Bunk Addresses Women’s Soccer Conference in England

Spalding's soccer guide for woman

Brian D. Bunk, senior lecturer in history, was an invited speaker at the international sports history conference “Upfront and Onside: The Women’s Football Conference” held in Manchester, England, on March 8-9.

His talk “Spalding’s ‘Soccer for Women’ and the development of the women’s game in the U.S. up to the 1930s” discussed the early history of the sport in the United States.

Bunk teaches courses in world history, modern Europe and the history of sport, especially boxing and soccer. He is the author of  “Ghosts of Passion: Martyrdom, Gender, and the Origins of the Spanish Civil War.”

Sponsored in part by the National Football Museum, “Upfront and Onside” was the largest conference on the history and heritage of women’s soccer. Coinciding with International Women’s Day on March 8, the conference featured a program of influential keynote speakers from around the globe, focusing on more than 150 years of the women’s game.