The Knowledge Bank

Many regulars at Play the Game conferences have been left amazed and outraged in equal measure by the research carried out by Canadian investigative journalist and academic Declan Hill, who has devoted years to researching the...[more]

Review by Steve Menary of Hans Bonde's latest book, ‘Football With The Foe – Danish sport under the swastika’, which examines wartime sport during the Nazi occupation of Denmark.  [more]

The Court of Appeal recently handed down their decision in the case of Andrew Gravel who sued Richard Carroll and Redruth RFC ("the Club") for a punch inflicted upon him during a first team game.[more]

As one of the consequences of the Cold War from the end of World War II and up to 1989, the competition on the battlefield of sport became fiercer and fiercer, and at some point rumours started circulating in the west about...[more]

"Outcasts! The Lands That FIFA Forgot" examines the much tarnished reputation of FIFA, the governing body of world football, and just how they justify the exclusion of some 'nations' from their organisation while welcoming others.[more]

Year in, year out, governments at all levels and corporate bodies spend billions of naira on Sports Development. But there is little, or nothing to show for their huge investment. Olukayode Thomas reports that, unless President...[more]

Back in the 1980s, after years of dealing with the problems of hooliganism, the majority of the UK’s top flight soccer venues had high fences installed and took on other security measures to contain fans in the event of fights...[more]

When in 2005 the draft of a European Constitution failed, sport was left without any article of its own and, thus, without a legal framework on the EU level. That is why the European Commission started a process to implement...[more]

Since China was awarded the Olympic Games in 2008, human rights organisations and politicians have applied pressure on the International Olympic Committee to use the Games as a lever to improve China’s human rights record. But...[more]

Organisers of the Olympic Games in Beijing have promised that foreign journalists can travel freely around China, interview who they want and enjoy uncenscored access to the Internet during the Games. New freer regulations on...[more]

China has long held a prominent position in the Western imagination. From Marco Polo onwards, China – or the Middle Kingdom – has been viewed as a mystical, unknown and unknowable place.[more]

In this speech to the conference 'Play Fair with Sport' held at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on 29 September 2006, director of Play the Game Jens Sejer Andersen suggests that the international communiy founds a “Global...[more]

Sport and exercise professionals generally have a deep, even romantic attachment to sport.  While the field of sport, exercise and physical education has much to commend it, it is important that professionals in this division of...[more]

Chinese football has become a showcase of what happens when match fixing is allowed to continue for too long. Fans and sponsors have almost given up on the sport, and in a new attempt to turn the tide, the China Football...[more]

Sepp Blatter suggests that professional referees could put an end to match fixing. In England, the FA has a group of paid referees and so far no instances of match fixing. But a refereeing career is short and may not pay enough.[more]