Chris Stride on Football Kits and Sporting Statues

The history of replica football kits in this week's podcast brought to you by the British Society of Sport History in association with the Institute of Historical Research. Geoff talks to Dr Chris Stride of the University of Sheffield about the history of the replica kit from its inception in the 70s as a child's plaything to the 90s replica boom when all of a sudden even your Dad thought it was ok to wear a football shirt to the ground. Geoff manages to nail the tricky 'statistician' in the intro before stumbling over the relatively easy 'analysis' but fortunately Chris talks lucidly about how the rehabilitation of football's reputation began before the two epochal moments of Italia '90 and the formation of the English Premier League. Replica kits and their embrace by a new kind of left-leaning football fans was part of the process whereby football became the coolest sport of the Cool Britannia age. Chris also talks about another history project of his on sporting statues, where the public can help to build up his database of statues around the world. Tune in to hear about the curious Cold War backstory of Chris's favourite statue in Leipzig - go to the project's website to see this extraordinary piece of art. Dr Chris Stride is a Senior Lecturer in Statistics at the University of Sheffield but in addition to his work as a statistician he has a number of on-going projects on the history of sport, including an analysis of cheating in sport and a major study of sporting statues.