When a Choice Becomes a Chance: My Encounters with Sports History

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the author’s encounters with sports history through a brief commentary of being an overseas graduate student in Ireland and Australia. By using biographic and narrative approaches, this paper will first introduce readers to Physical Education class in rural China in the 1990s followed by the author’s connections with sport during college. It then focuses on the author’s professional academic training in sports history in China and abroad. In particular, this essay attempts to demonstrate the importance of good supervision as well as understanding research paradigms in sports history, including dealing with data collection and analysis, ethical considerations, theory selection, and critical thinking. As an early stage career researcher, the author emphasizes the importance of attending conferences and joining in with sports history communities in order to develop academic social networks. It further argues the necessity of being up to date with major sports history journals.     

The Mediation of Spectator Sport

Abstract

This study employs the theory of “media logic” and the method of hermeneutical criticism to demonstrate some effects of a major social institution, television, on the “text” of experiencing spectator sports. The study finds that the medium of television makes spectator sports into an experience which incorporates narrative, intimacy, commodification, and rigid time segmentation. The conventions imposed by television on spectator sports are presented here as powerfully affecting the meanings which televised sports have for their audiences.     

Old and Grumpy but Still Game

Abstract

My background as an economic historian has strongly influenced my approach to sports history which I practise as a combination of theory and empiricism, particularly of the quantitative kind. Theory is central to our understanding of the social science of sport and evidence makes the subject history rather than fiction. As sports historians we should emphasize that our discipline is as ‘mainstream’ as any other form of history and we can contribute to major historical debates on, for example, race, gender, identity, and nationalism.     

Sports History: What Can Be Done?

Abstract

In the early 1980s, Redman (1984) reported that sports history is ‘alive and free and growing in academe’ (p. 38). A few years later Park warned that sports history was in a ‘descending spiral’. This article analyses the rapid turn around in the fortunes of sports history and its ongoing decline over the last decade in the curricula of university departments of physical education. While changes within physical education, including its scientisation, fragmentation and specialisation, partly account for the shift, sports historians too must take responsibility. In many instances they have failed to convince their colleagues that sports history is a scholarly pursuit; nor have they encouraged sufficient numbers of undergraduates. Three approaches are suggested here to help ‘rescue’ sports history. First, sports historians should pay greater attention to the intellectual history of sport and its interrelationships with physical education. Second, they should engage the intrinsic historicity of science and forge new relationships with those scientific subdisciplines which constitute physical education. Third, sports historians should oblige their students to see themselves as actors in the processes of intellectual and social change.     

‘Stick to Soccer:’ fan reaction and inclusion rhetoric on social media

Abstract

In the wake of the United States Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage nationwide, social media reflected a range of support and dissent. US Soccer posted a photo featuring an eagle and the phrase ‘One Nation, One Team’ in rainbow font on their official social media accounts. This paper explores the reaction to those posts by social media users. We examined comments made about the post and, using elements of grounded theory, found five themes emerge: (1) resistance to the intertwinement of politics and sport and pushback to that resistance; (2) patriotism/nationalism; (3) the symbolic importance of out gay players, coaches and fans; (4) general negative comments; and (5) general positive comments. We contextualize these themes in light of (1) the tension around the role of politics in sports, (2) US Soccer’s historical heterosexism and its manifestations and (3) the changing landscape of women’s sports in regards to homosexuality.     

NBC’s televised media portrayal of female athletes in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games: a critical feminist view

Abstract

Mass media play a major role in influencing societal views of female athletes and in shaping the relationship between women and sport. While female athletes historically tend to receive little media coverage, the Olympic Games provide an opportunity to feature sports for both male and female athletes. This paper, guided by critical feminist theory, focuses on televised media’s presentation of female athletes in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, reporting particularly on the broadcast narrative. Common themes include comparison to male athletes, heterosexualizing female athletes, women as wives and mothers, shaming, and male privilege. The role of production, social media, and female athletes’ perceptions on this presentation are also discussed.     

From sporting past to future well-being: sport heritage and intergenerational learning in Glasgow

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the context of private sporting clubs, previously referred to by sports historians as ‘the long residuals of sport’, as important sites of sporting culture and sport heritage in local communities. The project explores the history and meaning of sport through intergenerational collaboration between the academic researcher, primary school children and experienced members of Glasgow Southside's sports community. The research reflects on the process of intergenerational learning, reminiscence and heritage activities to inform future cultural histories of sport, as well as sports development and future well-being. Through a focus on interpreting cultural and social change in Glasgow sport by educating children and elder members of the community in the use of sport media archives, as well affording opportunities to examine the usefulness of intergenerational communication in community settings, the project investigated the cultural transmission of sporting cultures of the past, and its influence over, or disconnection from, contemporary sporting practices of young people. The article concludes that by acknowledging and sharing the heritage of private sport clubs, such ‘communities of practice’ have an important role to play in fostering stronger socio-cultural ties between clubs, their members and young people.     

