The process of converting the ‘past’ into ‘history’ involves engagement with a multitude of different sources and methods, and sports historians inevitably participate in the same debates over approaches and methodologies as their counterparts in other historical disciplines. At its heart, history remains a genre of empirical knowledge that is based upon the remains of the past, and without suitable evidence, there can be no sports history. A burgeoning range of sources has stimulated new ways of thinking and a significant expansion in the sports historian’s evidentiary base, as textual sources have been supplemented by photos, films and cartoons, uniforms, architecture, maps and landscapes, and material culture more generally. This book deals with some of these innovations. It is divided into two sections, the first offering chapter-length studies of particular methodologies, and the second, brief responses from experts in their fields to the question ‘what can sports historians learn from other disciplines?’

This volume argues for a more quantitative, economic and theoretical approach to sports history. The author notes that sport can have peculiar economics as in no other industry do rival businesses have to cooperate to produce a sellable output. He also demonstrates, via a case study of early gate-money football in Scotland, that sports producers were not always seeking profits, and often put winning games and trophies ahead of making money. Another analysis examines how industrialisation affected sport, how sport became an industry in its own right and how the workplace became a major provider of sports facilities. A look at third sector economics highlights how the popularity of football provided an ideal vehicle for charity fundraising. The book observes that most sports participants are amateurs but at the elite level the paid player has a key role, and this is assessed through case studies of the jockey and the golf professional. Finally, the author discusses and evaluates various theories relating to the historical development of the sports club. This book was originally published as a special issue of Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics.

The Routledge Handbook of Sport History is a new and innovative survey of the discipline of sport history. Global in scope, it examines the key contemporary issues in sports historiography, sheds light on previously ignored topics, and sets an intellectual agenda for the future development of the discipline. The book explores both traditional and non-traditional methodologies in sport history, and traces the interface between sport history and other fields of research, such as literature, material culture and the digital humanities. It considers the importance of key issues such as gender, race, sexuality and politics to our understanding of sport history, and focuses on innovative ways that the scholarship around these issues is challenging accepted discourses. This is the first handbook to include a full section on Indigenous sport history, a topic that has often been ignored in sport history surveys despite its powerful upstream influence on contemporary sport. The book also reflects carefully on the central importance of sport history journals in shaping the development of the discipline. This book is an essential reference for any student, researcher or scholar with an interest in sport history or the relationship between sport and society. It will also be fascinating reading for any historians looking for fresh perspectives on contemporary historiography or social and cultural history.

The role and value of science within sport increases with ever greater professionalization and commercialization. Scientific and technological innovations are devised to increase performance, ensure greater accuracy of measurement and officiating, reduce risks of harm, enhance spectatorship, and raise revenues. However, such innovations inevitably come up against epistemological and metaphysical problems related to the nature of sport and physical competition. This Special Issue identifies and explores key and contemporary philosophical issues in relation to the science of sport and exercise. It is divided into three sections: 1. Scientific evidence, causation, and sport; 2. Science technology and sport officiating; and 3. Scientific influences on the construction of sport. It brings together scholars working on philosophical problems in sport to examine issues related to the values and assumptions behind sport and exercise science and key problems resulting from these and to provide recommendations for improving its practice.

Contemporary society is highly media-saturated, and no sector more so than sport. Drawing on case studies from the Tour de France to fitness apps, this book introduces the concept of ‘mediatization’ and examines how media - historically and currently – are significant drivers for social and cultural change in sport. Utilizing different analytical approaches, case studies illustrate how so-called legacy media have historically been involved in the establishment of the institution of sport and have persistently been heavily involved in structural changes in the same domain. However, digital media currently add significantly to the development of a more complex picture of globalized interdependencies and still growing media presence in all aspects of the everyday lives of both sporting organizations, athletes and audiences/fans. The book seeks to eschew media centrism, acknowledging that changes are not only ’driven’ by media but also related to other macro-social forces of change, such as globalization, commercialization, and individualization. Offering a new analytical framework, Sport and Mediatization enables students and scholars in the transdisciplinary field of media and sports studies to analyze and understand the influence of media in a much more complex environment.

Research Methods and Design in Sport Management, Second Edition, explains research design, implementation, and assessment criteria with a focus on procedures unique to the discipline of sport management.

The Second Edition of Communication and Sport: Surveying the Field offers the most comprehensive and diverse approach to the study of communication and sport available at the undergraduate level. Newly expanded to incorporate the latest topics and perspectives in the field, the New Edition examines a wide array of topics to help readers understand important issues such as sports media, rhetoric, culture, and organizations from both micro- and macro- perspectives. Everything from youth to amateur to professional sports is addressed in terms of mythology, community, and identity; issues such as fan cultures, racial identity and gender in sports media, politics and nationality in sports, and sports and religion are explored in depth, and provide useful, applied insight for readers. Practical and relevant, epistemologically diverse, and theoretically grounded, the Second Edition of Billings, Butterworth, and Turman’s text keeps readers on the cutting-edge.