Martin Polley, Sports Historian

Welcome to my website. It features, from September 2025, a monthly blog post, along with regularly-updated news about my work and activities. The Press and Podcasts section carries links to external media stories and features that I’ve been involved with, and my biography. You can also check out my publications, and buy my book The British Olympics direct. If you would like to get in touch, use the Contact page.

Latest News

April 2026: Kicking the Habit Workshop in London

Kicking the Habit, the Wellcome Trust-funded project on the history of unhealthy sponsorship in sport, held its first workshop in yesterday. Hosted by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the day brought together historians, sociologists, and colleagues from marketing, media, and communications to explore ‘Historicising Commercial Determinants of Health’. Case studies ranged from Victorian body-building to air fresheners, via pelvic health, cosmetic skin-lighteners, gambling, condom branding during the early years of AIDS, teenage alcohol consumption, and more. It was a fascinating day full of insights, critical conversations, collaborations, all rounded off with a social in Somers Town. Huge thanks to the amazing Kicking the Habit team for organising such an original event.

March 2026: New Website for Kicking the Habit

I’m delighted to promote the new website for Kicking the Habit, the Wellcome Trust-funded project on the history of addictive sponsorship in sport. The project explores the role of tobacco, alcohol, and gambling sponsorship in British sport since the 1970s. It’s based at the University of Nottingham in collaboration with the University of Glasgow and the London School opf Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, led by Anna Greenwood, Alex Mold, and Heather Wardle, with post-docs Fabiola Creed, Jamie Banks, and Daniel O’Neill. I’m honoured to be on the project’s advisory board. The new website explain the project and its planned outputs, and includes a new interactive feature to designed to create a database and a map of memorabilia of this kind of sponsorship.

February 2026: History Behind the Headlines Briefing podcast on the Winter Olympics

On the opening day of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina, BBC History Extra invited me to explore the tentative origins of the Winter Olympics, and to challenge the official tagline that these are the ‘Centenary’ Games. You can find the free recording of my briefing here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

February 2026: Webinar on the origins of the Winter Olympics

British skater Madge Syers, winner of two medals at the 1908 London Olympics

Join me on 18 February for a free webinar organised by the Olympic Studies Research Centre at the University of East London (UEL), ‘From the Suburbs of London to the Slopes of St Moritz: the evolution of the Winter Olympics, 1908-28’. With UEL’s Executive Director of Sport Strategy and Growth, Hilary Lissenden, in the chair, I’ll speak about London 1908’s Winter Olympic Programme, and Philip Barker of Inside the Games will then take the story on to St Moritz 1928 via the cancelled Games of Berlin 1916, Antwerp 1920, and Chamonix 1924. The session will start at 18:00 UK time, and booking is essential. It will be recorded for anyone who can’t make it on the day. Book here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/from-the-suburbs-of-london-to-the-slopes-of-st-moritz-tickets-1982281885481?aff=oddtdtcreator

February 2026: Olympic History day in London with Carleton College

I had a great day in London last Thursday, working with students from Carleton College, a liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, who are here for their global sports residential module, led by the wonderful Bob Carlson. We spent the morning in their classroom in Bloomsbury, exploring the history of London as Olympic host city in 1908, 1948, and 2012. We then headed east to Stratford, where I led them on a walking tour of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to look at the legacies of 2012, with stops at Mandeville Park to chat about Paralympic history and the Wenlock Olympian Games in the Great British Gardens. This was my fifth time teaching this class since 2016, and it’s always a pleasure to talk sports history and London history with such engaged and dynamic students.

February 2026: ‘Off-Piste Olympics’, my new article in BBC History Extra

Front cover of BBC History Extra, February 2026

I’ve got an article in the February 2026 edition of BBC History Extra. Entitled ‘Off-Piste Olympics’, it explores the Winter Olympic Programme that formed part of the London 1908 Olympic Games. The sports – football, rugby union, (field) hockey, lacrosse, boxing, and, crucially, ice skating – took place in October 1908 across three venues in London. The article puts this development in the context of London 1908, explores some of the events, and aims to widen out our understanding of Winter Olympic history just as the 2026 Games start in Milan-Cortina.

September 2025. Book Launch, Richard Holt’s Sport and the British: a modern history

A line-up of seven white people standing against a beige wall. From the left, there are two men, then a woman, a man, a woman, and two men. The man in the centre is holding a book. They are all smiling.
From left to right: Max Portman, Dilwyn Porter, Amanda Callen-Spen, Richard Holt, Raf Nicholson, Tony Collins, and Robert Colls.

It was a pleasure to attend the book launch last night for Richard Holt’s Sport and the British, published by Oxford University Press. The original, published in 1989, is the key work of synthesis for a generation of sports historians – it really set the agenda for so much research that has come since in all fields of the social and cultural study of sport. Rather than simply update it for a second edition, Holt calls this version ‘a new book in the shell of an old one.’ The launch, a co-hosting by the British Society of Sports History and the Institute of Historical research and held in Senate House, involved a panel discussion of the book featuring Raf Nicholson, Dilwyn Porter, Robert Colls, Tony Collins, and Richard Holt. chaired by Amanda Callen-Spen and convened by Max Portman. It was great to see so many friends and former colleagues there, and to meet new people, all sharing in Richard’s contribution to the field.

