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Lee Burwitz defends the worth of UK sports science by appealing to unspecified evidence from the sports science establishment that benefits from the inflation of esteem of which I complained (Letters, THES , September 12, 19). The health case for exercise was made by physicians and physiologists years ago. They still make the running in the study of chronic disease.

Compare the research income, quality and quantity of papers from 5* sports science departments with those from 5* physiology departments. Chalk and cheese. Quoting a few low-impact journals, apart from Journal of Physiology , in which Burwitz's staff have published shows the weakness of UK sports science.

Furthermore, the transferable skills he cites as attributes of sports science graduates are skills all university programmes claim to inculcate.

Michael J. Rennie
University of Nottingham