Staff Pick: Bicycle Football
Clip from Film: IWM (WPN 267). WORLD PICTORIAL NEWS NO 267
As a sensational summer of sport kicks off with the FIFA World Cup, Head of Image & Film Licensing Annabel O'Connor-Fenton highlight a quirky clip in IWM's film collection.
Austria plays Switzerland in the the novel sport of ‘bicycle football’.
Teams of two attempt to strike the ball into the opposing goal using only their bike wheels or heads. The fast-moving indoor game requires a player, as noted by the narrator in this British 1940s newsreel, “to be a trick cyclist and acrobat combined”.
Beyond the battlefield... art, culture, social history
Our film team has been busy making IWM's vast film collection more accessible and easier to navigate.
Earlier this year we launched a Culture and Social History category page. The process of putting this together uncovered many hidden gems; it is notable how many diverse sports feature in our archive from newsreels, home movie footage and beyond.
The global spread of modern sports like football, cricket and tennis were heavily driven by the expansion of the British Empire. Wherever the army established a base, soldiers played sports with local populations observing matches and adapting the rules for themselves.
Explore our Sport Categories
If there is a subject which you feel should be featured, or if you have any other feedback, please contact us.
