The Foreign Office and international sport: 1918-1948

This thesis examines the Foreign Office's involvement in international sport from the end of the First World War to 1948, with an introductory survey of earlier incidents. The evolution of political intervention in the cultural area of sport is traced in an attempt to give historical perspective to the contemporary debate on the relationship between politics and sport. The records of the Foreign Office for this period show that while involvement in sport was a predominantly informal part of its work, sport was used consistently for the political ends of diplomatic advantage and national self-advertisement, and to help re-inforce on the cultural level the expediencies and demands of foreign policy. The infrequent examples of high-level political involvement, including the Cabinet's discussion of the location of the 1940 Olympic Games and the governmental backing given to the 1948 Olympic Games in London, are discussed as part of a wider system of intervention.The records of the Foreign Office, held at the Public Record Office, have been the main source for research, along with relevant files of the British Council, the Cabinet Office, and the Home Office. Sources from the two sports organisations most frequently involved in state involvement, the British Olympic Association and the Football Association, have also been used for supplementary information.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

phd

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Year dc:date.issued

1991

Author dc:creator

• Polley, Martin Robert

• JN Sefydliadau Gwleidyddol (Ewrop)

Dc Identifier Grantnumber

UWTSD

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.uwtsd.ac.uk:2005