Stephen Townsend is a lecturer in sport sociocultural studies with the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences. Stephen joined HMNS in 2019 after completing his PhD in Sport History. His current research examines social, cultural, and historical aspects of sports concussion.
His previous research has interrogated the ways that racial, religious, gendered, and political ideologies are transmitted through sports media, in addition to digital history epistemologies. He has published widely in academic journals and books, with his most recent publications analysing historical representations on sports concussion in the Australian newspaper press. His teaching and research interests span multiple spheres of sport and culture, as he seeks to critically understand the ways that people have historically constructed and transmitted meaning through sport and physical activity.
Stephen's research engages with multiple critical issues in sport, physical activity, and leisure cultures, including health discourses, gender, race, religion, politics, protest, and press discourses. His current research aims better understand the often-invisible cultural forces that shape how sportspeople make decisions regarding their brain health. Most recently, Stephen's research has been cited in the Australian Senate Inquiry into Repeated Head Trauma in Sport and through various media appearances.
His previous research has critically press attitudes toward black athletes, especially outspoken black athletes like Muhammad Ali. Stephen's research helps us to better understand not only how sociocultural factors shape athlete experiences of sport, but also how public attitudes toward sport and athletes are shaped. His research also incorporates digital tools and methodologies. His use of digital tools, methodologies, and visualistions not only has significant implications for practitioners of history but also for members of public searching for new and more engaging ways to consume historical narratives.
Book: The playmakers: the history of Basketball Queensland
Townsend, Stephen and Phillips, Murray G. (2023). The playmakers: the history of Basketball Queensland. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Basketball Queensland.
Olive, Rebecca, Townsend, Stephen and Phillips, Murray G. (2022). ‘Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted’: searching for the value of metrics and altmetrics in sociology of sport journals. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 58 (3), 431-454. doi: 10.1177/10126902221107467
Journal Article: “‘The Tragedy of the Punch Drunk': Reading Concussion in Australian Sporting Newspapers, 1843–1954”
Townsend, Stephen (2021). “‘The Tragedy of the Punch Drunk': Reading Concussion in Australian Sporting Newspapers, 1843–1954”. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 3 676463, 1-14. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2021.676463
Journal Article: 'Where Cassius Clay Ends, Muhammad Ali Begins': sportspeople, political activism, and methodology
Townsend, Stephen, Osmond, Gary and Phillips, Murray G. (2018). 'Where Cassius Clay Ends, Muhammad Ali Begins': sportspeople, political activism, and methodology. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 35 (11), 1-27. doi: 10.1080/09523367.2018.1523146
Journal Article: Remembering the rejection of Muhammad Ali: identity, civil rights and social memory
Townsend, Stephen, Phillips, Murray G. and Osmond, Gary (2018). Remembering the rejection of Muhammad Ali: identity, civil rights and social memory. Sport in History, 38 (3), 1-22. doi: 10.1080/17460263.2018.1474129
Journal Article: From "Pitifully Ignorant" to the "People's Champion”: Shifting Perceptions of Muhammad Ali in the Louisville Defender, 1964–1971
Townsend, Stephen (2017). From "Pitifully Ignorant" to the "People's Champion”: Shifting Perceptions of Muhammad Ali in the Louisville Defender, 1964–1971. Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, 115 (4), 611-643. doi: 10.1353/khs.2017.0080
The playmakers: the history of Basketball Queensland
Townsend, Stephen and Phillips, Murray G. (2023). The playmakers: the history of Basketball Queensland. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Basketball Queensland.
Olive, Rebecca, Townsend, Stephen and Phillips, Murray G. (2022). ‘Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted’: searching for the value of metrics and altmetrics in sociology of sport journals. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 58 (3), 431-454. doi: 10.1177/10126902221107467
“‘The Tragedy of the Punch Drunk': Reading Concussion in Australian Sporting Newspapers, 1843–1954”
Townsend, Stephen (2021). “‘The Tragedy of the Punch Drunk': Reading Concussion in Australian Sporting Newspapers, 1843–1954”. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 3 676463, 1-14. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2021.676463
'Where Cassius Clay Ends, Muhammad Ali Begins': sportspeople, political activism, and methodology
Townsend, Stephen, Osmond, Gary and Phillips, Murray G. (2018). 'Where Cassius Clay Ends, Muhammad Ali Begins': sportspeople, political activism, and methodology. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 35 (11), 1-27. doi: 10.1080/09523367.2018.1523146
Remembering the rejection of Muhammad Ali: identity, civil rights and social memory
Townsend, Stephen, Phillips, Murray G. and Osmond, Gary (2018). Remembering the rejection of Muhammad Ali: identity, civil rights and social memory. Sport in History, 38 (3), 1-22. doi: 10.1080/17460263.2018.1474129
Townsend, Stephen (2017). From "Pitifully Ignorant" to the "People's Champion”: Shifting Perceptions of Muhammad Ali in the Louisville Defender, 1964–1971. Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, 115 (4), 611-643. doi: 10.1353/khs.2017.0080
The playmakers: the history of Basketball Queensland
Townsend, Stephen and Phillips, Murray G. (2023). The playmakers: the history of Basketball Queensland. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Basketball Queensland.