‘You Had to Cover Nadia Comaneci’: ‘Points of Change’ in Coverage of Women’s Sport

Abstract

In the 1970s, women’s sport underwent significant change in the United States resulting in an increase of participation opportunities and funding at the interscholastic, intercollegiate, professional and international levels. Yet, media outlets continued to ignore women and, at best, portray them in gender stereotypical ways. Considering the lack of progress for women in sports media coverage, this study employs sport historian Jaime Schultz’s ‘points of change’ framework in order to identify those moments that constituted an ideological shift in the process of covering women’s sport. Drawing upon oral history interviews with journalists who wrote about women’s sport in the 1970s and 1980s, this research provides a deeper look into how journalists experienced and addressed the shifting gender ideologies of the time period. Journalists’ memories, accompanied by their articles, reveal how media practitioners negotiated meanings about femininity and athleticism in response to events that challenged deeply embedded assumptions about gender and its intersections with ethnicity, race and sexuality. This exploratory research, thus, identifies several ‘points of change’ – or points of struggle, conflict and resistance – and calls for a re-periodization of the history of women’s sports coverage.     

市场经济体制下我国体育新闻受众的需求特点及其与传媒关系辨析

处于市场经济大潮中的我国新闻传媒业正从往日的官办新闻不断地步入市场,开始接收市场经济的洗礼与考验。国内传媒业之间的竞争逐步加剧,新闻媒体与受众间的关系也在发生着微妙的变化。随着我国加入WTO,不仅会出现国内众新闻媒体间的拼争,更要面临国际传媒巨头的进入带来的竞争     

Sport History Relevance and How We Need to Engage

Abstract

It is important to question the relevance of sport history and to recognize our failings and our successes if we are to ensure the genre develops and contributes to society. While sport historians recognize the value, outside of this sphere, it is apparent that the subject is not always recognized for its significance. In this paper, it is argued that sport historians have a responsibility to engage more with the media and the public, while seeking opportunities to collaborate with sports organizations to ensure the subject is relevant and can develop. It is also argued that minority groups are under-represented in the sport history community, arguing that it is incumbent upon sport historians to ensure greater engagement and promotion of these groups. The paper concludes by urging those engaged in sport history to promote the discipline and develop opportunities for others.     

Dreams of Democracy,or the Reasons for Hoosiers’ Enduring Appeal

Abstract

Hoosiers has a special, undeniable appeal. This film tells the fictional story of a basketball team from a small high school in Indiana that defeats a team from a much bigger school to win the state championship. When it was shown to test audiences, Hoosiers scored the highest preview rating in the history of Orion Pictures. A poll conducted by USA Today in 1998 named Hoosiers the best sports movie of all time, and it topped ESPN.com’s list of the ‘25 Best Sports Films: 1979-2004’. In 2001, it was selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as a motion picture that is notably ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant’. The source of Hoosiers’ special appeal has, however, remained somewhat mysterious. This article seeks to show that Hoosiers has inspired unusually intense devotion because it artfully dramatizes concerns about authoritarianism that are deeply embedded not just in American sports, but in American society as a whole, and because it elegantly presents an emotionally satisfying resolution for those concerns (albeit one that works solely within the bounds of a fictional film).     

Movement behaviors and their association with depressive symptoms in Brazilian adolescents: A cross-sectional study

Background:Physical activity,sleep,and sedentary behaviors compose 24-h movement behaviors and have been independently associated with depressive symptoms.However,it is not clear whether it is the movement behavior itself or other contextual factors that are related to depressive symptoms.The objective of the present study was to examine the associations between self-reported and accelerometer-measured movement behaviors and depressive symptoms in adolescents.Methods:Cross-sectional data from 610 adolescents(14-18 years old)were used.Adolescents answered questions from the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale and reported time spent watching videos,playing videogames,using social media,time spent in various physical activities,and daytime sleepiness.Wrist-worn accelerometers were used to measure sleep duration,sleep efficiency,sedentary time,and physical activity.Mixed-effects logistic regressions were used.Results:Almost half of the adolescents(48%)were classified as being at high risk for depression(score≥20).No significant associations were found between depressive symptoms and accelerometer-measured movement behaviors,self-reported non-sport physical activity,watching videos,and playing videogames.However,higher levels of self-reported total physical activity(odd ratio(OR)=0.92,95%confidence interval(95%CI):0.86-0.98)and volume of sports(OR=0.88,95%CI:0.79-0.97),in minutes,were associated with a lower risk of depression,while using social media for either 2.0-3.9 h/day(OR=1.77,95%CI:1.58-2.70)or>3.9 h/day(OR=1.67,95%CI:1.10-2.54),as well as higher levels of daytime sleepiness(OR=1.17,95%CI:1.12-1.22),were associated with a higher risk of depression.Conclusion:What adolescents do when they are active or sedentary may be more important than the time spent in the movement behaviors because it relates to depressive symptoms.Targeting daytime sleepiness,promoting sports,and limiting social media use may benefit adolescents.     

