Tag Archives: football

Hats & Gunners

Posted on December 15, 2016 by

Arsenal fans at Highbury, 1933. (Via @TerraceImages)

Posted in Photography, Sport, Uncategorized | Tagged , ,

Notebook

Posted on December 15, 2016 by

Before 1933, football had been dominated by the workers’ sports clubs, which counted 700,000 members, and by the 240,000-strong Catholic clubs. Although the German Labour Front rapidly absorbed them and the Nazis reorganized the whole structure of the football leagues, … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Notebook, Sport, World War 2 | Tagged , ,

The problem with football

Posted on September 28, 2016 by

Silly question, I know, but why was Sam Allardyce being paid £3 million a year in the first place? Couldn’t he have got by on a little less? Shouldn’t it be an honour to be England manager? Stan Collymore has … Continue reading →

Posted in Money, Uncategorized | Tagged , ,

Notebook

Posted on June 29, 2016 by

Watching a game on television, or even with friends, is like listening in on some serious literary criticism: ‘un passaggio sopraffino, filigrana’ (‘an extra-fine filigree pass’) or else ‘un passaggio sincopato, che splendore ritmico’ (‘a syncopated passage of play, what … Continue reading →

Posted in Notebook, Sport | Tagged , ,

Ingerland

Posted on June 28, 2016 by

Blind optimism meets reality. This clip of Steve McLaren during last night’s game  is the perfect summing-up of media coverage of the England team at every tournament in the past 50 years. Hilarious. [Thanks, Krish]

Posted in Sport, TV | Tagged , , ,

Man of destiny

Posted on May 28, 2016 by

Hollow laughter rings out in the secondhand bookshop.

Posted in Sport, Uncategorized | Tagged , , ,

Two tribes

Posted on March 20, 2016 by

One of my favourite football photos. Sunderland and Newcastle United fans confront each other on derby day at Roker Park, 1980. [Via @TerraceImages]

Posted in Photography, Sport | Tagged , , ,

Oddities, sporting & cinematic

Posted on January 30, 2016 by

James Fallows proves he is fallible after all by confessing that he doesn’t like football. One of his readers – an American based in Europe – agrees. He’s being ironic, I think: American football is very “American” in the good … Continue reading →

Posted in Comedy, Europe, Film, Sport | Tagged , , , , , ,

Cauldron

Posted on January 18, 2016 by

The best football photograph I’ve seen in a long, long time (and a rare sighting of an old-fashioned V-sign.) John Terry vs West Ham fans, December 2014. Credit: Action Images. HT @jetfury

Posted in Photography, Sport | Tagged , , , ,

Notebook

Posted on November 11, 2015 by

The football stadium is one of the few really large constructions that turns its wrong side out. The oval bowl excludes the world, reserves its mysteries for initiates. The TV cannot violate it, cannot even begin to catch it. It’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, Sport | Tagged , , ,