This isn’t a memorable game, but one rarely seen I suspect.
Belgium v England 1954
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Category: History
Sport in Modern Europe: perspectives on a comparative cultural history
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Anyone with an active interest in the history of sport will be glad for an introduction to the Sport in Modern Europe research network. It’s being led by Dr. Chris Young at the University of Cambridge assisted by Professors Alan Tomlinson of Brighton and Richard Holt at De Monfort. Chris summarizes the goals of the…
Football, British Urban Growth and Incomers
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The market at London’s Petticoat Lane, 1903: So many people, and so many of them young. The market is every bit as crowded today, but the age mix is quite different. In 1903, Petticoat Lane was no longer towards London’s eastern edge. Beyond it now lay mile upon mile of Victorian brick terraces, still new:…
England, Scotland and World Cup Ennui
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I know I’m not the only one who isn’t really looking forward to the World Cup. But your reasons will be different from mine. I don’t enjoy tournaments which feature home nations – too tense, too much hoopla. And I enjoy ones with only England in even less – the loneliness leaves them even more…
Sex and the Edwardian Footballer
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It’s obvious that something has changed between sex and footballers. The questions are, what? and by how much? The what question is simple. For the last year or so I’ve been researching for a book about the gradual amelioration of British urban life between 1860 and 1939, using three very familiar things (football, sex and…
Anyone But England’s 1966!
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English football doesn’t obsess about 1966 as much as Scottish fans might like to think. My first post on this is here; Alex Massie here and Rob Marrs here have taken the subject further. Rob, being English, won’t shut up about 1966: Scots talk about the English bringing up 1966 far more than English folk…
Anyone But England: English Football Fans in Scotland
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It wasn’t so long ago when the English felt free to mock inhabitants of Her Majesty’s erstwhile and remaining possessions(start at 2m 16 secs)… ..and going further back still, most early histories of the Football Association refer to Scottish professional players in alienating terms: they were foreigners, come from outside to take the shilling and…
"Anyone But England" Shirts by Slanj Ltd
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You may have read a BBC report about the police visiting the premises of Slanj Ltd, a kilt firm who also do a line in amusing t-shirts. In this instance, the police popped round on their own initiative, to warn the company that their “Anyone But England” shirts… well, read it for yourself! A company…
Brian Clough: who he really was, and what he really achieved
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We’ve done it, at last, haven’t we: taken the silent and unanimous decision that Brian Clough matters. He’s made the step up: Brian Clough’s cultural now, gone from the close, sweaty barracks of football because he stands for England like Elgar and Dickens. The news about Clough isn’t in the tabloids anymore. It’s strictly broadsheet,…
Where did all the English managers go?
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The lack of English managers at the very top level has been well and truly noticed now: last night, Radio 5 devoted ninety minutes to discussing the situation with the likes of Tony Adams, Steve McClaren, Terry Venables and Sam Allardyce. The programme went out live, it’s not clear how much any of the participants…