Further to LtColonelBartlett's reply, movies are not the best way to learn about the history of the game, as Bartlett rightly pointed out, however, there have been a number of documentaries on the history of the game available on video tape / DVD. HISTORY OF FOOTBALL: THE BEAUTIFUL GAME is a 13 part series, that looks at the history of the game around the world. The series is available in a 7 disc box set, with each of the 13 parts running for approx 52 minutes each. There is also the similarly titled HISTORY OF FOOTBALL: CENTURY OF FOOTBALL, this runs for nearly two hours and is mostly about the history of the game in Britain. Then there's WEMBLEY: THE VENUE OF LEGENDS 1923-2000 which runs for over two hours and looks at games at England's national stadium. The last few minutes looks briefly at other events held at the stadium.
Amongst my video tape collection is THE PEOPLE’S GAME a double tape with three 50 minute episodes. Also 100 YEARS OF THE FOOTBALL LEAGUE, THE OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE FA CUP 1872-1992 and THE OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE ENGLAND FOOTBALL TEAM. A lot of Football Clubs have also released official histories.
Regarding books on the game, I have around 2,000 football books in my own personal collection. I do like reading about the history of the game. For a long time it was a popular belief that Public School boys in England 'civilised' the working man's game of football. However, there have been books in recent years that have challenged this myth, and say that it was the working classes themselves who civilised the game. Among these are FOOTBALL’S SECRET HISTORY (2001) John Goulstone, FOOTBALL: THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS - THE UNTOLD STORY (2005) Adrian Harvey and BEASTLY FURY: THE STRANGE BIRTH OF BRITISH FOOTBALL (2009) Richard Sanders. Beastly Fury even shows how the Public School boys were the ones who were actually the uncivilised ones. Another good read is THE CODE WAR: ENGLISH FOOTBALL UNDER THE HISTORICAL SPOTLIGHT (1994) Graham Williams, it shows how football and rugby went their seperate ways. For anyone interested in the early history of the game, I recommend all of these. From an international perspective, 100 YEARS OF FOOTBALL: THE FIFA CENTENNIAL BOOK (2004) Pierre Lanfanchi, Christiane Eisenberg, Tony Mason & Alfred Wahl, is also a good read.
Some of the classics of football literature include: THE SOCCER SYNDROME: FROM THE PRIMEVAL FORTIES (1966) John Moynihan, THE FOOTBALL MAN: PEOPLE AND PASSIONS IN SOCCER (1968) Arthur Hopcraft, THE GLORY GAME (1972) Hunter Davies and ONLY A GAME? THE DIARY OF A PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALLER (1976) Eamon Dunphy. All excellent reads. Modern classics include: FEVER PITCH: THE STORY OF FOOTBALL AND OBSESSION (1992) Nick Hornby, FOOTBALL AGAINST THE ENEMY (1994) Simon Kuper, KICKING & SCREAMING: AN ORAL HISTORY OF FOOTBALL IN ENGLAND (1995) Rogan Taylor & Andrew Ward, THE FAR CORNER: A MAZY DRIBBLE THROUGH NORTH EAST FOOTBALL (1997) Harry Pearson, CORNER FLAGS & CORNER SHOPS: THE ASIAN FOOTBALL EXPERIENCE (1998) Jas Bains & Sanjiev Johal and PARKLIFE: A SEARCH FOR THE HEART OF FOOTBALL (1999) Nick Varley, all these are excellent also. A couple of these were also recommended by Bartlett.
For the statistician there are football yearbooks, ROTHMANS / SKY SPORT FOOTBALL YEARBOOK is still THE yearbook to get. I have all 42 editions of these. But the daddy of them all is THE ATHLETIC NEWS / SUNDAY CHRONICLE / EMPIRE NEWS / NEWS OF THE WORLD / NATIONWIDE FOOTBALL ANNUAL. There have been 125 editions, I have 67 in my collection. Another collectable one is the PLAYFAIR FOOTBALL ANNUAL, there have been 64 editions, I only have 32 in my collection.
Good football encyclopedias / reference books include: PURNELL’S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL (1972) Norman S. Barrett (Ed), ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BRITISH FOOTBALL (1974) Phil Soar & Martin Tyler, THE HAMLYN A-Z OF BRITISH FOOTBALL RECORDS (1981) Phil Soar and ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL (4 vols) (1960) Howard Fabian & Geoffrey Green (Eds), a bit dated but still very good. More international ones include ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD FOOTBALL (1980) Phil Soar, Martin Tyler & Richard Widdows, THE COMPLETE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FOOTBALL (1998) Keir Radnedge and THE GUINNESS RECORD OF WORLD SOCCER (1992) Guy Oliver.
Classic football club histories include: THE STORY OF THE RANGERS 1873-1923 (1923) John Allan, THE HISTORY OF BLACKBURN ROVERS FOOTBALL CLUB 1875-1925 (1925) Charles Francis, THE ROMANCE OF THE WEDNESDAY 1867-1926 (1926) Richard A. Sparling, HISTORY OF THE EVERTON FOOTBALL CLUB 1878/79-1928/29 (1929) Thomas Keates, THE STORY OF THE CELTIC: A JUBILEE HISTORY 1888-1938 (1939) Willie Maley, THERE’S ONLY ONE UNITED: THE OFFICIAL CENTENARY HISTORY OF MANCHESTER UNITED 1878-1978 (1978) Geoffrey Green, AND THE SPURS GO MARCHING ON...: THE OFFICIAL CENTENARY HISTORY OF TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR FOOTBALL CLUB (1982) Phil Soar, THE GLORY AND THE DREAM: THE HISTORY OF CELTIC FC 1887-1986 (1986) Tom Campbell & Pat Woods, MILLWALL: LIONS OF THE SOUTH (1988) James Murray and not forgetting my own favourite club, THE BRISTOL BABE: THE FIRST 100 YEARS OF BRISTOL CITY FC (1994) David M. Woods.
There's been a lot of crap football autobiographies / biographies, fortunately though there has also been some goods one. Among the good ones are FATHER OF FOOTBALL: THE STORY OF SIR MATT BUSBY (1970) David Miller, "THIS ONE’S ON ME" (1979) Jimmy Greaves & Norman Giller, KICKED INTO TOUCH (1981) Fred Eyre, FOOTBALL WIZARD: THE BILLY MEREDITH STORY (1986) John Harding, ALEX JAMES: LIFE OF A FOOTBALL LEGEND (1988) John Harding, STANLEY MATTHEWS: THE AUTHORISED BIOGRAPHY (1989) David Miller, LEFT FOOT FORWARD: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A JOURNEYMAN FOOTBALLER (1995) Garry Nelson & Anthony Fowles, TALES FROM THE BOOT CAMPS (1997) Steve Claridge & Ian Ridley and ADDICTED (1998) Tony Adams & Ian Ridley.
An unusual book was THE SOCCER TRIBE (1981) Desmond Morris. Desmond, of course, is famous for his studies on human behaviour. He was a director of Oxford United and wrote an interesting study. A couple of books that looks into corruption at FIFA are HOW THEY STOLE THE GAME (1999) David Yallop and FOUL!: THE SECRET WORLD OF FIFA - BRIBES, VOTE RIGGING AND TICKET SCANDALS (2006) Andrew Jennings, very interesting books.
These are just a small selection from my collection, recommended for anyone interested in learning more about the history of the game.
reply
share