Topic: Why did soccer have problems spreading in America (up to WWII?)?

H12 History of Soccer Midterm

For the midterm, you are required to write a paper. The paper should be around 800 words, and the emphasis here is on using secondary sources, doing your own primary source analysis, and making an argument.

All the questions have been taken from lectures given during the first half of the course. Pick ONE question.

You need to use at least two primary sources as you construct your answer, and at least two secondary sources.

Please make sure that you take all secondary source materials from the course – e.g., the lecture, the textbook, and the set readings. You will be penalized for using external information from the internet.

You can use any primary sources that we have encountered so far in class – either set readings, or ones we have looked at in lecture. You can also find your own if you want, but make sure they are relevant to the answer!

1. Compare and contrast how soccer spread through Britain’s formal and informal empires.

• To what extent were the origins of British soccer “working class”?

• What can we learn about regionalist movements (e.g. Catalonia) by looking at the spread of soccer through Europe?

• How did soccer work as a site of resistance in India and/or South Africa?

• Why did soccer have problems spreading in Ireland and/or America (up to WWII?)?

• How did the inter-war European dictators use soccer for their own political ends?

Grading rubric

You will be graded on:

• Your choice of primary sources – 10%
• Analysis of primary sources – 30%
• Use of secondary sources – 30% 
• Argument – 20%
• Quality of writing – 10%

Please use a simple form of MLA to cite your sources. At the end of a sentence where you use the material, put that information in brackets: such as (Lecture 3, slide 2), (Goldblatt, 234).

MLA guide: