Dr Gary James

Honorary Research Fellow, De Montfort University
 

Dr Gary James has been an active member of the Manchester’s Conference Ambassador Programme for many years, having hosted several editions of the International Football History Conference in Manchester. 

Dr James is an Honorary Research Fellow at De Montfort University. He has written extensively on football, with his current research focusing on female participation and involvement in the sport. Since the 1990s, he has gathered oral testimony from female directors, administrative staff, ‘tea-ladies’, supporters, players, players’ wives, managers’ wives, media personnel, broadcasters, athletes and others with an interest in the game.

International Football History Conference 2022

The 2022 annual International Football History Conference took place at the City Football Academy, Manchester City Football Club, and was held over two days (18 and 19 November 2022). A fantastic collection of papers were presented with contributions from leading academics from across the globe including many leaders in their field.

Dr James commented: "The inaugural International Football History Conference was staged in 2017 and proved popular with leading academics, early career researchers, football historians and students. That was followed in 2018 & 2019 by further enjoyable conferences. Due to Covid we had to cancel our 2020 & 2021 conferences but now we're back. This year's conference will build on the past and promises to be another significant conference with world leading research presented, while also providing networking opportunities, as well as the potential for collaborations."

“Manchester is such an important city for football today that it made sense to stage the inaugural football history conference here.  I see this as a great opportunity to bring football historians together to compare notes, talk about their own research and to establish a network of like-minded researchers."

In 2014 Dr James re-wrote the history of football in Manchester when he discovered what is now believed to be the region’s oldest Association Football Club. Previously it was believed that Turton FC, founded in 1871, was the oldest club in Lancashire, but Gary discovered a long-forgotten side, Hulme Athenaeum, whose roots go all the way back to November 1863. The club was founded more than a decade before it was previously thought there were any formally organised football clubs in Manchester – in the same year that the London FA was set up.

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For more information on Manchester's Conference Ambassador Programme and to find out how Manchester Convention Bureau can help you to identify, attract and support conferences in your field, please contact anthony.cassidy@marketingmanchester.com