Homes of sports : a study of cultural heritage tourism and football

Many places in the world claim to be the ‘home of’ a particular sport, for example, Cooperstown and baseball; Springfield College and basketball; Lord’s and cricket; St Andrews and golf; Newmarket and horseracing; Twickenham and rugby; and Hawaii and surfing. This appellation is a desired title because it suggests distinctiveness and authenticity, and so provides the potential for tourism, inward investment and a sense of place. However, some of these claims to be the ‘home of’ a particular sport may not be well-founded or are sometimes only a myth, and therefore may be contested by other locations. To help determine the veracity of claims to be the ‘home of’, this paper uses objective authenticity indicators of original artefacts and authoritative confirmation. Indicators of football cultural heritage are then identified and combined with authoritative sources to assess the claims of Sheffield to be the home of football. It is argued that the adoption of objective authenticity indicators might assist in disputes about where a particular ‘home’ might be located.