Dear all,
Last week the following items were published on idrottsforum.org (see below; language and publication dates, YYMMDD, in brackets). Click on the red headings to go to content. Utilize the Google Translate service to turn Scandinavian language pages into (some sort of) English.
And remember, if you’re not already hooked up to one of the social media outlets that we utilize, for now they are Facebook, LinkedIn and X, you’re missing quite a lot of information from idrottsforum.org that never appears on the website. So, if that is the case, check out, by clicking on the names, our Facebook, LinkedIn and X accounts.
Have a great week,
Kjell Eriksson
Editor
Feature Articles
The BBC is axing Football Focus – here’s what it means for sports broadcasting
The BBC has announced the end of one of its longest-running programmes, Football Focus. It’s been a fixture of Saturday lunchtimes since 1974. But the final whistle will blow when this season finishes. The BBC has blamed a decline in audience for the BBC One broadcast as fans now get their pre-match news and views from a wider range of sources. In this Conversation piece, Richard Jones looks at the BBC sports reporting and the changes that are related to the general media landscape upheaval. (Published in English 260427.
Violence and values in combat sport: A Summary
In this essay, Joseph Lewandowski argues for a distinction among dangerous sports, dangerous sports that involve violent interactions and constitutively violent sports. He maintains that while all combat (i.e. constitutively violent) sports are dangerous, not all dangerous sports are constitutively violent. Clarifying such a distinction makes explicit the unique nature of combat sport violence; it also highlights how and why participation in combat sport competitions, especially for youth, should be understood as a special case in debates about the value of dangerous sport more generally.. (Published in English 260429.
Book Reviews
Mike Mentzer – the man behind the muscles
Mike Mentzer was a strikingly handsome man with a brilliant mind and a “perfect” physique — the first bodybuilder to receive a perfect score in both amateur and professional competitions. But he was also a man who wrestled with mental illness his entire life and ended up living on the streets and being sent to prison, but eventually finding it within himself to reboot his intellect and revolutionize bodybuilding training. Łukasz Muniowski has read John Little’s biography, which, he concludes, is not a simple hagiography or a thing for bodybuilding fans, but a story about an actual person, who lived, sweated and suffered while trying to achieve perfection in his craft. (Review in English, published 260428.)
Juju, “spiritual doping”, and Ubuntu: Extending the Study of Doping through African Perspectives
Doping and Anti-Doping in Africa: Theory and Practice is the first book to focus on the problem of performance-enhancing substances and methods – also known as doping – in sports from African perspectives. Edited by Yamikani Ndasauka & Simon Mathias Makwinja, contributions from nearly twenty African scholars and practitioners provide commentary and insight into the African experience. Jules Woolf’s knowledgeable review finds that although some arguments are more fully developed than others, the book opens important avenues for future research and invites scholars and policymakers to engage more fully with the cultural, philosophical, and social contexts in which doping occurs. (Review in English, published 280430.)
Scholarly Journals
Since its inception 23 years ago, idrottsforum.org has been proudly presenting every new issue of almost all scholarly journals within the field of sport studies, widely defined. However, after carefully considering the whole situation – with increasing number of journals and number of issues per journal – we have decided to let go of the original ambition; it has become too time-consuming. Henceforth we will publish alerts about new journal issues on our social media accounts (Facebook, LinkedIn and X), and also special alerts when particularly interesting articles in scholarly journals are published online, giving priority to open access publications. The Scholarly Journals page will list all journals within the extended sport studies field for your information, and we will endeavor to update it with any new titles being launched.
News items (calls for papers, vacancies, etc.)
- Public defense of doctoral thesis | Leading across multilevels. Understanding leadership and management in high-performance sport in Norway and Denmark by Allan Grønkjær, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, April 27, 2026 (260427)
- Call for Papers | “Sports Communication and AI from Organizational Perspectives: Transforming Culture, Practices, and Ethical Standards”, Special Issue of Journal of Global Sport Management | Call ends October 1, 2026 (260427)
- Call for Participation | “The 2026 World Cup: Human Rights, Sportswashing, & Authoritarianism”, CCSE Talk | Free online seminar, May 20, 2026, 5pm CEST (260503)
