Dr Stephen Townsend

Research Fellow

School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences

Affiliate of Centre for Sport and Society

Centre for Sport and Society

s.townsend@uq.edu.au

Researcher biography

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.

Featured projects	Duration
The History of Basketball Queensland Basketball Queensland

Publications

Book (1)

Book Chapter (1)

Journal Articles (12)

Conference Papers (3)

Seminar Paper (1)

Thesis (1)

Newspaper Articles (7)

Book

Townsend, Stephen and Phillips, Murray G. (2023). The Playmakers: The History of Basketball Queensland. Brisbane, QLD Australia: Basketball Queensland.

Book Chapter

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.

Journal Articles

Townsend, Stephen (2024). Punch-Drunk Murderer: Boxing, Brain Trauma, and the Murder of Hilda Meek. Journal of Sport History, 51 (2), 119-133. doi: 10.5406/21558450.51.2.10

Townsend, Stephen, Phillips, Murray G., Osmond, Gary and Olive, Rebecca (2024). Concussion’s Past: An Introduction. Journal of Sport History, 51 (2), 2-14. doi: 10.5406/21558450.51.2.02

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 1273327, 1-9. 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) ARTN 10126902221107467, 431-454. doi: 10.1177/10126902221107467

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conference Papers

Townsend, Stephen (2024). Playing the brain game: The case for public histories of sports concussion. International Federation of Public History, Lisbon, Portugal, 3-6 September 2024.

Townsend, Stephen (2023). Punch drunk murderer: Concussion, gender, and science in the killing of Hilda Meeks. North American Society for Sport History, Washington DC, United States, 25-28 May 2023.

Townsend, Stephen (2022). Reading sport from a distance: Experimenting with methods as an early career historian - Graduate student essay prize address. Australian Society for Sport History, Geelong, VIC Australia, 27-29 June 2022.

Seminar Paper

Townsend, Stephen (2024). Playing the brain game: Public histories of sports concussion. Centre for Applied History, Macquarie University.

Thesis

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

Newspaper Articles

Greenhow, Annette and Townsend, Stephen (2024, 10 21). A year on from the Senate inquiry into concussion, what’s changed and what comes next? The Conversation

Townsend, Stephen and Pearce, Alan J. (2024, 10 07). Why a portrait of a former NRL great could spark greater concussion awareness in Australia The Conversation

Pearce, Alan and Townsend, Stephen (2024, 09 04). Will AFL and NRL protect players as finals fever hits? 360 Info

Pearce, Alan and Townsend, Stephen (2024, 04 19). Are 2 mid-career AFL retirements a sign Australian athletes are taking brain health more seriously? The Conversation

Townsend, Stephen and Rynne, Steven (2024, 04 08). Will introducing independent doctors at games help the AFL tackle its concussion problem? The Conversation

Townsend, Stephen, Pearce, Alan and Bachynski, Kathleen (2023, 08 29). New study highlights the brain trauma risks for young athletes The Conversation

Townsend, Stephen, Pearce, Alan and Olive, Rebecca (2023, 07 04). Australian researchers confirm world’s first case of dementia linked to repetitive brain trauma in a female athlete The Conversation