Lavalette - Capitalism and sport: politics, protest, people and play

Capitalism and Sport: Politics, Protest, People and Play
Edited by Michael Lavalette

For a book of 42 chapters to come together requires immense discipline from contributors. Id like to thank all the writers in this volume for meeting deadlines and writing interesting and engaging pieces.

On behalf of the publishers Id like to thank the estate of C L R James for permission to reprint the two pieces reproduced here () and Andrew Smith for help locating these works.

Sally Campbell at Bookmarks, Charlie Kimber, Martin Smith, Gareth Edwards and Pete Marsden have all offered critical comment and suggested key areas of debate we should explore. Id like to thank each for their help and support.

While I was putting this book together my father-in-law, Alan Penketh, came to live at our family home. He is a former sheet metal worker and was a shop steward and activist within the Sheet Metal Workers and Braziers Union, now part of Unite. He is currently struggling against an industrial disease and showing great fortitude in his latest fight. He has spent much of the last few months watching sport, especially football, on the televisiona passion we share, though not his ardent support for Blackburn Rovers! I would like to dedicate this book to him.

Michael Lavalette

April 2013

Politics, Protest, People and Play

EDITOR MICHAEL LAVALETTE

Capitalism and Sport: Politics, Protest, People and Play

Edited by Michael Lavalette

Published July 2013

Bookmarks Publications Ltd,

c/o 1 Bloomsbury Street, London WC1B 3QE

Copyright Bookmarks Publications

ISBN 978 1 909026 30 8
ePub ISBN 978 1 909026 42 1
Kindle ISBN 978 1 909026 43 8

Printed by Russell Press

Designed by Bookmarks Publications

Introduction: Capitalism and Sport:
Politics, Protest, People and Play

Michael Lavalette

Gareth Edwards

Jonathan Dart

Adrian Budd

Dave Swanson

John Foot

Andrew Stone

Tony Collins

Dave Renton

Phil Mac Giolla Bhin

Michael Lavalette

Sadie Robinson

Eamonn McCann

Socialist Worker

Brian Richardson

Jo Cardwell

Hassan Mahamdallie

Keith Flett

18 Cricket, racism and the Yorkshire Leagues:
Prospects for a more inclusive cricket in Yorkshire

Lionel Cliffe

Paul Blackledge

Roddy Slorach

21 From the factory to the field:
The story of Dick, Kerr Ladies FC

Peter Marsden

Denis Pye

Sylvia Pankhurst

Christian Hgsbjerg

C L R James

Phil Turner

Estelle Cooch

Dave Zirin

29 Carriers of the dream:
Tennis radicals of the 1960s and 1970s

Peter Marsden and Rita Gough

Ron Senchak

J R Johnson (C L R James)

Ken Olende

Sadie Robinson

Hazel Potter

Michael Lavalette

36 Protest, community and football:
FC United of Manchester as a fan movement

Peter Millward and George Poulton

Vassilios Ioakimidis

Peter Hain

Simon Basketter

Michael Lavalette

41 Physical Culture, sport and revolution:
The debate in post-revolutionary Russia

Gareth Edwards

Sue Caldwell

Michael Lavalette

Simon Basketter is a journalist on Socialist Worker

Paul Blackledge is Professor of Politics at Leeds Metropolitan University

Adrian Budd teaches politics at London South Bank University, where he is UCU branch secretary

Sue Caldwell is a teacher and socialist activist in east London

Jo Cardwell is a socialist activist in London

Lionel Cliffe is Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of Leeds, a founding editor of Review of African Political Economy and one-time league cricketer in South Yorkshire

Tony Collins is professor of history and director of the International Centre for Sports History and Culture at De Montfort University. He is the author of several books on the social history of sport, including Rugbys Great Split (1998), A Social History of English Rugby Union (2009) and Sport in Capitalist Society (2013)

Estelle Cooch is an assistant editor on Socialist Review

Jonathan Dart is a Senior Lecturer in Sports Studies at Leeds Metropolitan University

Gareth Edwards is a socialist activist in Portsmouth. He runs the sport-related blog inside-left.blogspot.co.uk

Keith Flett is a socialist historian and activist. He blogs at kmflett.wordpress.com

John Foot is Professor of Modern Italian History at University College London

Rita Gough is a social worker, a Unison member and a socialist activist in Lancashire

Peter Hain is Labour MP for Neath. A founder of the Anti Nazi League and supporter of Unite Against Fascism, he served as a Labour government minister for 12 years. He recently published his memoirs, Outside In (2012)

Christian Hgsbjerg is a PhD student in Leeds and editor of a new edition of C L R Jamess 1934 play about the Haitian Revolution, Toussaint Louverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History (2013)

Vassilios Ioakimidis is a lecturer in social work at Durham University

C L R James (1901-1989) was a historian, journalist, socialist theorist and essayist. His 1963 book Beyond a Boundary is a seminal work on cricket and society.

Michael Lavalette is a socialist councillor in Preston and the national coordinator of the Social Work Action Network. He is author of several books including Voices from the West Bank (with Chris Jones), which was published by Bookmarks (2011)

Phil Mac Giolla Bhin is the author of Downfall: How Rangers FC Self-destructed (2012). He is an activist in the National Union of Journalists

Hassan Mahamdallie has a background in theatre and campaigning journalism. He writes on issues of race, religion and black people in the West. He was a founding member of Unite Against Fascism

Peter Marsden is an officer with the local government union Unison

Eamonn McCann is a journalist and activist based in Derry

Peter Millward is a lecturer in sociology at Liverpool John Moores University

Ken Olende is a journalist on Socialist Worker

Sylvia Pankhurst (1882-1960) was a leading suffragette and founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain

Hazel Potter is a freelance writer and consultant who spends much of the winter in the left wing of Englands travelling cricket support. She is a long-term fans activist, a former fanzine editor and current contributor to numerous sports fanzines, publications and websites

George Poulton