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ABSTRACT
It was with great interest that I read the recent special issue of Sport in History (42.4) which reflected on the past, present and future of the British Society of Sports History (BSSH). I congratulate BSSH on its many successes in helping catalyse and galvanise significant developments in sports history whilst also embracing changing social values and attitudes in wider society. It is wonderful to read just how far the field of sports history has moved forward this past 40 years with many new initiatives, personalities and engagements with the wider public. However, some aspects of the society's history as portrayed in that special issue require clarification since, as all readers of the journal will appreciate, one of the most valuable lessons from history is that it is only through better understanding of our past that we better understand our present, and it is for this reason that I thought it worth writing to help provide some additional context. I intend to offer this clarification here by elaborating on several themes: the genesis, formation, aims and activities of the society; support of and engagement with its membership; BSSH activities to engage the wider public, and BSSH's changing profile.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 See Rafaelle Nicholson, ‘Introduction: Reflecting on the Past, Present and Future of the British Society of Sports History’, Sport in History 42, no. 4 (2022): 439.
2 Colin Crunden, ‘The Effect of Formal and Informal Influences on Physical Education in England between 1870 and 1920’ (M.Ed. thesis, University of Manchester, 1972).
3 A. J. Mangan, ‘Play Up, Play Up and Play the Game: Victorian and Edwardian Public School Vocabularies of Motive’, British Journal of Educational Studies, 20, no. 3 (1975): 324–35.
4 Carol A. Osborne and Dilwyn Porter, ‘The British Society of Sports History, c. 1982–2022: some reflections’, Sport in History, 42, no. 4 (2022): 450.
5 An email from Tony Mangan to Richard Cox, 12 September 2008, asks ‘when will I get an invitation to address the BSSH – after all I founded it with you!’
6 Tony Mangan, John Lowerson and Richard Cox, ’Statement from the Editors’, British Journal of Sports History, 1, no. 1 (1984): 3.
9 If anyone is interested in progressing this project, please contact the author. It was published by Cass before they were bought out by Taylor & Francis who remained interested but wanted to explore new ways of presenting it online.
10 See Richard William Cox, ‘A Model for Sports History Documentation: The Origins, Objectives, Methods, Findings and Recommendations of the British Sports History Bibliography Project’, International Journal of the History of Sport, 9, no. 2 (1992), 252–79; and ‘Sports history Bibliography – The Future: A Plea for Support’, International Journal of the History of Sport, 11, no. 2 (1994): 326–27.
11 Richard William Cox, ‘A Survey of the Literature on the History of Sport in Britain’, International Journal of the History of Sport, 1, no. 1 (1984): 41–59.
12 Richard William Cox, ‘Annual Bibliography of Publications on the History of Sport in Britain’, The Sports Historian, 16, no. 1 (1996): 160–214 and ‘International Bibliography of Publications on the History of Sport 2006 and Index to Sports History Conference Proceedings, Journals and Essay Collections’, Sport in History, 27, no. 4, (2007): 505–621.
13 See also, for example, Richard William Cox, ‘A Chronology of Tony Mason’s Scholarly Contribution to Sports History’, The Sports Historian, 16, no. 1 (1996): 139–142 and ‘Wray Vamplew: A Bibliography 1969–2008’, Sport in History, 29, no. 3 (2009): 540–52.
14 Richard William Cox, ‘Sports Archives, Libraries, and Museums in the UK – What should be the Policy?’, International Journal of the History of Sport, 13, no. 2 (1996): 156–59.
15 Richard William Cox, ‘Annual List of Accessions of Sporting Manuscripts in Repositories in the UK, 1991’, The Sports Historian, 13, no. 1, (1993): 87–90.
16 See, for example, Norah Titley’s A Bibliography of British Sporting Arts (1700–1984), with supplements (London, 1984–1994 and 1995–2001).
17 Liverpool’s sporting heritage is well documented in Ray Physick, ed. Played in Liverpool: Charting the Heritage of a City at Play (Liverpool, 2007).
18 See Osborne and Porter, ‘The British Society of Sports History’, 449.
19 Richard Cox, ‘The British Society of Sports History World Wide Web Bulletin Board and Information Gateway’, International Journal of the History of Sport, 14, no. 1 (1997): 206–09.
20 Richard Cox and Wray Vamplew, ‘The Historical Imperative’, BSSH archive, De Montfort University.
21 Tony Mason’s Association Football and English Society, 1863–1915 (1980) was dismissed as ‘superfluous’. See this author’s review of Peter J. Seddon, A Football Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to the History of Association Football (Wetherby, 1995), in International Journal of the History of Sport, 13, no. 2 (1996): 252–56. The Encyclopaedia of British Football (2002) was described in an issue of When Saturday Comes as typical of a group of boffins attempting to write about soccer.
22 Dil Porter recently informed me that Everton have continued to have a more generous outlook as far as making the club’s history available is concerned, having made a massive amount of archive material freely available online; see http://www.evertoncollection.org.uk.