Jean Williams is a British professor in sport history and author specialising in

women's history Women's history is the study of the role that women have played in history and the methods required to do so. It includes the study of the history of the growth of woman's rights throughout recorded history, personal achievement over a period of ...

; sport and literature;

sportswear Sportswear or activewear is clothing, including footwear, worn for sport or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons. Typical sport-specific garments ...

and

motorsport Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

. Having previously taught English for a decade, Williams was a senior research fellow at the International Centre for Sport History and Culture,

De Montfort University De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body. The name De Montfort University was tak ...

. She acted as a historical consultant to the

National Football Museum The National Football Museum is England's national museum of football. It is based in the Urbis building in Manchester city centre, and preserves, conserves and displays important collections of football memorabilia. The museum was originally b ...

, particularly for elections to the

English Football Hall of Fame The English Football Hall of Fame is housed at the National Football Museum in Manchester, England. The Hall aims to celebrate and highlight the achievements of the all-time top English footballing talents, as well as non-English players and man ...

. Though mainly known for her work on women's football, Williams has produced a range of material on the history of sports and the social contexts of events: these include articles on a collection of early modern sporting poems and 1950s British Bridge to a chapter on the Indianapolis 500 motor race in the United States. Williams also looked at women's motor racing for a special edition on Britain's motorists published in 2014. In terms of public history, Williams is very interested in the Midlands and wrote about Leicestershire cricketer

George Geary George Geary (9 July 1893 – 6 March 1981) was a first-class cricketer who played for Leicestershire County Cricket Club and the England cricket team. Abilities Above medium pace and right-handed, Geary was able to swing the new ball very e ...

for Our Sporting Life, an exhibition held at

Curve Theatre The Curve Theatre is a theatre in Leicester, England, based in the cultural quarter in Leicester City Centre. Before being named ''Curve'', it was referred to as ''Leicester Performing Arts Centre''. It is adjacent to the Leicester Athena confere ...

in February 2011. She is a lifelong supporter of

Leicester City Football Club Leicester City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Leicester in the East Midlands of England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home ...

. Williams is author of ''A Game For Rough Girls: A History of Women's Football in England'' (Routledge 2003) and ''A Beautiful Game: International Perspectives on Women's Football'' (Berg 2007). Her main projects for 2010-11 include a research monograph called ''A Contemporary History of Women’s Sport'' (Routledge Research, 2011) and a €17,000 UEFA-funded project: Women's Football, Europe and Professionalization 1971–2011. She is also writing a history of Britain's women Olympians from 1900 to 2012. In 2012 the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' published articles on Leicester swimmer Jennie Fletcher and St Helen's footballing prodigy

Lily Parr Lilian Parr (26 April 1905 – 24 May 1978) was an English professional women's association football player who played as a winger. She is best known for playing for the Dick, Kerr's Ladies team, which was founded in 1917 and based in Preston, ...

, for example. Williams has acted as consultant to sports organisations, including

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

, and for the media, including the BBC Nation on Film Series. She also appeared on the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

history comedy series ''You're Dead To Me'' alongside

Greg Jenner Greg Jenner (born 1982) is a British author and public historian with a particular interest in communicating history through pop culture and humour. Early life Jenner studied a History & Archaeology BA and Medieval Studies MA at The University o ...

and Tom Parry as a football historian. Williams is also a UEFA 'B' Licence Coach and an FA Child Protection Tutor.

Bibliography

Monographs

* ''A Game For Rough Girls: A History of Women's Football in England'' (Routledge, 2003) * ''Beautiful Game: International Perspectives on Women's Football'' (Berg 2007)

Journal guest editions

* 'Sport and Literature' a special edition of ''Sport in History'' with Jeff Hill (eds) (Routledge June 2009) ISSN 1746-0263

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Jean Living people Sports historians Social historians Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century British non-fiction writers 21st-century British women writers