Public lecture : Games with frontiers - Football, nationalism and the FIFA Men’s World Cup

This public lecture will be delivered by Professor Alan Bairner, Professor of Sport and Social Theory in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University, on Wednesday 7th December at 5:30pm. Timed to coincide with the FIFA Men’s World Cup, taking place in Qatar this year, the talk will discuss the history and expansion of the tournament with a particular focus on international rivalries and global politics. The talk will also touch on other countries that will not be in Qatar and the implications of failing to qualify. These issues will be examined in relation to George Orwell’s assertion that international sporting competitions can best be described as ‘mimic warfare’.