unify netball, the AENA committee brought together key netballing figures from across Australia, New Zealand, Ceylon, South Africa and the West Indies in the hope of agreeing a new version of the game for international dissemination. This was realised in 1960 when the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) was established, with AENA members being awarded selection of the first officers as a tribute to their dedicated work in bringing many netballing nations together. This paper will explore the development of netball’s international governance, considering the efforts of the AENA committee in creating a unified voice for netball.

Samantha-Jayne Oldfield is a senior lecturer in sport history and the sociology of sport at Manchester Metropolitan University. She is an associate editor for Sport in History and is an academic consultant for England Netball’s netball heritage and archives group. A founder of the Netball History Network, she is committed to establishing an international community of netball scholars and publications, whilst developing her own research project surrounding the founding women of England Netball and the construction of a more comprehensive history of the organisation.

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 symbols can easily shape social status, offering temporary social mobility away from work (Joseph, 1986). This study delves into the cricket kit as a semiotic sign, unveiling hidden narratives about class identity and cricket, primarily in Greater Manchester. It also explores how urban cricket integrates into the local culture. Material methods, particularly material collections (Holmes and Hall, 2020), have significantly influenced the research. The project treats the cricket kit bag as a collection and seeks to reveal personal connections to cricketers' kits, shedding light on how identity and place inform this collection.

A reflexive mode of documentary practice is employed to critically examine the researcher's role in shaping and representing the research. This approach involves self-awareness and scrutinizes the researcher's impact on the subject matter and its interpretation by the audience (Nichols, 2017).

In summary, this research project aims to offer a diverse urban perspective on the intricate relationship between sport and social class by exploring the class connotations of the traditional cricket kit and its significance to Greater Manchester club cricketers.

Danny Orwin is an Early Career Researcher and Fashion Film Lecturer at Manchester Fashion Institute, Manchester Metropolitan University. My research stems from an interest in the role of filmmaking in investigating fashion cultures, and how through exploration of this, themes of place and identity can be revealed.

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. Michael's thesis is titled "Faith, Community and Football: The Life of Brother Walfrid" and draws on fresh primary source material uncovered through rigorous archival work in Scotland, Ireland, England and France.

The research project reached completion on the 1st November 2022,with the thesis published as a book titled Walfrid: A Life of Faith, Community and Football by Argyll Publishing.

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 member of the Independent Commission on Equity in Cricket (ICEC)
Raf Nicholson, Senior Lecturer, Bournemouth University and Chair of the Cricket Research Network
Mark Frost, Development Manager, Cricket Wales and Glamorgan Cricket
Kate Aldridge, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Lead, England and Wales Cricket Board

The theme of the conference was ‘Cricket in a post-ICEC World: Where do we go from here?’ and the Roundtable discussion was framed around three central questions: what had been achieved since the publication of the ICEC report, what were the priority areas for future development, and how could the Cricket Research Network contribute to the important work of reducing, and ultimately eliminating, structural and institutional racism, sexism and class-based discrimination in the game.

'For those who like the life nothing could be better’: The Games Mistress in Interwar Britain

During 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 demand for whom increased rapidly with an expansion in the playing of team sports. Some headmistresses placed greater importance upon the character of her games mistress than any other member of staff, because the games mistress interacted with girls in their more spontaneous and unguarded moments; ‘hers was the exceptional opportunity of helping them to play in a manner to show not merely proficiency in games, but character as well’. This connection to pupils was reflected in the literature that referred to ‘what a ripping games mistress they’d got’, and to recollections of everyone having had a ‘crack’ on the games mistress in their schooldays.


Most of these women have left little trace in the historical record, but that should not dissuade the historian from making the effort to uncover their life courses. Combining evidence from a broad spectrum of key primary sources, including newspapers, the 1911 and 1921 censuses, college records, literature, girls’ annuals, specialist periodicals, photographs, local and family histories, and the 1939 National Register, this paper illuminates some of the biographies and experiences of the women who led the development of sport and physical activity for girls both inside and outside the school environment, at national and at regional level. These narratives may lack evidence in parts, but they provide enough material to give us a picture of the lives of those involved and allow us to interrogate some of the stereotypes that have been assigned to the figure of the Inter War games mistress.

Dave Day is Professor of Sports History at Manchester Metropolitan University where his research interests include the historical development of coaching and training practices as well as the life courses of nineteenth and twentieth century sports coaches. A significant feature of his research has been the pioneering of biographical techniques and the use of genealogical resources and he is continuing to explore new methodologies and sources for the creation of sports history. Dave’s current research projects include exploring the transcultural transmission of coaching traditions across national borders, the gendered socialisation into sport through the medium of Victorian children’s’ periodicals, and the lives and experiences of women coaches in the first half of the twentieth century. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Fellow of the European Committee for Sports History, past editor-in-chief of the Sport in History journal, and a past Chair of the British Society of Sports History.

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 explores how the club negotiated the tensions between these two missions in the 1990s and 2000s, and in doing so, fostered a connection between Catalonia and international publics that had not existed before, all to the benefit of the region’s nationalist movement. After varied attempts at profiting from engaging with international audience, this eventually took the form of a brand-consumer relationship. In negotiating this expansion, club leaders and various interested actors not only turned FC Barcelona into a consumable product, but also rendered international fans as consumers. By providing a narrative account of this development, I show how nationalist institutions and symbols are not neutralized by global processes, but can adapt to and ensconce themselves in international networks all while furthering their nationalist purpose.

Max Ferrer’s PhD research at King’s College London focuses on the intersection between nationalism and globalization in the region of Catalonia since Spain’s return to democracy in 1978. Organized around various case studies, including mass tourism, elite sport, and higher education, this dissertation examines the evolution of Catalonia’s nationalist movement, which was strengthened and defined by the global era. In doing so, it attempts to situate the role of culture in promoting an image of the region as a distinct political entity and evaluating culture’s role as a mediator between globalization and nationalism.


Prior to his PhD research, he completed an MA at Columbia University’s European Institute, where his thesis won the Institute’s Distinction Award and led to a chapter in Routledge’s European Integration and Disintegration: Essays from the Next Generation of Europe's Thinkers.