Despite the enormous popularity of field hockey as a grassroots participant sport, its appearance at the Olympic Games since 1908 for men (and since 1980 for women), and the regular cycle of regional and international championships, academic studies exploring the history of the sport are relatively scarce beyond its role in early women’s sport activities. Also rare are works that attempt to explore the game in a global context.
The intention is to create a special issue that spans a variety of aspects related to the history of the sport around the globe by means of papers that explore the development of field hockey at individual, club, local, county, state, national, or international levels in diverse regions.
Possible perspectives or themes that could be addressed in an historical framework include:
- Biography
- Culture
- Gender and/or sexuality
- Heritage
- Management
- Media
- Nationalism and/or national identity
- Olympic inclusion, including the Youth Olympic Games
- Politics and/or diplomacy
- Race and/or ethnicity
The special issue editors anticipate achieving a broad geographical spread across the papers, reflecting the fact that the sport of field hockey has a strong presence on all six continents.
It is expected that all papers will adopt an appropriate historical and/or biographical methodology. Submissions with a strong heritage focus or that draw on a wide array of primary sources are especially welcome.
Please note that as part of this project, the three editors will also be establishing the Field Hockey History Network, an online community of scholars with an interest in the history of field hockey. This Network will operate with the support of The Hockey Museum in Woking, England.
