'Playing Fields not Battlefields': Pacifism, Non-Violence and Sport in Inter-War Britain

Whilst scholars have tended to focus on hegemonic internationalist sporting practices and their promotion of peace, this paper explores peace activists’ use of sport as a means to create a community of anti-war individuals, on both the domestic and international levels. This study looks at two organisations to ascertain the role of physical activity in pacifism organisations: the League of Nations’ Union and the Peace Pledge Union. In doing so the paper outlines that, in the 1920s sport was used to foster international kinship as peace activists believed it to be an effective antidote to war and militarism. This largely rested upon large-scale internationalist and nationalist sporting events, most notably the Olympics. When international conflict and fascism was gaining ground across Europe, this belief was questioned. As pacifism became more absolute, physical activities were increasingly used to test an individual’s commitment to non-violence.


Emily Calcraft is an AHRC White Rose College of Arts and Humanities funded PhD student at the University of Sheffield. Her research specialises in the use of education by the pacifist movement in Inter-war Britain. 

All welcome- this seminar is free to attend, but advance registration is required.