Dr Matthew L McDowell

Lecturer in Sport Policy, Management, and International Development

  • Moray House School of Education and Sport, ISPEHS
  • University of Edinburgh

Contact details

Address

Street

Moray House School of Education and Sport, St Leonard's Land, Room 4.26

City
University of Edinburgh (Holyrood Campus)
Post code
EH8 8AQ

Biography

Background

I am an historian of sport, leisure, and tourism, and I have spent over eleven years at Moray House. Previously, I was employed by Glasgow and Kingston Universities as a tutor and sessional lecturer, where I taught on a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in history, Scottish studies, and sport studies. I have also previously taken part in an Erasmus + teaching mobility at the University of Iceland, School of Education. I am originally from northern New Jersey, and am a dual UK/US citizen.

Qualifications

  • 2000-2004: The College of New Jersey: BA (with departmental honours), History 
  • 2005-2010: University of Glasgow: PhD, Scottish History

Responsibilities & affiliations

I am currently Special Issues Editor at the International Journal of the History of Sport. Additionally, I am a former editor of Northern Scotland. I have also edited special issues of Sport in History and Sport and Society (the latter as a co-editor). Additionally, I have peer-reviewed manuscripts for a variety of scholarly journals, including Scottish Affairs, Women’s History Review, the Journal of Scottish Historical Studies, Immigrants & Minorities, and The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs. I actively review books for a variety of international publications.

I am a Past Chair of the British Society of Sports History; previously, I had also been the Society's Secretary and Scottish network organiser. I have experience in organising conferences and symposia, and as an external examiner for other sport bachelors programmes.

Additionally, I have appeared in a variety of media regarding my expertise, including the BBC, Sky News, the Associated Press, Scotland on Sunday, and the Washington Post.

Undergraduate teaching

Organiser

  • SPRT08032 – Sport History
  • SPRT10055 – Sport, Tourism, and Heritage

Supervision

  • 4th-year dissertations

Postgraduate teaching

Supervision

  • Dissertations: MSc Sport Policy, Management, and International Development

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Areas of interest for supervision

I am able to supervise PhD the topics listed in the research tab. Additionally, I have the knowledge base to supervise other projects, including in the following areas:

  • The history of education (including physical education)
  • North American sport
  • The Scottish diaspora and sport
  • The history and politics of baseball
  • Hill walking, land politics, and environmentalism

Current PhD students supervised

  • Junru Li, "Sport and National Identity in the Media : The Case of Naturalised Athletes in China" (PhD, second supervisor).
  • Paul McFarlane, "Transatlantic Dimensions: The Scots and North American Soccer, c 1870s-1939" (PhD, first supervisor).
  • Bradley Sharples, "Lower-Order Sports Mega-Events and Capability Development: A Comparative Analysis of Birmingham 2022 and the Southeast Asian Games" (PhD, second supervisor).
  • Yingying Zhang, "Understanding lifestyle sport in Scotland" (PhD, first supervisor).

Research summary

My research interests are primarily in the history of Scottish, British, British Empire/Commonwealth, and "Atlantic Rim" sport.

My work is based on archival research, document analysis, media research, and other qualitative methods.

Research interests include:

  • "Second-order" sporting events
  • Lifestyle sport
  • Football
  • Curling
  • Sport tourism
  • The patronage of sport by industrialists, politicians, and landowners
  • Sport, material culture, and the politics of representation
  • Critical sport heritage.

Project activity

Current book projects:

  • Atomic Tide: Surfing and Modernity in the North of Scotland (provisional title) (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, due by 2024)
  • The Island Games, 1985-2025: Sport and Politics on the Edge (provisional title) (Scottish Universities Press, due by 2028)

Past book project:

  • A Cultural History of Association Football in Scotland, 1865-1902 (Edwin Mellen, 2013): based on my 2010 University of Glasgow PhD thesis, which examined pre-1902 football in the west of Scotland

Other project areas:

  • The politics and "legacy" of the Commonwealth Games
  • The historic relationship of Sottish sport and Scandinavia
  • Sport on the Atlantic Rim
  • Scots and sport in the British Empire/Commonwealth
  • The history of curling
  • The (critical) history of sport management
  • Historical research methods in sport/recreation management and event studies.

