Exploring South America's sporting history, with Matthew Brown

Exploring South America's sporting history, with Matthew Brown

On Monday 30 October, Canning House hosted the London launch of Professor Matthew Brown’s new book, Sports in South America: A History.

Following a brief welcome by Jeremy Browne, CEO of Canning House, Matthew, Professor of Latin American History at the University of Bristol, delivered a presentation in which he discussed his approach to the lesser-known history of South American sport prior to Uruguay’s hosting of the inaugural FIFA World Cup in 1930.

With his research spanning sports from football and cycling to horse-racing and cricket, and citing historians and archival sources from across this vast continent, Matthew’s presentation delighted his audience. He described too how his work expands thematically beyond just sports, reaching themes of gender, race, class and (neo)colonialism, among others.

Matthew’s presentation was followed by comments from Dr Rory Miller, acting as discussant. Rory, an eminent historian of Latin America in his own right, and co-founder of the Football Industries MBA at the University of Liverpool, considered the power of sport to generate an impact greater than the sum of its parts, through community, identity, publicity and other avenues.

The discussion then opened to discussion with the audience, which included questions on the origins of Latin American cycling, Indigenous sport and participation, and colonialism.

Canning House thanks Matthew and Rory for their insightful contributions to this event, and our audience for their engagement and attention.

Learn more about Sports in South America: A History on the Yale University Press website:

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