Myths and Milestones in the History of Sport

The conventional history of sport, as conveyed by television and the sports press, has thrown up a great many apparent turning points, but knowledge of these apparently defining moments is often slight. This book offers readable, in-depth studies of a series of these watersheds in sport history and of the circumstances in which they came about.

Introduction: Myths and Milestones in the History of Sport
Stephen Wagg

1 TheInvention of Sporting Tradition: National Myths, Imperial Pasts and the Origins of Australian Rules Football
Tony Collins

2 FromEvil to Expedient: The Legalization of Professionalism in English Football, 1884–85
Dave Russell

3 Peacefully at Wembley Stadium on 20 April 1974: The Quiet Death of Amateur Football in England
Dilwyn Porter

4 Rough, Manly Sport and the American Way: Theodore Roosevelt and College Football, 1905
Michael Oriard

5 Baseball, Invented Tradition, and Nationalistic Spirit
Gerald R. Gems

6 ‘Her Dainty Strength’: Suzanne Lenglen, Wimbledon and the Coming of Female Sport Celebrity
Stephen Wagg

7 Before and After 1968: Reconsidering the Introduction of Drug Testing in the Olympic Games
Ian Ritchie

8 The‘Revolt of the Black Athlete’: Tommie Smith and John Carlos’s 1968 Black Power Salute Reconsidered
Maureen Margaret Smith

9 TheD’Oliveira Affair: Cricket, ‘Race’ and Politics
Rob Steen

10 ThePhysical Activism of Billie Jean King
Jaime Schultz

11 John L. Sullivan: The Champion of All Champions
Elliott J. Gorn

12 The‘Packer Affair’ and the Early Marriage of Television and Sport
David L. Andrews and Andrew D. Grainger

13 All these Years of Hurt: Culture, Pedagogy and ‘1966’ as a Site of National Myths
Michael L. Silk and Jessica Francombe

14 The 1960 RomeSummer Olympics: Birth of a New World?
Barbara Keys

Index