Kelly, J. (in press) in Butterworth, M. (ed.) Global Sport and Militarism. Routledge. (Book due for release in 2017). The Paradox of Militaristic Remembrance in British Sport and Popular Culture John Kelly University of Edinburgh Introduction The position and utility of sport in cementing military and civil relations are well established. 1 It is beyond doubt that since the post-September 11 2001 invasions/liberations of Afghanistan and Iraq and the subsequent American-led “war on terror” (WoT), Britain (along with others) has mirrored the United States in placing nation-state and state-sponsored militarism at the center of cultural and civic society in ways that encourage and facilitate public engagement and universal support for nation-state, state militarism and the WoT. From 2003 onwards both the United States and Canada set up government departments devoted to providing propaganda opportunities for their military. The United States’ Operation Tribute to Freedom noted on its website that it seeks “media opportunities” for soldiers “to share their experience with their local communities in an effort to ensure the public maintains a direct connection to today’s army.” 2 Operation Connection, the Canadian equivalent, exercises similar aims and coordinates identical activities seeking to manufacture public consent for the Canadian military. 3 Whilst the British government has no outwardly facing department overtly engaged in such propaganda initiatives, many of the same activities and discourses orchestrated by the American and Canadian departments have been replicated in Britain in what 1