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To understand how sport is relevant to museums, it is first necessary to define the term ‘museum’. By the late twentieth century, the discussions pertaining to a definition for museums appears to permeate academic thought throughout the field. 1 _{As Kavanagh (1994) states, “museum people have struggled in committee after} committee, in national and international settings, with ease and with great difficulty to put meaning into the word museum”.2 _{Writing in 1997, at the beginning of the} boundaries of this research, Moore conducted a detailed examination of the definition of museums and their purpose. Moore states that many academics choose not to

1 _{See for example Bennett, T. The Birth of the Museum. London: Routledge. 1997; Black, G. The Engaging} Museum: Developing Museums for Visitor Involvement. Oxon: Routledge. 2005; Ginsberg, V., and Mairesse, F. ‘Defining a Museum Suggestions for an alternative approach.’ Museum Management and Curatorship 16 (1997): pp.15-33; Hein, H. S. The Museum in Transition: A Philosophical Perspective.

Washington: Smithsonian. 2000; Hooper-Greenhill, E. Museums and the Interpretation of Visual Culture.

London: Routledge, 2002; Hudson, K. ‘Attempts to Define ‘Museum’. pp.371-379. in Representing the Nation: A Reader. History, Heritage, Museums. edited by Boswell, D., and Evans, J. London: Routledge, 1999; Kavanagh, G. Museum provision and professionalism. Oxon: Routledge. 1994; Moore, K. Museums & Popular Culture. London:Leicester University Press, 1997.

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define the term as they believe to do so would be too constrictive.3 _{This is evident in} the works of Kavanagh (1994), MacDonald (1996) and Bennett (1997) who assert that to define the term museum is an impossible task, mainly because museums are influenced by their place in time, cultural and social stimuli, and political motivations.4 As such, these over-arching factors are in continual flux and it is impossible to identify a single definition because as soon as a definition is in place, the institution it describes changes. Consequently, it is not so much that there is a contested definition, but that understanding what a museum is and does is difficult to ascertain.

Despite this difficulty in establishing a definition within academic texts, the Museums Association (MA) provides a useable definition of museum to establish a generic understanding of what a museum is and does. The MA is the UK wide membership body responsible for supporting museum sector staff and the development of museums.5 _{As such, the definition is used by those working in the field. In addition, the} non-departmental government body responsible for museums in England, Arts Council England (ACE) use the MA classification to define museums in their development of policy documents and directives.6 _{The MA definition supports Moore and Keene’s} argument that a central facet of a museum is the material culture it holds and will therefore be used to define the term museum within this thesis:

Museums enable people to explore collections for inspiration, learning and enjoyment. They are institutions that collect, safeguard and make accessible artefacts and specimens, which they hold in trust for society.7

The definition presented by the MA demonstrates however that two key factors must exist to define a museum, firstly a collection and secondly an audience. Moore (1997)

3_{Moore, K. Museums & Popular Culture. 1997. p.13; Kavanagh, G. Museum provision and}

professionalism. 1994. p.3; Weil, S. E. Rethinking the Museum. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institute. 1990. p.31.

4 _{Bennett, T. The Birth of the Museum. 1997. pp.2-4; Kavanagh, G. Museum provision and} professionalism. 1994. pp.3-4; Macdonald, S. J. “Introduction,” pp.4-7 in Theorizing Museums.

Representing Identity and Diversity in a Changing World. edited by. Macdonald, S. J. and Fyfe, G. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. 1996.

5 _{Museums Association. About Us. Museums Association Online. 2013. Accessed September 1}st _2013.

http://www.museumsassociation.org/about/frequently-asked-questions

6 _{Prior to ACE supporting museums, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) had used the}

MA definition of museums between 2001 and 2011.

7 _{Museums Association. Code of ethics: Museum definition. London: Museums Association. 2013.}

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argues that the presence of material culture makes museums unique among other types of institutions and venues, a belief that is echoed by Keene (2006).8 _Material culture is the physical evidence of any culture, including items such as objects, photographs, and documents. However, a museum is not only defined by the material culture it holds, but equally by its ability to ensure people are able to access the collections. The work of Falk, Dierking, and Hooper-Greenhill consistently demonstrate that learning and audiences are central to the purpose of museums.9 _{In addition,} Moore (1997) argues that “education or perhaps more correctly, learning, is the purpose of every museum activity……the unique ability of museums, is a centre for “learning” through material culture”.10 _{According to Moore, then, although material} culture is important, it is how material culture is used with an audience, specifically in terms of supporting learning, which transforms the organisation into a museum. Therefore, a museum is a collection and the experience of that collection gained by an audience. Consequently, where the institution focuses on the object, it is a collection and not a museum. Where the institution focuses on the audience, it is a visitor centre or visitor experience and not a museum.11 _{The next section will establish the different} types of museum which exist in England at the time of writing.