Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

West Yorkshire's Sporting Heroes

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 33; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00379816.2012.665322

1465-3907

Rachel Tapp,

American Sports and Literature

Abstract This article attempts to offer an insight into the benefits of merging sport and heritage work, through the experiences of the Sporting Heroes project being delivered by the West Yorkshire Archive Service. This summer, the Olympic and Paralympic Games will open in London before millions of spectators across the globe. There is no doubting the opportunities for raising and improving the national profile and London tourism industry, and also increasing local jobs, housing and business trade through the Olympic site alone. However, the wider question being addressed here is how the rest of the UK can take advantage of the once-in-a-lifetime event coming to these shores, in particular the heritage sector, to create a legacy of sporting archival collections (mostly in digital format) and stronger, broader means of partnership-working. To add an alternative angle to this discussion, it considers whether the phenomenon of the London 2012 Games has in fact been such a driving force behind the emergence of sports heritage projects and their potentially successful outcomes. Notes [1] R. Light, Up and Under: The Rugby League Oral History Project. This project was carried out on behalf of the University of Huddersfield. Due to the success of the project, in terms of numbers of interviews gathered and interest gained from members of the public, work has continued past 2009. From 2010 onwards, Sporting Heroes has worked in collaboration with the Up and Under project to collect oral histories from Wakefield Wildcats supporters and veteran players. [2] P. Davies, The Cricket History of Calderdale and Kirklees: Archives. This web page gives links to the collections for each cricket club in Calderdale and Kirklees that were identified in the holdings of WYAS. [3] LOCOG, Cultural Olympiad. [4] Welcome to Yorkshire, Yorkshire Gold. [5] MLA, The People's Record: Sporting Heroes. http://www.peoplesrecord.org.uk/items/show/4302 This page illustrates Sporting Heroes' involvement in The People's Record, and the type of oral histories and original records collected as part of the project, which can be added to remotely. [6] Sports Heritage Network, Our Sporting Life: Sports Heritage Network. The Sports Heritage Network was set up to primarily record the range of sporting collections in museums, libraries and archives throughout the UK. The need for such a network to be established was identified following the Hood Report in 2006, a major survey of Britain's sporting heritage. [7] West Yorkshire Archive Service, Treasures of the West Yorkshire Archive Service: Yorkshire County Cricket Club. This outlines the YCCC collection held at WYAS Leeds, which was highlighted during the recent ‘Treasures of the West Yorkshire Archive Service’ project. [8] WYAS, Sporting Heroes: People and Places Guide. [9] Extract taken from WYAS interview with Andrew Sutton at Belle Vue Stadium on 13th June 2010. Available from http://nowthen.org/collections/wakefield-trinity-wildcats/supporters-memories-part-1 (cited 24 February 2012). [10] Information on the work carried out with the Warley and Newsome communities is available from http://nowthen.org/collections (cited 24 February 2012). [11] Extract taken from WYAS interview with John Thorner at Elland Road Stadium on 2nd April 2011. Available from http://nowthen.org/collections/leeds-united/family-supporters (cited 24 February 2012). [12] WYAS Digital Archives Policy, deposit form, guidance notes and first steps guide are availablefrom http://www.archives.wyjs.org.uk/archives-digital-deposits.asp (cited 24 February 2012). [13] J. Winrow, ‘Bradford Bulls and Bradford City project has backing of 2012 Games' Telegraph & Argus relating to Inspire mark awarded to Sporting Heroes. T. Scargill ‘Chance to share your sporting memories’ Telegraph & Argus article relating to Sporting Heroes Sport in Bradford Open Day. [14] Fleming, “Yorkshire football: a history,” 256.