This episode Conor Heffernan talks to Conor Murray about sport in Ireland in the twentieth century and the way in which the histories of soccer and rugby are entwined with political developments on the island of Ireland.
Read more Sport in History Podcast 54 – Conor Murray and Sport in Ireland
The history of Physical Culture this week with Dr Conor Heffernan of the University of Texas at Austin talking about his research into physical culture in Ireland in the twentieth century, as well as the history of weightlifting and the search for the 1000lb bench press.
There's chat about Sinn Fein's trash-talking of the English physique in the 1900s and an insight into the use of tennis balls and tight towels in power-lifting. You can also read his article on Irish body building at the excellent Playing Pasts website.
Irish soccer history this week with Conor Heffernan talking to Dr Conor Curran, who is Dublin City Council's official football historian. Conor talks about his ground-breaking study of sport in Donegal which was publish as The Development of Sport in Donegal, 1880-1935 in 2015. He also talks about the oral histories he conducted when writing about the experience of Irish migrant football in the post-War years for his Irish Soccer Migrants: a Social and Cultural History, which was published in 2017.
Women's soccer in Ireland in this week's podcast brought to you by the British Society of Sport History in association with the Institute of Historical Research with Helena Byrne, who is Curator of the Digital Archive at the British Library.
Read more Sport in History Podcast 21 – Helena Byrne at the IHR
The next BSSH Sport and Leisure History seminar at the IHR will be given by Helena Byrne of the British Library talking about Irish women's soccer. Do come along for a stimulating discussion.
6pm Mon 7th October, John S Cohen Room
A regular seminar attendee, Helena Byrne of the British Library talks to Raf about her work as a web archivist at the British Library and what resources the Library has to help researchers into sport history. Helena also talks to us about her own writing on the history of women's football in Ireland which was recently published in Sport in History.
