Little Book of Football E-Book

Michael Heatley

• Herausgeber: G2 Rights
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

It's nearly a century and a half since the first rules of football were thrased out in a London tavern. The lawmakers gathered there would hardly recognise the game as we now know it, with live television broadcasts and multiple camera angles, websites updating us on the facts and figures of our favourite clubs and personalities like Beckham, Gazza and Rooney making it onto as many newspaper front pages as back. Yet the game retains the basic premise as set out in 1863: the winning team is still the 11 men who score the most goals. The prizes not competed for - World Cup, Premiership, Champions League, Carling Cup - may be new, but the FA Cup, first contested in 1872, is still the most prestigious domestic knock-out competition around. This information-packed, fully illustrated book follows all the twists, turns and traditions that have made football the world's favourite game.

Leseprobe

THE LITTLE BOOK OFFOOTBALL

First published in the UK in 2013

© G2 Entertainment Limited 2013

www.G2ent.co.uk

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher.

Printed and bound in China

ISBN 978-1-78281-205-0

The views in this book are those of the author but they are general views only and readers are urged to consult the relevant and qualified specialist for individual advice in particular situations.G2 Entertainment Limited hereby exclude all liability to the extent permitted by law of any errors or omissions in this book and for any loss, damage or expense (whether direct or indirect) suffered by a third party relying on any information contained in this book.

All our best endeavours have been made to secure copyright clearance for every photograph used but in the event of any copyright owner being overlooked please address correspondence to G2 Entertainment Limited, Unit 9, Whiffens Farm, Clement Street, Hextable, Kent BR8 7PG

Contents

Origins of the Game

The First Golden Age

The Post-War Boom

England’s Finest Flour

Total Football

Premier Passions

Football Goes Global

The Future of Football

Chapter 1

Origins of the Game

IT IS NOW WELL OVER A CENTURY since association football – also commonly known as soccer, to differentiate it first from rugby football, then American football – was first played in an organised fashion, much longer since the Romans played a ball-based contact sport. Yet here in the twenty-first century the game retains its position as the most popular in the world.

Its appeal is its simplicity. It can be improvised almost anywhere by any number of players, and requires a simple, spherical ball rather than a specially shaped one. It has been played by people of limited stature, five feet or less, and occasionally those of excessive height or weight. And with the objective simply to score a goal between two posts, rolled up coats or other markers, its rules are simple.

Britain can claim to have developed and formalised the rules of association football which, by and large, still hold sway the world over. Yet prior to its adoption by the gentry in the nineteenth century the game enjoyed a reputation as the sport of hooligans and rabble-rousers, with the participants in the average game outnumbering the crowdsat many English lower-division games today. Several fixtures in the early history of football attained the status of annual rituals; Ashbourne, Derbyshire, Dorset’s Corfe Castle and Scone in Scotland were among venues where an annual Shrove Tuesday fixture was observed.