Mature England-German review of one World Cup

The International Centre for Sport History and Culture, De Montfort University, Leicester, in cooperation with the Centre for British Studies, Humboldt University, Berlin, is organising a conference on England v Germany 1966-2006 - Football, History and National Rivalry on Saturday 20 May to mark the holding of the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

The conference will focus on the sporting rivalry between England and Germany, drawing both on English perceptions of Germany and German attitudes to Britain, looking at sport in general and football in particular. Speakers will look closely at England’s 1966 World Cup victory and its consequences as well as the wider place of sport in Anglo-German relations. There will be an international panel discussion at the end of the day’s proceedings, which will include leading European journalists.

Papers presented at the day-long seminar will include Germany and the International Sporting Community in the 20th Century (Prof Christiane Eisenberg, Humboldt University, Berlin); England v Germany: Revisiting The Summer of 1966 (Prof Tony Mason, De Montfort University, Leicester): All Over? Not Yet. 1966 and Modern British History (Dr Dilwyn Porter, De Montfort University, Leicester): Football and British Attitudes to Germany (Prof John Ramsden, Queen Mary, London University); Football and Memories of post-war Germany (Dr Christopher Young, Cambridge University); and the historian Prof John Ramsden, Queen Mary, London University, will draw on his new book on Anglo-German relations to show how the film 'Escape to Victory' shores up national stereotypes.

Richard Holt, Professor of History at DMU's ICSHC who has organised the conference, said: "Beating Germany at football has become a national obsession. This conference aims to explore this issue from both a German and English perspective."

Further details available at the De Montfort University website (pdf).