Past project grants

Wellcome Trust, £129,962: "Body Language: dance, movement, and physical education in Scotland and beyond (collaborator) (2017-2019)
Shackleton Scholarship Fund, £2,500: "The Falkland Islands and the Island Games, 1993-present" (principal investigator) (2017-2018)

View all 28 publications on Research Explorer

Invited speaker

  • ‘Economic and environmental narratives of surfing and tourism in the north of Scotland’, presented at Water Sports and Leisure Tourism, a conference from the Hainan Development Strategy Research Association, China, online, November 2022
  • ‘Scotland, the Commonwealth Games, and the End of Empire’ (co-presented with Fiona Skillen), presented at the International Centre for Sports History and Culture Research Webinar, De Montfort University, online, April 2022
  • ‘The End of Empire? Scotland, sport, and South Africa’ (co-presented with Fiona Skillen), presented at Kinesiology 590: Colloquium Series, Pennsylvania State University, online, April 2022
  • ‘Small-island (inter)nationalism and the Island Games’, presented at Rethinking Internationalism through Sport: Beyond the Olympic Games, Durham University, online, April 2021
  • ‘Surfing and the re-imagining of the north of Scotland’, presented at the annual meeting of the Scottish Society of Northern Studies, online, November 2020
  • ‘Sport, politics, and “stateless nationhood” in the former British Empire: a contemporary history’, presented at the Thursday Sociological Seminar series at the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, May 2018
  • ‘Scottish records, academic history, and higher education’, presented at Pass It On! Celebrating Scotland’s Sporting Heritage, University of Stirling, February 2017
  • ‘Thurso, surfing, and the Pentland Firth: pushing the envelope of a “Scottish” sporting geography?’, presented at the Moray House School of Education Cross-Institute Seminar Series, University of Edinburgh, March 2016
  • ‘Scottish football and Scandinavia, 1898-1914: the future of “European” popular culture?’, presented at Scotland and Europe: a seminar series at the Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies, University of Glasgow, October 2014
  • ‘Scottish football and popular culture’, presented at The Scotland-England Match: Football and National Identities in the UK, De Montfort University, Leicester, October 2013
  • ‘Early Scottish football and the workplace, 1865-1902’, presented at Research Seminars: the Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies, University of Glasgow, November 2009

Organiser

  • Main organiser, British Society of Sports History: annual UK conference, Glasgow, September 2012
  • Main organiser, British Society of Sports History: annual UK conference, Edinburgh, September 2016
  • Main organiser, three annual symposia of the British Society of Sports History’s Scottish network (2013-15)
  • Co-organiser, four day-long events for the British Society of Sports History’s Scottish network (2014-17)
  • Co-organiser,  Edinburgh Critical Studies in Sport (ECSS) research group: Inaugural Symposium, Edinburgh, July 2017
  • Co-organiser,  Edinburgh Critical Studies in Sport (ECSS) research group: The Global Sports Industry and Coronavirus, online, June 2020

