Amateurism is an important theme in the history of modern British sport. That it is so often preceded by the word ‘gentlemanly’ is indicative of the way in which most historians have studied it to date: (1) as an ideology associated primarily with aristocratic and/or middle-class sport; (2) as a set of principles which, when embodied in the form of regulations, were designed to underpin the separation of the classes in sport. As a result, our knowledge of amateurism and the ways in which it impinged upon the sporting lives of working-class men and women over time is limited.
This symposium seeks to address this imbalance within existing research. Abstracts of c.250 words are therefore invited, but not limited to, the following areas of interest:
- Exclusionist practices and their impact on working-class athletes ‘Shamateurism’ and other subversive strategies Working-class amateur idealism
- Amateurism in women’s sport
- Amateurism and recreational sport
- Amateurism and voluntarism in sport – the legion of unpaid officials
- The working-class and the Olympic movement
Please submit abstracts / enquiries to Dr Carol Osborne OR Professor Stephen Wagg (Leeds Metropolitan University). It may be too late, but it could be worthwhile asking….