September 2025. Book Launch, Histories of Women’s Football in Britain and Ireland

Three white people - one man and two women - are sitting on chairs on a small dais. The women in the middle is holding a copy of a book. Behind them is a vase of flowers on mantelpiece, and gilt decorations on an off-white wall.
Gary Shaw, Fiona Skillen, and Helena Byrne at the launch of the new book

It was a pleasure to attend a special event last night at the Embassy of Ireland in London – the launch of the latest book in the Peter Lang series Sport, History and Culture. The book is an edited collection, Histories of Women’s Football in Britain and Ireland, edited by the excellent team of Helena Byrne, Gary James, and Fiona Skillen. The evening started The evening started with a welcome and introduction from Orla McBreen, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy, followed by an in-conversation and Q&A with the editors. It was a packed house, with a great audience that included some of the authors of chapters in the book, and many former players and administrators who had given interviews and collaborated in other ways. It was great to see this important sports history book getting its launch in such prestigious surroundings.

September 2025. FIFA MA 25th Anniversary Celebrations in Zurich

Five people sitting on chairs at the front of an auditorium. From the left are two men, then a woman speaking into a microphone, then another woman and a third man. The screen behind them carries FIFA logos in white against a blue background, and the title Sport & Future Conference.
Left to right: Kevin Tallec Marston, Dan Whymark, Beatrice Calliani, Sarai Bareman, and Martin Polley

It was a pleasure to attend the 25th Anniversary celebrations for the FIFA MA at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich on 5-6 September. Having served as the Co-Scientific Director of the Sport Humanities module at De Montfort University (DMU) for eleven years before my retirement in 2025, it was great to see colleagues and catch up with alumni from this amazing programme. I was also honoured to chair the panel on the past, present, and future of women’s football with a fantastic panel: Dame Sarai Bareman, Chief Women’s Football Officer at FIFA; Beatrice Calliani, who worked in Team Services with UEFA at the Women’s EURO 2025; Dan Whymark, Founder of MIVA Sports; and Dr Kevin Tallec Marston of CIES. The conference and social events were a great celebration of the programme, the alumni, and this unique transnational educational partnership between DMU, SDA Bocconi, the University of Neuchatel, CIES, and FIFA.

July 2025. New Children’s Book: What Came First?

Kit Frost and Aaron Cushley’s new educational book for children, What Came First?, is now out with HarperCollins. The book is made up of themed sections of facts on the age of things in the firleds of science, technology, animals, geography, and lots more. I served as the consultant for the sections on sport and games. You can buy the book here.

June 2025. Blue Plaque Unveiling in Bradford: Theatre Educator Esme Church.

On 6 June 2025, Historic England unveiled its newest National Blue Plaque at 26 Chapel Street, Bradford, Yorkshire. This one honours actor, director, and theatre educated Esme Church (1893-1972). Church was born in London and settled in Bradford in 1944, where she founded and ran the Northern Theatre School. I’m on the National Blue Plaque Panel that commissioned the plaque, and I attended the unveiling to represent the Panel. Here are some links to the coverage of the unveiling: Museum and Heritage Advisor; BBC; Bradford Civic Society; Historic England.

June 2025. New Dictionary of National Biography entry: Ron Hill, athlete and entrepreneur

A monochrome photo of a white male athlete celebrating at the end of a race on a running track. He has his right arm raised as he crosses the line, and he has got a big smile. He is wearing a strong vest and white shorts, and the number 108 on his vest. Behind him is part of the stadium's grandstand, packed with spectators.
Ron Hill in action

My piece on athlete, designer, and entrepreneur Ron Hill (1938-2021) is now live in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

When I was a young distance runner in the 1980s, Hill was a big influence on me, through his clothing and his training and diet routines, so it was great to be invited to write his biography for this prestigious publication. Hill was a triple Olympian, a Commonwealth Marathon champion, and a holder of multiple honours in cross-country and distance running, and he used the skills gained from his PhD in textile design to create revolutionary vests, shorts, shoes, and tracksters for elite and grassroots runners. He also managed to run every day for 53 years!

Oxford DNB is a subscription service, so check with your local or university library for access.

May 2025. Blue Plaque Unveiling in Plymouth: Footballer Jack Leslie

Historic England’s newest Blue Plaque, for footballer Jack Leslie (1901-88), was unveiled at his former home in Glendower Road, Plymouth on 16 May 2025. I’m on the National Blue Plaque Panel that commissioned the plaque, and I spoke at the unveiling. Here are some links to the coverage of the unveiling: The Guardian; BBC; Plymouth Argyle FC; The Box; Historic England.

August 2024. National Rail Consultancy: Sporting Routes

In Summer 2024, I joined up with National Rail to serve as the historical consultant on their audio series Sporting Routes. We produced eight themed episodes, hosted by sports broadcaster Kirstie Gallagher, which explored the links between the railways and sport in the past and the present. I also appeared in one of the episodes, being interviewed by Kirstie on the place of railways in the history of horse racing.

April 2024. New article – Finding My Way: Walking as Research in Sports History

PARSE is an international artistic research journal based in the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Their special issue in Spring 2024, edited by Jessica Hemmings, was called Thinking in Motion. My contribution was an autobiographical account of the processes that I used in researching the route of the 1908 Olympic Marathon. The full text of my article is here, and you can then link to the rest of the special issue.