Papers delivered

  • ‘Surfing in the north of Scotland: energy, environment, and politics’, presented at The Stoke Sessions: An International Conference on the Culture, History, and Politics of Surfing and Skateboarding, San Diego State University, April 2023
  • ‘The Royal Caledonian Curling Club and Scottish imperialism’, presented at the annual meeting of the British Society of Sports History, De Montfort University, August 2022
  • ‘Surfing in the north of Scotland: environmentalism, tourism, and tension (1970-2022)’, presented at the annual meeting of the International Society for the History of Physical Education and Sport, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, June 2022
  • ‘Scotland, the UK, and the orientation and “purpose” of Sport Management’, presented at The Global Sport Industry and Coronavirus, a virtual symposium of the Edinburgh Critical Studies in Sport (ECSS) research group, University of Edinburgh, June 2020
  • ‘Teaching (the) history of/in sport in Scottish/UK undergraduate and postgraduate sport management degree programmes: problems and possibilities’, presented at the annual meeting of the North American Society of Sports History, Boise, Idaho, May 2019
  • ‘Sport, identity, and recognition in the Falkland Islands’, presented at Island Dynamics: Special Territorial Status and Extraterritoriality, Longyearbyen, Svalbard, January 2019
  • ‘The Falkland Islands and international sporting competition’, presented at the Political Studies Association’s Sport and Politics Study Group, University of Stirling, March 2018
  • ‘The surf scene in the north of Scotland: an environment of change’, presented at The Scottish Winter, British Society of Sports History (Scottish Network), Perth, December 2017
  • ‘The surf scene in the north of Scotland: an environment of change’, presented at the annual meeting of the British Society of Sports History, University of Worcester, September 2017
  • ‘Kilmarnock Football Club in Zimbabwe, 1970: sport, the Scottish diaspora, and decolonisation’, presented at Modern British Studies 2017, University of Birmingham, July 2017
  • ‘Thurso, surfing, and the Pentland Firth: pushing the envelope of a “Scottish” sporting geography?’, presented at Firths and Fjords: A Coastal History Conference, University of the Highlands and Islands Centre for History, March-April 2016
  • ‘Local government, sporting governance, and the “legacy” of non-mega events: the case of the Meadowbank Velodrome, Edinburgh’ (co-written with Fiona Skillen), presented at the annual meeting of the International Society for the History of Physical Education and Sport, Split University, August 2015
  • ‘Local government, sporting governance, and the “legacy” of non-mega events: the case of the Meadowbank Velodrome, Edinburgh’ (co-written with Fiona Skillen), presented at the annual meeting of the Leisure Studies Association, Bournemouth University, July 2015
  • ‘The 1970 British Commonwealth Games, Scotland, and South Africa’ (co-written with Fiona Skillen), presented at Sport and Diplomacy Colloquium, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, July 2015
  • ‘The 1986 Commonwealth Games, Edinburgh: Scotland, sporting boycotts, and the former British Empire’, presented at the annual meeting of the British Society of Sports History, Leeds Metropolitan University, September 2014
  • ‘The 1970 British Commonwealth Games, Edinburgh: presentation and “national” identity’, (co-presented with Fiona Skillen), presented at Sport’s Other Games, Glasgow Caledonian University, July 2014
  • ‘Discourses and images in early “European” football: the UK and Denmark, 1898-1914’, presented at Soccer as the Beautiful Game: Football’s Artistry, Identity and Politics, Hofstra University, April 2014
  • ‘The 1970 British Commonwealth Games, Edinburgh: presentation and “national” identity’, (co-presented with Fiona Skillen), presented at the annual meeting of the British Society of Sports History, Manchester Metropolitan University, Crewe, September 2013
