International Centre for Sports History and Culture, De Montfort University
The Scotland England Match – Football and National Identity in the UK
Saturday 26 October 2013, Leicester
This is a football conference primarily about the fans.
The first official Scotland England international was held in 1872 at the West of Scotland Cricket Ground in Partick. About 4000 people paid a shilling each to see a 0-0 draw. After that the Scotland England match became a fixture of huge sporting significance in these islands.
In the run up to the Scottish referendum we will examine football as a focus for national identity. How important is football to how people feel about being Scottish or being English? Does it matter more in some countries than others – or, to put it another way, does Alex Salmond need Scottish football fans more than he needs Scottish oil and gas, and does David Cameron need England football fans at all? What about Welsh and Irish football traditions? How do club identities fit into the national picture? And how do we compare with the football nationalisms of other countries?
We have brought together the leading historians of football and national identity to look at these questions.
Contributions from Robert Colls (DMU), Mike Cronin (Boston College, Ireland), Tom Devine (Edinburgh), David Goldblatt (The Ball is Round), Matt McDowell (Glasgow), Martin Johnes (Swansea), Richard McBrearty
(Scottish Football Museum), Kevin Moore (National Football Museum), Dilwyn Porter (DMU) and John Williams (Leicester).
The full conference programme is available HERE.
To register and for further information please contact ICSHC@dmu.ac.uk<mailto:ICSHC@dmu.ac.uk>
International Centre for Sports History and Culture
Clephan Building
De Montfort University
Leicester, LE1 9BH
UK
Tel; +44 (0) 116 250 6486
Email; ICSHC@dmu.ac.uk<mailto:ICSHC@dmu.ac.uk>
Follow us on twitter at: www.twitter.com/ICSHC<http://www.twitter.com/ICSHC>
