Australians are often said to be obsessed with sport, and playing and watching sport have long been regarded as national pastimes. This book is an innovative and exciting study of the political, economic, social, and cultural role that sport has played in Australia since European settlement.

Sport in Australian History (Australian Retrospectives)

Children's Books

Adair, Daryl

Vamplew, Wray

Activities, Crafts & Games

Oxford University Press

This book cuts through the jargon and complicated formulae to focus on the key concepts in sports economics, introducing the fundamentals in a concise and engaging way to give the reader without a background in economics the tools with which to read and apply sports economics in their work. 
Full of real-world cases and stories, the book offers a short economic history of sport and explains the economic foundations of the world of sport today, from local leagues to mega-events. Covering both amateur and professional sports, it explores and explains the most important issues in contemporary sports economics, from player transfer markets and the rise of women’s sports to the spending behaviour of fans and the growing shadow of corruption. 
A fascinating read for any student, researcher or practitioner working in sport, or for the general reader who wants to understand the background to many of the most important stories in sport today, this is the only book on sports economics that you will ever need.

Sports Economics for Non-Economists

Business & Money

Economics

Routledge

Sport and Physical Education: The Key Concepts (Routledge Key Guides)

An accessible and fully cross-referenced A-Z guide, this book has been written specifically for students of sport studies and physical education, introducing basic terms and concepts. Entries cover such diverse subjects as coaching, drug testing, hooliganism, cultural imperialism, economics, gay games, amateurism, extreme sports, exercise physiology and Olympism.   This revised second edition, including fully updated further reading and web references, places a greater emphasis on sports science, with new entries on subjects such as:  aerobic and anaerobic respiration blood pressure body composition cardiac output metabolism physical capacity.    A complete guide to the disciplines, themes, topics and concerns current in contemporary sport, this book is an invaluable resource for students at every level studying Sport and Physical Education.

Politics & Social Sciences

Cronin, Mike

Chandler, Tim

Sociology

An accessible and fully cross-referenced A-Z guide, this book has been written specifically for students of sport studies and physical education, introducing basic terms and concepts. Entries cover such diverse subjects as coaching, drug testing, hooliganism, cultural imperialism, economics, gay games, amateurism, extreme sports, exercise physiology and Olympism. This revised second edition, including fully updated further reading and web references, places a greater emphasis on sports science, with new entries on subjects such as: <ul>
<li>aerobic and anaerobic respiration</li> <li>blood pressure</li> <li>body composition</li> <li>cardiac output</li> <li>metabolism</li> <li>physical capacity. </li> </ul> A complete guide to the disciplines, themes, topics and concerns current in contemporary sport, this book is an invaluable resource for students at every level studying Sport and Physical Education.

Based on a vast range of club and association records, Pay Up and Play the Game, first published in 1988, presents a systematic economic analysis of the emergence of mass spectator sport during the years prior to World War I. It explores the tensions behind an increasingly commercialised activity that was nonetheless suffused with 'gentlemanly' values at many levels, and highlights the retreat of the latter as working-class consumption and participation became predominant, symbolised most dramatically by the celebrated victory of proletarian Blackburn Olympic over the Old Etonians in the FA Cup final of 1883. Wray Vamplew examines the linkages between sport, gambling, crime and spectator violence, and concludes that many supposedly 'recent' developments (notably football hooliganism) in fact have their origins in this, the 'Golden Age' of sport in Britain.

Pay Up and Play the Game: Professional Sport in Britain, 1875–1914

Industries

Cambridge University Press

Based on a vast range of club and association records, Pay Up and Play the Game, first published in 1988, presents a systematic economic analysis of the emergence of mass spectator sport during the years prior to World War I. It explores the tensions behind an increasingly commercialised activity that was nonetheless suffused with 'gentlemanly' values at many levels, and highlights the retreat of the latter as working-class consumption and participation became predominant, symbolised most dramatically by the celebrated victory of proletarian Blackburn Olympic over the Old Etonians in the FA Cup final of 1883. Wray Vamplew examines the linkages between sport, gambling, crime and spectator violence, and concludes that many supposedly 'recent' developments (notably football hooliganism) in fact have their origins in this, the 'Golden Age' of sport in Britain.

