Tag Archives: Windsor Park

#Footycon25 Award Winners

The International Football History Conference 2025 was held at Windsor Park Belfast last week and, as usual, we had a panel of judges picking out their best paper awards and an inclusivity award. Competition was fierce and the winners, once again, thoroughly deserved their recognition. The award winners were:

Day One (Friday 13 June 2025) Best Paper: The judges asked if they could make two awards at the end of this day and they selected Tim Mills for his presentation ‘Football & Museums – A model for community led programming’ and Kasey Symons for her presentation on ‘Investigating women’s Australian rules football romance fiction and the history of fandom it tells from the first decade of the AFLW’ (co-authored research with Lee McGowan). Kasey has been a regular attendee at the conference since it was established in 2017 and she has always presented high quality research in an engaging way.

Day Two (Saturday 14 June 2025) Best Paper: Gabriela Ríos-Infante won the award for her presentation on ‘The Philosophy of Women’s Football in Mexico: Interactions Through an Ethnographic Lens in El Volcán’. As well as this being a great research topic and presentation, it was particularly impressive that Gabriela was presenting in English for the first time.

The Inclusivity Award was judged over both days and this went to:

Karen Fraser, Fiona Skillen & Julie McNeill for their panel on ‘A most unsuitable game: Reflections on a community celebration of the women’s game in Scotland.’ Back in 2023 Karen, Fiona and Julie presented about this project at our Hampden Park conference and it was gratifying to see them return with reflections on what was clearly a well-managed, researched and impact-making project.

Congratulations to all winners. These awards are supported by Routledge books and they provided books and vouchers to each winner.

Previous winners of these awards are:

International Football History Conference 2025 at Belfast

The 2025 International Football History Conference will take place at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland and will be held over two days (Friday the 13th & Saturday the 14thof June 2025).

  • Main conference proceedings will take place between 8.30 am and 6 pm on Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th of June 2025.

As usual we have a wonderful collection of presentations, with leading academics, historians, researchers etc. in their field. Here’s the schedule for both days:

The International Football History Conference is a welcoming community. Cone and join us. This is a self-funding event. All delegates, whether presenting or not,will need to book their place before attending via our Eventbrite page, which can be accessed via this link: https://bit.ly/FootyCon25

Travel & Accommodation

Delegates will need to make their own arrangements regarding travel & accommodation for the conference. The organisers of the conference recommend staying in the city centre. The information below will cover how to reach Belfast City Centre and the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park, the venue for our conference. Further information will be listed in the conference pack released closer to the conference. 

For those flying to Belfast, the city is served by two airports: Belfast International Airport (BFS) and George Best Belfast City Airport (BHD). Bus connections from the international airport to Belfast Grand Central Station, the new transport hub of Belfast City Centre, run every fifteen minutes, and from the city airport to Belfast Grand Central Station every twenty minutes. Rail services to and from Belfast Grand Central will be operational by the time of the conference as train services are currently being transferred from the old stations to the new hub. 

Belfast Grand Central Station is also close to many of Belfast City Centre’s hotel options. Pricing will range from 4* options such as the Europa, Leonardo or Fitzwilliam Hotels (all located on Great Victoria Street, close to the station), to more budget-friendly nearby options such as Benedicts Hotel, Travelodge, easyHotel, Maldron, Premier Inn, etc.

For those driving to the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park, the stadium can be accessed from either Boucher Road or Donegall Avenue. The postcode for your satnav will be BT12 6LW. 

International Football History Conference 2025 at Belfast

The 2025 International Football History Conference will take place at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland and will be held over two days (Friday the 13th & Saturday the 14thof June 2025).

This is a call for papers for those who wish to present at the conference. There will be an opportunity to present on any topic relating to the history of football of all codes. This includes, but is not limited to: Association Football, Rugby Union & Rugby League, Gaelic Football and Aussie Rules. 

  • Main conference proceedings will take place between 8.30 am and 5 pm on Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th of June 2025.
  • As with previous years, Abstracts are welcomed on any football-related topic (football of ALL codes)
  • Abstracts are welcomed by researchers from any discipline.
  • Presentations must not have appeared at another conference. As our conference does not have parallel sessions, we insist that presentations must not repeat something presented elsewhere.

Abstracts for the following presentation styles are welcomed:

Short Form (7 minutes) – 20 slides (plus a title slide) with a maximum of 20 seconds per slide. Ideal for a summary of research; to present early findings; Image-related research etc.

Twenty Minutes – Those choosing a 20-minute slot will be able to split that time between presentation and questions as they feel appropriate (for example 15 minutes of presentation and 5 minutes of questions or 20 minutes presentation and no audience questions).

Panel – One hour: three presenters and a moderator on a related theme with specific time for individual presentations within the session agreed by the moderator including allowance for questions at the end to the group.

If you wish to present at the conference, please send a 100-to-150-word proposal to footycon@outlook.com by the 6th of January 2025. The selection of presentations will take place by the organising committee and We will ensure confirmation as soon as possible, particularly for those travelling some distance.

Cost of Attendance

The International Football History Conference is a self-funding event. All delegates, whether presenting or not,will need to book their place before attending via our Eventbrite page, which can be accessed via this link: https://bit.ly/FootyCon25

The cost of attendance for full-time delegates will be kept at the 2023 and 2024 conference rates. 

Full Delegate (2 days):  £139. 

Students/unwaged/retired delegates (2 Days): £129

Special Day Rate: £76 (employed) & £67.50 (unwaged/Students/retired)

Travel & Accommodation

Delegates will need to make their own arrangements regarding travel & accommodation for the conference. The organisers of the conference recommend staying in the city centre. The information below will cover how to reach Belfast City Centre and the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park, the venue for our conference. Further information will be listed in the conference pack released closer to the conference. 

For those flying to Belfast, the city is served by two airports: Belfast International Airport (BFS) and George Best Belfast City Airport (BHD). Bus connections from the international airport to Belfast Grand Central Station, the new transport hub of Belfast City Centre, run every fifteen minutes, and from the city airport to Belfast Grand Central Station every twenty minutes. Rail services to and from Belfast Grand Central will be operational by the time of the conference as train services are currently being transferred from the old stations to the new hub. 

Belfast Grand Central Station is also close to many of Belfast City Centre’s hotel options. Pricing will range from 4* options such as the Europa, Leonardo or Fitzwilliam Hotels (all located on Great Victoria Street, close to the station), to more budget-friendly nearby options such as Benedicts Hotel, Travelodge, easyHotel, Maldron, Premier Inn, etc.

For those driving to the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park, the stadium can be accessed from either Boucher Road or Donegall Avenue. The postcode for your satnav will be BT12 6LW. 

Historic Name That Ground – Week 34 Answer

Did you recognise this ground? On Monday I asked: ‘Can you name the ground featured in the image above? This is a 1950s photo of this ground, mostly one of its floodlights. The floodlights at this venue were quite distinctive. The ground remains a major sporting venue today, although the floodlights disappeared in the 2010s during a major renovation.’

The answer is Windsor Park, Belfast.

While you’re here why not subscribe to my site and you can then access every article, interview, audio recording etc. already posted and those that will be posted during your subscription. It costs £20 per year (about £1.67 a month) or you can sign up on a monthly basis at £3 per month (you can cancel at any time, so you could sign sign up for a month, access everything you want and then cancel). You can subscribe below:

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today.

Subscribe