Fighting Against Heavy Odds: An Indian Perspective on Sports History

Abstract

It is difficult to ascertain whether the history of sport has crossed its adolescence in India or not. To establish its credibility as a viable academic discipline has proved something of a struggle for those Indian scholars engaged in its research in the past. In the light of my experiences of doing research and editing a journal on sports, and teaching the history of sport at the postgraduate level over the past two decades, I intend to argue that the challenges confronting sports history could be overcome only if the teaching of sports history in the Social Sciences goes hand in hand with serious research and publication.     

Problematizing the absent girl: sport as a means of emancipation and social inclusion

Abstract

Absence from sport participation among girls from ethno-cultural minorities is often highlighted as an inclusion policy challenge. Based on 35 interviews with community sports coaches, managers and partners, we explore how the absence of girls is problematized in four Swedish sports-based interventions, focusing on how problems, as well as the means and the ends of social inclusion, are articulated. The girls are assessed as being in need of social change due to their alleged social exclusion. Absence is explained by “patriarchal norms” as well as by the introvert conduct of the girls themselves. Girls-only sports activities performed by female coaches as role models are described as a way for girls to gain social inclusion and to become emancipated from subjugating norms. In conclusion, participation in community sport is highlighted in discourse as crucial for adopting powers of emancipation. A similar discourse could be recognized elsewhere, inside and outside the realm of sport.     

Across Fields and Boundaries: Finding One’s Way in International Sports History

Abstract

This article presents my personal experience as a European scholar at the turn of the twentieth century. In this period, sports historiography was characterized by a shift from political and social history to a broader cultural consideration of sport. In a time when the internet was developing and exchanges between researchers became easier, I experienced and contributed to the internationalization of the field. Nevertheless, this evolution did not erase national boundaries, which are still present and reveal the weight of historical traditions.     

#SheBelieves: the use of Instagram to frame the US Women’s Soccer Team during #FIFAWWC

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine of the representation of women athletes during the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. More specifically, we examined how individuals used various event-related hashtags (ie #SheBelieves and #FIFAWWC) on Instagram during the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup to frame identity, and challenge or reinforce gender stereotypes from the bottom-up. A content analysis of athlete photos containing #FIFAWWC (n = 706) and athlete photos containing #SheBelieves (n = 629) revealed that users primarily portrayed women athletes as athletically competent. Specifically, nearly 90% of Instagram posts containing either #FIFAWWC or #SheBelieves portrayed athletes in either athletic action or preparing for athletic action. These findings demonstrate that social media provide an opportunity to challenge gender stereotypes in women’s sports and thereby illustrate that social media users are willing to create their own frames around women athletes.     

A Short Run: Australian Sports History on the 40th Anniversary of the Biennial Sporting Traditions Conference

Abstract

The 40th anniversary of the biennial Sporting Traditions Conference provides a timely opportunity to examine the health of sports history in Australia. This paper identifies three methods through which we can take the temperature of the field and judge its wellbeing. Usually neglected, the first approach is to explore the teaching of sports history in Australia. The second is an analysis of the individuals who have presented to the 21 Sporting Traditions conferences held since 1977 and the content of their papers. The third method is to consider the impact of research in Australian sports history through citations and the other methods used by the Commonwealth of Australia to judge research quality. All three methods support the conclusion that after 40 years sports history’s future in Australia remains far from secure.     

On Being a Sports Historian in Israel

Abstract

The article discusses the way I came to be a sports historian in Israel and the status of the history of sports in the State of Israel over the years.     

Histories Beyond the Boundaries

Abstract

The paper outlines the origins of the author’s interest in sports history within the 1970s anti-apartheid sporting boycott and the parallel expansion of historical scholarship to incorporate social and radical histories. The place of sport in forming histories of empire and gender, as well as in cultural areas of memory, place, print culture, and consumption are canvassed along with observations on the future of sport history. In the light of the ‘paradox of play’ which simultaneously places sport at the centre and in the ephemeral margins of modern society, it is suggested there is no secure ground for this area of study.