Salvesen of Leith

distributed by Chatto & Windus

Games People Played: A Global History of Sport

Product Description 
This first global history of sports offers all spectators and participants reason to cheer—and to think.\nGames People Played is, surprisingly, the first global history of sports. The book shows how sports have been practiced, experienced, and made meaningful by players and fans throughout history. It assesses how sports developed and diffused across the globe, as well as many other aspects, from emotion, discrimination, and conviviality; politics, nationalism, and protest; and how economics has turned sports into a huge consumer industry. It shows how sports are sociable and health-giving, and also contribute to charity. However, it also examines their dark side: sports’ impact on the environment, the use of performance-enhancing drugs, and match-fixing. Covering everything from curling to baseball, boxing to motor racing, this book will appeal to anyone who plays, watches, and enjoys sports, and wants to know more of their history and global impact. 
 Review \n“ 
Games People Played is the culmination of a life spent working on the history of sports, and it ranges far and wide. . . . Vamplew is as informative and comprehensive as one could want. . . . An outstanding guide to [sports] role in history.” 
 ― 
Wall Street Journal\n“A finely woven overview of important themes in sports history. Illustrating how sports are impactful to human societies in positive and negative ways, Vamplew draws on global examples from Western nations, Ancient Greece, and Indigenous communities from Central America to the Middle East and South Asia. Vamplew writes about the experiences of sports from elite to lower classes, and these perspectives expand the interpretations of sports in history... Readers interested in the history of sports in global context and the historical scholarship of sports will find much to pore over, and help in understanding the sociology and economics of sports and the evolving relationship between sports and people: players, sports officials, and spectators.” 
 ― 
Booklist\n"Compendious. . . . The book does have an underlying mission, which is to argue for sport to be taken seriously as an object of study. And it shows how deeply sport is embedded in culture. . . . to understand the present you need to know the past—in sport as in anything else. Cicero said that 'to be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.' The study of games, Vamplew demonstrates, is very much for grown-ups." 
 ― 
Sunday Times\n“Vamplew’s book is a tour de force. It is for anyone who appreciates sport for what it is: at its best aspiring and inspirational, overcoming barriers of race, religion, color, creed, and politics and achieving adrenaline rushes of triumph and glory; at its worst, full of despair, heartache, and pain, frustration, rejection, and corruption. 
Games People Played is truly an enjoyable ‘must have’ for any sports fan, and indeed a necessity.” 
 -- Gordon Taylor, OBE, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association\n“Academics typically undervalue the history of almost everything that's entertaining—food, dance, pop culture, fun. But these are activities that matter to people. And if you want to know how cultures differ, overlap, interweave, and conflict, study their sports. That's what Vamplew does, with insight, lucidity, scholarship, and sympathy. For understanding the global past I'd rather recommend 
Games People Played than any book of conventional political, social, or economic history.” 
 -- Felipe Fernández-Armesto, William P. Reynolds Professor in Arts and Letters, University of Notre Dame\n“Vamplew’s 
Games People Played is one of the smartest books written about sports. Not only does Vamplew detail the evolution of sports across cultures and countries, he thoughtfully discusses how sport historians do their jobs—sifting through documents, testing established myths, and searching for truth and meaning. For an American reader, conditione

History

Reaktion Books

An authoritative, one stop overview of the history of sports in Britain from the earliest times to the present.
 • Contains over 300 entries covering individual sports, sporting controversies, issues and concepts, key individuals, famous clubs, competitions, events, and incidents
• Comprehensive introduction
• Detailed chronology
• Bibliography and illustrations

Encyclopedia of British Sport

COX, RICHARD

Jarvie, Grant

Europe

ABC-CLIO

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Vamplew, Wray. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Vamplew, Wray

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Vamplew, Wray. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Sport in Australian History (Australian Retrospectives)

Sports Economics for Non-Economists

Sport and Physical Education: The Key Concepts (Routledge Key Guides)

Sport and Physical Education: The Key Concepts (Routledge Key Guides)

Pay Up and Play the Game: Professional Sport in Britain, 1875–1914

Pay Up and Play the Game: Professional Sport in Britain, 1875–1914

Salvesen of Leith

Games People Played: A Global History of Sport

Games People Played: A Global History of Sport

Encyclopedia of British Sport