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.
Notes on Contributors Introduction; S.Wagg The Invention of Sporting Tradition: National myths, Imperial Pasts and the Origins of Australian Rules football; T.Collins From Evil to Expedient: the Legalisation of Professionalism in English Football, 1884-85; D.Russell Peacefully, at Wembley Stadium on 20 April 1974: the Quiet Death of Amateur Football in England; D.Porter Rough Manly Sport and the American Way: Theodore Roosevelt and College Football, 1905; M.Oriard Baseball, Invented Tradition, and Nationalistic Spirit; G.Gems 'Her Dainty Strength': Suzanne Lenglen, Wimbledon and the Coming of Female Sport Celebrity; S.Wagg Before and After 1968: Reconsidering the Introduction of Drug Testing in the Olympic Games; I.Ritchie The 'Revolt of the Black Athlete': Tommie Smith and John Carlos's 1968 Black Power Salute Reconsidered; M.Smith The D'Oliveira Affair: Cricket, 'Race' and Politics; R.Steen The Physical Activism of Billie Jean King; J.Schultz John L. Sullivan: The Champion of All Champions; E.J.Gorn The 'Packer Affair' and the Early Marriage of Television and Sport; D.L.Andrews & A.D.Grainger All these Years of Hurt: Culture, Pedagogy and '1966' as a Site of National Myths; M.L.Silk & J.Francombe The 1960 Rome Summer Olympics: Birth of a New World?; B.Keys
