This isn’t a memorable game, but one rarely seen I suspect.
Belgium v England 1954
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Brazilian Physical Preparation – World Cups and More
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Tim Vickery is as always worth reading in full on Brazil’s preparations for South Africa 2010, but I wanted to draw your attention to the three crucial paragraphs. Because this is what Simon Clifford and Sir Clive Woodward have been saying for years, and this is what the English in particular have been slow to…
Owen, Beckham: it feels like growing old
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Beckham out. Thus passes a generation of English players who came to prominence at the very end of my twenties. This is how the story ends, then: that group have indeed passed on without winning an international trophy. What Gary Neville feared, and perhaps expected, has come true. Truth to tell, England’s teams since 1998…
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:…
1939: The Great North Road in Colour Film
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In some senses, this film is not for the football historian: the A1 Great North road is a cyclist’s route, going through rugby country. The large conurbations and urban industrial centres that gave birth to professional football were in the west of England and Scotland – Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Preston, Blackburn and Bolton. But this…
1924 Film of the East End of London
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One of the great frustrations attending (relatively) early film is the reluctance of the cameramen to venture too far off the London tourist track. Mitchell and Kenyon were northerners, filming relatively small towns and cities where heavy industry was not only unavoidable, but was the sole source of a mass audience. London was a different…
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…
How Much Can Football Books Tell Us?
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Noticing the lack of decent writing about the post-devolution Scottish experience, Gerry Hassan turns his attention to the superior insights available in – of all places – recent books about Scottish football: On the issue of football’s importance in Scotland, recently I wrote about the lack of defining books about modern Scotland post-devolution. I know…