Sport & Exercise Research Seminar series: Contemporary Cricket – A Mixed Record in a Rapidly Changing Landscape. Cricket, Identity and Belonging: What the Game means in England Wales, Scotland and across Ireland?

Contemporary Cricket – A Mixed Record in a Rapidly Changing Landscape. Cricket, Identity and Belonging: What the Game means in England Wales, Scotland and across Ireland? 

Dr Russell Holden

Registration at https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/70dad77c-9557-46f0-b5c5-135c7e20a035@13e3b186-c446-4aab-9c6d-9ab9bb76816c/registration

Sport contributes a dynamic to the life of an individual as it offers something distinctive, be it physical recreation, competition, or social and solitary engagement. It interrelates with many aspects of daily life, most notably emotion, motivation and pleasure not really offered elsewhere. This is where the work of the sport sociologist and historian becomes specially valuable, particularly in redirecting attention from the details of history to what the history and evolution of sport ,and in this instance cricket, actually reveals.

In terms of cricket the key issue is where the sport fits into the social landscape of everyday life within defined geographical identities, as it remains a terrain in which our understanding of major issues in social change and globalisation can be refined, defined and contested. This presentation seeks to comprehend its place, significance and status within contemporary cultural life as well as identifying differing attitudes, level of popularity and distinct nuance across the nations.

Dr. Russell Holden is an established lecturer, writer, researcher and broadcaster specialising in the Sociology of Sport with a particular emphasis on the interconnection between Sport and Politics. He has also written and spoken widely on cricket for domestic and international audiences.

Having been a Senior Lecturer at the University of Wales Institute for over 15 years, in 2009 he launched In The Zone Sport and Politics Consultancy, drawing on his wide expertise and international work experience. offers a unique range of research, editing  and mentoring services for academics, teachers, journalists and sport policy-makers, on issues including the links between Sport and Nationalism, Identity, Human Rights, Policy-Making Gender and Peace-Building.

He has subsequently taught at Southampton Solent and the University of Worcester as well as in Germany, Poland and the United States. 

Within the past two years he has helped to establish Cricket Research Network with fellow colleagues in academia and  journalism and has been one of the Co-Founders of SPRING (Sport and Politics Research International Network Group. 

 Russell@inthezoneonline.co.uk 

@russinthezone