Sport and the British World, 1900-1930 Amateurism and National Identity in Australasia and Beyond

Sport and the British World, 1900-1930 is a ground-breaking transnational study into the way that amateurism in sport was defined in Australia and New Zealand, and the implications that this had on international understandings of Britishness. Australasians selectively applied aspects of dominant English forms of amateurism and contributed to international debates about the nature of sport as a result. They also contributed to understandings of Britishness through their engagement with Britons across the world. The relationship with their counterparts in England was tense, but the Australasians were ultimately unwilling to follow a separate path, while Canada seemed to provide a more hospitable 'British' environment that mixed modern approaches to sport with a specifically British framework. A shared British identity was strong enough to tie Australians and New Zealanders together before World War One, but its removal after the war saw them separate.