ABSTRACT
This article offers a brief exploration of the historiography of labour history, a sub-field or sub-discipline that shares the same essential methodological base as sports history. It argues that labour history, sometimes derided for being conservative and narrowly focused thematically and methodologically, has actually been a site for considerable forward-thinking research in recent years. It examines some of this new research in two key areas – the relationship between class and gender on one hand and global, transnational, and comparative approaches on the other. Finally, it suggests that the institutional fragmentation of labour history is not necessarily as negative for the intellectual future of the field as is sometimes portrayed and that this might offer an alternative trajectory for those interested in the future of sports history.
