I was born and brought up in West London. I took my BA (Hons) (first class) in History from St David’s University College, Lampeter in 1987, and stayed on there for my history PhD, ‘The Foreign Office and International Sport, 1918-1948’, supervised by Dr Malcolm Smith. I successfully completed this in 1991. I did some part-time history teaching alongside my PhD at Lampeter, but then left academia for two years to works as a historical research assistant in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. I returned to teaching in 1992, taking up a lectureship in history at King Alfred’s College, Winchester. I stayed there until 2001, teaching in both the History and Sport Studies departments. I also served as programme director for two History MA programmes. In 2001, I joined the University of Southampton as Senior Lecturer in Sport Studies, teaching cultural elements of sport in the BA (Hons) Sports Management and Leadership and BSc (Hons) Sport Studies programmes. I also served as the Programme Director for Sport Programmes between from 2001 until 2006.

My research is all historical, and predominantly but not exclusively on sport. In 1998 I published my first book, Moving the Goalposts: a history of sport and society since 1945 (Routledge), followed in 2000 by A-Z of Modern Europe 1789-1999, also with Routledge. In 2003, I edited a five-volume collection of primary sources, The History of Sport in Britain, 1880-1914 (Routledge, 2003). My most recent book is Sports History: a practical guide (Palgrave, 2006), which is aimed at helping sport students get a good working knowledge of the historical elements of their programmes, and at guiding history students who are researching sport. I have published articles in The International Journal of the History of Sport, The Sports Historian, and Contemporary British History, and have contributed chapters to books on sport and amateurism, sport and national identity, the teaching of sport studies, and the local history of D-Day. I have also reviewed books for International Journal of the History of Sport, English Historical Review, Sport in History, Southern History, and the Journal of the Society of Archivists. I am an active member of the sports history community in the UK, and have also presented at the North American Society of Sport History.

Outside of work and research, I follow a number of sports and take part in some (knee joints allowing). I am a lifelong supporter of Brentford FC, and have managed to persuade my children that there is life outside the Premiership. I also enjoy music, film, walking, travelling, and reading.

Show/hide all publications

• Books
• Polley, Martin (2006) Sports history: a practical guide, Basingstoke, UK, Palgrave Macmillan, 208pp.
• Polley, M. (ed.) (2003), The History of Sport in Britain, 1880-1914, 5 volumes (London, Routledge).
• Book Chapters
• Polley, Martin (2007) History and sport. In, Houlihan, Barrie (ed.) Sport and Society: A Student Introduction. London, UK, Sage, 56-74.
• Polley, Martin (2007) History and Sport. In, Houlihan, Barrie (ed.) Sport and Society: A Student Introduction. London, UK, Sage, 56-74.
• Polley, Martin (2007) "Christopher Brasher". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• Polley, M. (2004), Sport and National Identity in Contemporary England, in Smith, A. and Porter, D. (eds), Sport and National Identity in the Post-War World (London, Routledge)

• Polley, M. (2003), History and Sport, in Houlihan, B. (ed.), Sport and Society: a student introduction (London, SAGE)
• Polley, Martin (2001) Sport and Politics. In, Galligan, Frank (ed.) Sports History for A-Level Physical Education. UK, British Society of Sports History, 95-101.
• Journal Articles
• Polley, Martin (2009) From Windsor Castle to White City: the 1908 Olympic marathon route. The London Journal (In Press)
• Polley, Martin (2006) "The amateur ideal and British sports diplomacy, 1900-1945". Sport in History, 26, (3), 450-467.
• Papers
• Polley, Martin (2009) Sportsmen and their sweaters: knitting patterns as historical sources. In, Recording Leisure Lives: Sports, Games and Pastimes, Bolton, UK, 7 Apr 2009.
• Polley, Martin (2009) Hampshire and the Olympic Games: a local history of a global event. In, British Society of Sports History Annual Conference, Stirling, UK, 17-18 Jul 2009.
• Polley, Martin (2008) Three lions on a shirt: sport and English identity. In, Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism (ASEN), London, UK, 19 Nov 2008.
• Polley, Martin (2008) In Pietri's footsteps: reconstructing the 1908 Olympic Marathon. In, University of London Sport and Leisure History Seminars, London, UK, 6 Oct 2008.
• Book Section
• Polley, Martin (2009) Donald Thompson. In, Goldman, Lawrence (ed.) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford, UK, Oxford University Press. (Submitted)