Spain's Other Olympics
Paul K. Martin with an eyewitness account of Barcelona's rival Olympics of 1936.
Sport
Games and Godliness in Old Holland
Hugh Dunthorne on how bowls, billiards, skating and other pastimes shed light on the society and culture of the Dutch Golden Age.
Tournaments and Early Tudor Chivalry
Business with pleasure - Steven Gunn shows how the spectacle of the joust oiled the wheels of service and diplomacy as well as building up the court's image, not just for Henry VIII but for his dynasty-founding father as well.
Carry on Cricket - The Duke of Dorset's 1789 Tour
An English cricket team set out on a goodwill visit to Paris in the turbulent summer of 1789. But the proposed tour never took place. Overtaken by events, it turned back at Dover. John Goulstone and Michael Swanton compile the following account from broadsheets and from correspondence, between certain of the personalities involved.
Football's Fighting Traditions
John Williams, Eric Dunning and Patrick Murphy discuss the long history of British football hooliganism.
Knightly Codes And Piety
Juliet and Malcolm Vale trace through the web of secular status and religious instincts that made up the codes of conduct of English chivalry.
The Politics of Futbol
Duncan Shaw looks at how the entry of Spain into the EEC in 1985 furthered its process of integration into the European community. During the Franco years, the ostracised regime used football to initiate this gradual road towards acceptance. The Catalans and the Basques, however, used football as a means of popular protest.
Murderous Games: Gladiatorial Contests in Ancient Rome
Gladiatorial shows turned war into a game, preserved an atmosphere of violence in time of peace, and functioned as a political theatre which allowed confrontation between rulers and ruled.
Scottish Croquet: The English Golf Boom, 1880-1914
John Lowerson shows how, at the turn of the century, the English middle class seized with enthusiasm on the sport of golf, for it was leisurely, sociable - and affordable.
Love of the Game
Tony Mason considers the history of sport.