SPRING Core Meeting

1 Review of Second SPRING Conference hosted by Birkbeck College in London on October 27/ 28. All the feedback received thus far indicated that this was a very successful event, with approximately 50 delegates in attendance.The calibre of the keynote addresses and the panels was very high. Formal thanks were expressed to Sean Hamil and his team at Birkbeck, and to colleagues at the University of Vic in Catalonia for their collective efforts in staging the London conference.

2 Initial discussion took place about the hosting of the third SPRING conference in early 2025.There have already been some positive expressions of interest and an email has been sent out to SPRING members asking for suggestions for the hosting of the next conference.The deadline for this is February 1st 2024. We will then make a decision.

3 Update on membership. SPRING currently has 64 members, more than double at this time last year. This was regarded as very positive.The consensus was that we should allow SPRING to grow informally , with the hope that in time the membership would expand globally and in respect of diversity.

4 Future SPRING activities. Online and hybrid webinars will recommence in January 2024, with a view to holding them once every month/ six weeks until the end of July. We already have proposals from Michael and Russell to hold a panel in early 2024.Dates and details tbc. If any SPRING members have an idea for a panel he/ she/ they would like to host, please let us know.This could be a book promotion, a panel discussion on a research topic, a topical event (eg Paris Olympics 2024, European Nations Football Championship in Germany 2024). We would also like to see the SPRING website develop and be used proactively to promote joint activities and cross- group collaboration ( eg as with Russell’s Collaboration with Sean’s group in Galway; in July 2024, Barcelona will host the European Association of Anthrolologists Conference- Xavi and me will share a panel with Mariann Vacsi, University of Reno, Nevada.SPRING would like to encourage more of this cross – fertilisation).

5 Sean Hamil spoke about his idea to use the next SPRING Conference to produce a published outcome ( edited book) on a coherent stream of  papers in Sport and Politics subject area.A special issue of an academic journal was mentioned, as was our own SPRING Review , with possibly two issues a year. More discussion to take place but there is keen interest in developing publications via SPRING.

6 A brief update was given on Frontiers Sports and Active Living themed special issue.I was pleased to report that we have now reached the threshold of ten submissions with a couple of others in the pipeline.There will soon be an online book.The publications are good and diverse.Many thanks to all who have contributed and for sticking with this project.

7 Date of next SPRING Core meeting. MId – February 2024.Details and agenda tbc

Best Wishes – Jim O’Brien, Co- Founder, SPRING