Wicked Wikipedia: communities of practice, the production of knowledge and Australian sport history
Townsend, Stephen, Osmond, Gary and Phillips, Murray G. (2014). Wicked Wikipedia: communities of practice, the production of knowledge and Australian sport history. Sports History. (pp. 269-286) edited by Wray Vamplew. Abingdon, Oxon, UK: Routledge.
Cairney, John, Townsend, Stephen, Brown, Denver M. Y., Graham, Jeffrey D., Richard, Veronique and Kwan, Matthew Y. W. (2023). The golden ratio in baseball: the influence of historical eras on winning percentages in major league baseball. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 5 ARTN 1273327, 1273327. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2023.1273327
Olive, Rebecca, Townsend, Stephen and Phillips, Murray G. (2022). ‘Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted’: searching for the value of metrics and altmetrics in sociology of sport journals. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 58 (3), 431-454. doi: 10.1177/10126902221107467
“‘The Tragedy of the Punch Drunk': Reading Concussion in Australian Sporting Newspapers, 1843–1954”
Townsend, Stephen (2021). “‘The Tragedy of the Punch Drunk': Reading Concussion in Australian Sporting Newspapers, 1843–1954”. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 3 676463, 1-14. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2021.676463
Review of Oppy: The Life of Sir Hubert Opperman
Townsend, Stephen (2020). Review of Oppy: The Life of Sir Hubert Opperman. Australian Historical Studies, 51 (2), 232-233. doi: 10.1080/1031461X.2020.1746995
Clay vs. Ali: Distant Reading, Methodology, and Sport History
Townsend, Stephen, Osmond, Gary and Phillips, Murray G. (2019). Clay vs. Ali: Distant Reading, Methodology, and Sport History. Journal of Sport History, 46 (3), 380-395. doi: 10.5406/jsporthistory.46.3.0380
'Where Cassius Clay Ends, Muhammad Ali Begins': sportspeople, political activism, and methodology
Townsend, Stephen, Osmond, Gary and Phillips, Murray G. (2018). 'Where Cassius Clay Ends, Muhammad Ali Begins': sportspeople, political activism, and methodology. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 35 (11), 1-27. doi: 10.1080/09523367.2018.1523146
Remembering the rejection of Muhammad Ali: identity, civil rights and social memory
Townsend, Stephen, Phillips, Murray G. and Osmond, Gary (2018). Remembering the rejection of Muhammad Ali: identity, civil rights and social memory. Sport in History, 38 (3), 1-22. doi: 10.1080/17460263.2018.1474129
Townsend, Stephen (2017). From "Pitifully Ignorant" to the "People's Champion”: Shifting Perceptions of Muhammad Ali in the Louisville Defender, 1964–1971. Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, 115 (4), 611-643. doi: 10.1353/khs.2017.0080
A Bird’s-Eye View of the Past: Digital History, Distant Reading and Sport History
Phillips, Murray G, Osmond, Gary and Townsend, Stephen (2015). A Bird’s-Eye View of the Past: Digital History, Distant Reading and Sport History. International Journal of the History of Sport, 32 (15), 1725-1740. doi: 10.1080/09523367.2015.1090976
Wicked Wikipedia? Communities of practice, the production of knowledge and Australian sport history
Townsend, Stephen, Osmond, Gary and Phillips, Murray G. (2013). Wicked Wikipedia? Communities of practice, the production of knowledge and Australian sport history. International Journal of the History of Sport, 30 (5), 545-559. doi: 10.1080/09523367.2013.767239
Becoming Ali: digital history, newspaper discourse, and America’s most famous boxer, 1960–1975
Townsend, Stephen (2019). Becoming Ali: digital history, newspaper discourse, and America’s most famous boxer, 1960–1975. PhD Thesis, School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2019.63
The History of Basketball Queensland
(2018–2019) Basketball Queensland