  • ‘The history of Scottish football: a new future’, presented at Football 150, a conference of the International Football Institute, National Football Museum, Manchester, September 2013
  • ‘Landed power, electoral politics, and the rhetoric of “freedom” in Buteshire during the long nineteenth century’, presented at ‘Freedom, Come All Ye…’, an international conference of the Association for Scottish Literary Studies and the Société Française d’Etudes Ecossaises, Universidade da Coruña, October 2012
  • ‘A critical analysis of Sir James Lamont of Knockdow (1828-1913): yachtsman, sportsman, adventurer, author – and MP for Buteshire’, presented at The Scottish Highlands: an historical reassessment?, a conference of the Economic and Social History Society of Scotland, Glasgow, September 2012
  • ‘Scottish football, Europe, and “North Sea” cultural exchange, 1898-1914’, presented at the annual meeting of the British Society of Sports History, University of Glasgow, September 2012
  • ‘A brief introduction to politics in Buteshire in the long nineteenth century’, presented at the annual meeting of the Modern British History Network, University of Stirling, June 2012
  • ‘Ailsa Craig and the leisure industry on the Firth of Clyde, c. 1800-2010’, presented at the Sport and Leisure History Seminar Series at the Institute for Historical Research, London, May 2012, http://historyspot.org.uk/podcasts/sport-and-leisure-history/ailsa-craig-and-leisure-industry-firth-clyde-c-1800-2010
  • ‘Edwardian football and the Scottish seaside town:  Rothesay, 1900-1914’, presented at Recording Leisure Lives: Sports, Spectacles and Spectators in 20th century Britain, at the University of Bolton, April 2012
  • ‘Sport, recreation and education on Bute, Arran and Great Cumbrae, c. 1850-1900’, presented at the annual meeting of the History of Education Society, University of Glasgow, November 2011
  • ‘Sport, recreation and education on Bute, Arran and Great Cumbrae, c. 1850-1900’, presented at Historical Perspectives on Scottish Education, Royal Society of Edinburgh, October 2011
  • ‘Islands unto themselves?  An examination of “football” on Bute, Arran and Great Cumbrae, c. 1840-1900’, presented at the annual meeting of the British Society of Sports History, London Metropolitan Business School, September 2011
  • ‘Team sport and the seaside:  a cultural analysis of Victorian “football” in Largs, Ayrshire, c. 1840-1900’, presented at the annual meeting of the Modern British History Network, University of Dundee, June 2011
  • ‘Drinking and hospitality of ferries and steamers in the Firth of Clyde, c. 1840-1900’, presented at Food and Drink:  Their Social and Cultural Histories, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, June 2011
  • ‘The pit, the pitch and the pub:  Scottish soccer players in the north of England, c. 1870-1900’, presented at the annual meeting of the North American Conference on British Studies, Tremont Plaza Hotel, Baltimore, November 2010
  • ‘A contextual cultural analysis of Scottish footballers in the north of England, c. 1870-1900’, presented at the annual meeting of the British Society of Sports History, Wellcome Collection, London, September 2010
  • ‘Supporting the (global) village club:  an examination of Scottish football literature and historiography, 1865-2009’, presented at Local memories in a nationalising and globalising world, FelixArchief / Universiteit Antwerpen, Antwerp, October 2009
  • ‘Football and workplace paternalism in the Vale of Leven, Dunbartonshire, 1870-1900’, presented at the annual meeting of the British Society of Sports History, University of Stirling, July 2009
  • ‘Newspaper cartoons and the drawing of early Scottish football, 1865-1902’, presented at Visual Empires, University of Sheffield, July 2009
  • ‘Sport, fraternity and empire:  the social gatherings of Scottish footballers, 1870-1902’, presented at Instruction, Amusement and Spectacle:  Popular Shows and Exhibitions, 1800-1914, University of Exeter, April 2009

