That Was The Week That Was,
February 23 – March 1, 2026

Dear all,

As planned, last Tuesday I sent out book review proposals to 15 scholars. By Friday, nine had accepted the proposal and six had not yet answered. So, Friday afternoon I put in the post one book to the US, one to Australia, one to Norway, three to the UK and three to Sweden.

I also sent reminders to half a dozen reviewers with deadlines well overdue. I’m hoping they will all deliver during the next couple of weeks. Aiming, as we do, to publish 100 book reviews every year means that we need to put in a lot of work to find new books, to order and receive them, to find reviewers who are willing to accept proposals and deliver on time. And to remind them. All this to say that we are lucky to have a large (and expanding) pool of scholars willing to help us reach our aim. Thank you 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, Bluesky, 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, Bluesky, LinkedIn and X accounts.

Have a great week,
Kjell Eriksson
Editor

Feature Articles

Football has a real fossil fuel problem – and it’s not sustainable

While football’s global reach is often highlighted as a positive thing that brings the world together, the beautiful game risks having a rather ugly impact on the planet. This is partly down to ambitious plans to expand almost every aspect of elite football – more money, more matches, more tournaments, more fans – that have accelerated over recent decades. In this article, originally published in The Conversation, Daniel Svensson shows that football is accelerating climate change through its problematic dependence on fossil-fuel sponsorship, but also how some European clubs are pointing the way to a more climate friendly game. (Published in English 260223.)

The 2026 Winter Olympics are the most geographically dispersed ever – here’s why that could be a good thing

As a sports management specialist with a human geography background, Karin Book’s research looks at how new spatial solutions and distribution of sport activities and events across a territory increases their sustainability and long-term viability. The way Milano–Cortina has been organized represents a strategic shift towards what geographers would term a “dispersed, multinodal model”. The goal is to reduce construction, minimize environmental impact and reduce any long-term maintenance burdens. However, the most significant sustainability challenge remains transport. (Published in English 260223.)

Book Review

Seminal work on women and sports in China

The book Chinese Women Striving for Status: Sport as Empowerment by Dong Jinxia and J.A. Mangan (Peter Lang) analyses for the first time, in informed and substantial detail, the extraordinary, successful and impressive efforts of Chinese sportswomen in their collective striving for, and achieving of, national and international recognition, status and supremacy. Daniel Alsarve is impressed: “The authors have carried out a thorough and impressive empirical investigation and have produced a standard reference work that scholars and students will need to engage with for a long time to come.” (Review in English, published 260225.)

Jim Brown: Black athlete, Black self-help, and Black capitalism

In More Than an Athlete: Jim Brown, Black Capitalism, and the Black Economic Union (University Press of Kentucky), author Robert A. Bennett III explores the BEU as part of Brown’s legacy to answer larger questions about the role of Black athletes as activists, and how their activism impacted their careers and the movements they supported. Bennett’s book is reviewed by sport historian and NFL specialist Łukasz Muniowski. His presentation of Bennett’s book works well as an introduction to the history of athlete activism, of which Jim Brown was an early example, and an inspiration for contemporary civil rights activists like Colin Kaepernick. (Review in English, published 260227.)

New Blog Post

Waltzing Matildas, by David Rowe

Three years after co-hosting an epic FIFA Women’s World Cup, Australia is sole host of the Asian Football Confederation’s AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026. Regional powerhouses Japan, Korea DPR, China PR and Korea Republic will compete with the Matildas and seven other teams for this major trophy. This is a key moment for the team that emerged in 2023 as Australia’s most valuable national sport team brand, and has attracted big crowds when playing in Australia ever since. The importance of the Matildas goes well beyond women’s association football (soccer) to women’s sport in general and… (Published in English 260226.)

New Issues of Scholarly Journals

• The International Journal of the History of Sport, Volume 42, 2025, Issue 10 | ISHPES Congress: Sport in Latin America (260223)

News items (calls for papers, vacancies, etc.)

• REMINDER! Call for Papers | Breaking Barriers 2026: Reimagining Inclusion and Innovation in Sport | Weetwood Hall Estate, Leeds, June 12, 2026. Call ends April 1, 2026 (260225)
• Call for Papers | “Women’s Football in a Global Era”, Special Issue of International Journal of the History of Sport | Call ends April 3, 2026 (260225)
• Call for Chapters | Ecofeminist Drama: Theatre, Performance, and Ecological Futures, under review with the University of Illinois Press | Call ends March 30, 2026 (260225)
• Call for Papers | “Race, Racism, and Anti-Racism in and through Sport Management Research”, Special Issue of the Journal of Sport Management | Call ends September 30, 2026 (260301)