Call for Papers: ‘Football 150’ Conference 2-4 September 2013 – National Football Museum, Manchester, England

In 2013 association football will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Football Association. From a small group of enthusiasts meeting in the Freemason’s Tavern in London, the game has grown to become the world’s favourite sport, a multi-billion industry and a truly global cultural phenomenon.

The Football 150 conference will mark this historic anniversary and seek to explore the historical, sociological, artistic and all other aspects of men and women’s football in all its varieties. Organised jointly by the National Football Museum, International Centre for Sports History and Culture (De Montfort University) and the International Football Institute (University of Central Lancashire), the conference invites scholars of all disciplines to take part.

The conference’s opening address will be given by Sir Trevor Brooking, the FA’s Director of Football Development. Keynotes will be given by Karen Espelund of UEFA’s executive committee and former general secretary of the Norwegian FA, David Goldblatt, author of The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football, and Tony Mason, author of the groundbreaking Association Football and English Society.

The conference will develop a blueprint for the future of football and its study, and submissions are invited around the following areas: • The histories of football • Football heritage • Football and the arts • The globalisation of football • Fan culture and communities • Racism and nationalism • The business of football • Disability and football • Football and gender and sexuality

Please send abstracts of no more than 200 words to Jane Clayton (jclayton1@uclan.ac.uk) by Monday 25th February 2013.

For more information, please visit: www.football150conference.wordpress.com