More video

In the press

Evidence to UK Parliament

 

Newspaper interviews

On a proposed National Football League (NFL) franchise moving to London:

On the history of early Scottish football:

On Scottish football's protest culture:

  • The Athletic, "Why Celtic has banned the Green Brigade from attending their matches", 2 November 2023. 

On beginning research on surfing in the north of Scotland:

On beginning research on the Falkland Islands:

  • Penguin News (Stanley, Falkland Islands), “University professor to record Falklands history at Island Games”, 4 August 2017.

 

Live television

On the future of the Commonwealth Games:

 

Television documentary interviews

On the history and future of trans/intersex athletes in sport:

On the history of early Scottish football:

 

Radio interviews

On the Commonwealth Games:

  • “Dave Monk”, BBC Essex, on the history of the Commonwealth Games, 30 July 2014
  • “Toby Foster at Breakfast”, BBC Radio Sheffield, on the history of the Commonwealth Games, 24 July 2014

On events of the British Society of Sports History (BSSH):

  • “Aithris Na Maidne”, BBC Radio Nan Gàidheal, 30 October 2014
  • “Good Morning Scotland”, BBC Radio Scotland, 7 September 2012

 

Newsagency interviews

On the geography of Team GB Olympic medallists:

On the history of baseball in the UK (re Major League Baseball’s series in London):

On beginning research on the Falkland Islands:

 

Newspaper video content interviews

On the Commonwealth Games:

 

Online op-eds

On the Commonwealth Games:

 

Blogs for external sites

On the history of the UK Parliament:

On the history of surfing in the UK:

On early “European” football and the upcoming “Brexit” referendum:

On the “legacy” of sporting events:

On early British football:

Conference reviews:

  • Scotland – The Global History: 1603 to the Present, by Murray Pittock, Northern Scotland 14 (1) (2023): 82-86
  • Power and Politics in World Athletics: A Critical History, by Jörg Krieger, Journal of Sport History 49 (1) (2022): 89-91
  • From Football to Soccer: the Early History of the Beautiful Game in the United States, by Brian D. Bunk (published online 2022), https://idrottsforum.org/mcdmat_bunk220303/
  • Sport and the American Occupation of the Philippines: Bats, Balls, and Bayonets, by Gerald R. Gems, International Journal of the History of Sport 38 (4) (2021): 435-37
  • European Football and Collective Memory, ed. by Wolfram Pyta and Nils Havemann, Idrottsforum (published online 2019), https://idrottsforum.org/mcdmat_pyta-havemnn190517/
  • Sport and English National Identity in a “Disunited Kingdom”, ed. by Tom Gibbons and Dominic Malcolm, Journal of Sport History 45 (2) (2018): 251-52.
  • The Sovereign Colony: Olympic Sport, National Identity, and International Politics in Puerto Rico, by Antonio Sotomayor, Sport in History 37 (4) (2017): 549-51
  • Four Histories About Dutch Football 1910-1920: Constructing Discourses, by Nicholas Piercey, Reviews in History (published online 2017), https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/2102
  • Sport and Ireland: A History, by Paul Rouse, Irish Studies Review 25 (2) (2017): 265-66
  • The Rebirth of Professional Soccer in America: The Strange Days of The United Soccer Association, by Dennis J. Seese, Idrottsforum (published online 2016), https://idrottsforum.org/mcdmat_seese161020/
  • In the Best Interests of Baseball? Governing the National Pastime, by Andrew Zimbalist, Sport in History 36 (3) (2016): 413-15
  • Female Football Fans: Community, Identity and Sexism, by Carrie Dunn, Soccer and Society 17 (4) (2016): 650-51
  • Strong, Beautiful and Modern: National Fitness in Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Canada, 1935-1906, by Charlotte Macdonald, Idrottsforum (published online 2014), https://idrottsforum.org/mcdmat_macdonald140514/
  • Bigotry, Football and Scotland: Perspectives and Debates, ed. by John Flint and John Kelly, International Journal of the History of Sport 31 (9) (2014): 1208-10
  • ‘The Army Isn’t All Work’: Physical Culture and the Evolution of the British Army, 1860-1920, by James D. Campbell, International Journal of the History of Sport 31 (9) (2014): 1194-96
  • Scoring Off the Field: Football Culture in Bengal, 1911-1980, by Kausik Bandyopadhyay, Sport in History 32 (4) (2012): 582-84
  • Behind the Play: Football in Australia, ed. by Peter Burke and June Senyard, Sport in History 30 (4) (2010): 600-03
  • Red Scotland! The Rise and Fall of the Radical Left, c. 1872-1932, by William Kenefick, Kelvingrove Review 2 (2008)
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