Synopses & Reviews
The conventional history of sport, as conveyed by television and the sports press, has thrown up a great many apparent turning points, but knowledge of these apparently defining moments is often slight. This book offers readable, in-depth studies of a series of these watersheds in sport history and of the circumstances in which they came about.
About the Author
STEPHEN WAGG is Professor of Sport and Society at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK. He previously taught at the Universities of Leicester and Roehampton. He has written widely on sport and his books include, co-edited with David Andrews, East Plays West: Sport and the Cold War (2007).
Table of Contents
Notes on Contributors
Introduction; S.Wagg
The Invention of Sporting Tradition: National myths, Imperial Pasts and the Origins of Australian Rules football; T.Collins
From Evil to Expedient: the Legalisation of Professionalism in English Football, 1884-85; D.Russell
Peacefully, at Wembley Stadium on 20 April 1974: the Quiet Death of Amateur Football in England; D.Porter
Rough Manly Sport and the American Way: Theodore Roosevelt and College Football, 1905; M.Oriard
Baseball, Invented Tradition, and Nationalistic Spirit; G.Gems
'Her Dainty Strength': Suzanne Lenglen, Wimbledon and the Coming of Female Sport Celebrity; S.Wagg
Before and After 1968: Reconsidering the Introduction of Drug Testing in the Olympic Games; I.Ritchie
The 'Revolt of the Black Athlete': Tommie Smith and John Carlos's 1968 Black Power Salute Reconsidered; M.Smith
The D'Oliveira Affair: Cricket, 'Race' and Politics; R.Steen
The Physical Activism of Billie Jean King; J.Schultz
John L. Sullivan: The Champion of All Champions; E.J.Gorn
The 'Packer Affair' and the Early Marriage of Television and Sport; D.L.Andrews&A.D.Grainger
All these Years of Hurt: Culture, Pedagogy and '1966' as a Site of National Myths; M.L.Silk&J.Francombe
The 1960 Rome Summer Olympics: Birth of a New World?; B.Keys