Professor to explore influence of Leeds as 'the capital of rugby'

Professor Collins will share his expertise on the history of rugby and the influence of Leeds as 'the capital of rugby' at the free public lecture.

The lecture will take place at Headingley Carnegie Stadium on Tuesday 10 June at 6pm and is part of the University's Carnegie Conversations guest lecture series.

Professor Tony Collins is a Professor of history and the Director of the International Centre for Sports History and Culture at De Montfort University. As a social historian specialising in both codes of rugby football, he will draw on a wealth of material at the lecture, presenting an informative and entertaining insight into both the men's and women's game.

Collins has three times been awarded the Lord Aberdare Literary Prize for Sports History book of the year winning in 1999, 2007 and 2010 with his books Rugby's Great Split, Rugby League in Twentieth Century Britain and A Social History of English Rugby Union.

He is a trustee of Rugby League Cares, a member of the advisory committee of the Rugby Football Unions World Rugby Museum and a member of the steering committee of the Sports Heritage Network.

The first Carnegie Conversations lecture of this year's series took place on Wednesday 25 February and was hosted by BBC Sport's Tanya Arnold. Tanya who was joined by Yorkshire County Cricket Club Director of Cricket, CEO Mark Arthur, and first team coach Jason Gillespie as they explored leadership in sport both on and off the pitch with Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

The second lecture in the series took place on Wednesday 5 March and was entitled 'The making of a champion'. The lecture was delivered by Malcolm Brown, who oversees the programmes of many of British Triathlon's Leeds based performance athletes and was instrumental in Britain's preparations and progress towards and during London 2012, which culminated in Alistair Brownlee's gold medal triumph.

The psychiatrist tasked with helping England prepare for this year's World Cup in Brazil, Dr Steve Peters delivered his presentation on Monday 17 March where he shared some of the science and techniques behind his phenomenal performance success as consultant psychiatrist to the British Cycling Team, Sky ProCycling, Liverpool Football club and other elite sports teams.

In May, 2010 World Cup final referee, Howard Webb delivered his Carnegie Conversations guest lecture where he provided the audience with stories about his life and experiences with the game of football before taking part in a question and answer session, facilitated by ex-Leeds United, Newcastle and Middlesbrough footballer, John Hendrie.

Last year's highly-acclaimed series saw luminaries from across the world of sport take part, including current England rugby union head coach Stuart Lancaster, Leeds Rhinos and England captain Kevin Sinfield, Baroness Sue Campbell and former England cricket captain Alec Stewart.