'A highly entertaining read, deftly melding social history with sporting memoir and travelogue' Mail on Sunday A history of Latin America through cricket Cricket was the first sport played in almost every country of the Americas - earlier than football, rugby or baseball. In 1877, when England and Australia played the inaugural Test match at the MCG, Uruguay and Argentina were already ten years into their derby played across the River Plate. The visionary cricket historian Rowland Bowen said that, during the highpoint of cricket in South America between the two World Wars, the continent could have provided the next Test nation. In Buenos Aires, where British engineers, merchants and meatpackers flocked to make their fortune, the standard of cricket was high: towering figures like Lord Hawke and Plum Warner took star-studded teams of Test cricketers to South America, only to be beaten by Argentina. A combined Argentine, Brazilian and Chilean team took on the first-class counties in England in 1932. The notion of Brazilians and Mexicans playing T20 at the Maracana or the Azteca today is not as far-fetched as it sounds. But Evita Burned Down Our Pavilion is also a social history of grit, industry and nation-building in the New World. West Indian fruit workers battled yellow fever and brutal management to carve out cricket fields next to the railway lines in Costa Rica. Cricket was the favoured sport of Chile's Nitrate King. Emperors in Brazil and Mexico used the game to curry favour with Europe. The notorious Pablo Escobar even had a shadowy connection to the game. The fate of cricket in South America was symbolised by Eva Peron ordering the burning down of the Buenos Aires Cricket Club pavilion when the club refused to hand over their premises to her welfare scheme. Cricket journalists Timothy Abraham and James Coyne take us on a journey to discover this largely untold story of cricket's fate in the world's most colourful continent. Fascinating and surprising, Evita Burned Down Our Pavilion is a valuable addition to cricketing and social history.

The story of Jack and Bobby Charlton, and a family that characterised English football for decades 'Gripping' Daily Mail 'Wilson is a fine, nuanced writer' TLS 'A powerful chronicle' Irish Times 'Surprisingly moving' Guardian 'Razor-sharp tactical analysis' Irish Independent In later life Jack and Bobby didn't get on and barely spoke but the lives of these very different brothers from the coalfield tell the story of late twentieth-century English football: the tensions between flair and industry, between individuality and the collective, between right and left, between middle- and working-classes, between exile and home. Jack was open, charismatic, selfish and pig-headed; Bobby was guarded, shy, polite and reserved to the point of reclusiveness. They were very different footballers: Jack a gangling central defender who developed a profound tactical intelligence; Bobby an athletic attacking midfielder who disdained systems. They played for clubs who embodied two very different approaches, the familial closeness and tactical cohesion of Leeds on the one hand and the individualistic flair and clashing egos of Manchester United on the other. Both enjoyed great success as players: Jack won a league, a Cup and two Fairs Cups with Leeds; Bobby won a league title, survived the terrible disaster of the plane crash in Munich, and then at enormous emotional cost, won a Cup and two more league titles before capping it off with the European Cup. Together, for England, they won the World Cup. Their managerial careers followed predictably diverging paths, Bobby failing at Preston while Jack enjoyed success at Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday before leading Ireland to previously un-imagined heights. Both were financially very successful, but Jack remained staunchly left-wing while Bobby tended to conservatism. In the end, Jack returned to Northumberland; Bobby remained in the North-West. Two Brothers tells a story of social history as well as two of the most famous football players of their generation.

'My identity is built on conflicts, and I'm proud of who I am ... I can walk through the rest of my life with something to say.' Nedum Onuoha was not a typical footballer. A young black Mancunian picked by the Manchester City Academy aged ten, he was determined to continue his education despite the lure of a career under the floodlights. Fiercely intelligent on and off the pitch, Onuoha developed into a talented defender and played his part in City's meteoric rise. He was at the Etihad Stadium when they won their first Premier League title - as an opposition player for QPR, having left the Blues just four months earlier. In this characteristically forthright book, Onuoha reveals what goes on behind the scenes at top-tier clubs. Stuffed with insights into household names like Stuart Pearce, Sven-Goeran Eriksson, Roberto Mancini and Harry Redknapp, this is football and its most famous figures as you've never seen them before. Kicking Back is also the story of one man's search for identity: as a footballer, as a black man in England and as an outsider in the US during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. What is it like to receive horrific racist abuse while doing your job? And how has football utterly failed the black community? Onuoha provides a damning assessment of the sport's authorities, finally claiming his voice as he dives deep into a life spent on the pitch.

Football is ubiquitous and a permanent fixture of modern life. More than a sport, it frequently manifests in broader popular culture. This book examines the significance of football for, and in, popular culture across a wide range of forms, including music, film, and social media. Football and Popular Culture plots a new path in Football Studies, drawing on original research in countries including England, Brazil, Germany, Canada, and Yugoslavia. The book includes both historical and contemporary perspectives, exploring some of the most important themes in the study of sport and culture, including identity, nationalism, fandom, and protest. It presents diverse case studies ranging from sonic violence among Brazilian torcidas organizadas to fanled commemoration of the Munich air disaster, which together help us to better understand the intersection of sport, society, and popular culture. This is fascinating reading for any student or researcher working in sport studies, cultural studies, media studies, sociology, or contemporary history.

This book presents a series of fascinating case studies that show how the lives and bodies of clubs, players and fans around the world are enmeshed with politics. It draws on original research in countries including England, Scotland, Ireland, Poland, Mexico, Algeria and Argentina and includes both historical and contemporary perspectives. It explores some of the most important themes in the study of sport, including sectarianism, migration, fan activism and national identity, and shows how football continues to be tied to political events, symbols and movements. This is fascinating reading for any student or researcher working in sport studies, political science, sociology or contemporary history.

The Emergence of Football fuses sports history into mainstream economic, social and cultural history, setting the development of the people's game against the backdrop of the Industrial Revolution. The book challenges conventional histories of nineteenth-century football that surrounded mass games and the public schools and extends the revisionist critique of those histories with the imaginative use of new and original empirical evidence. It outlines the continuing presence of a working-class footballing culture across the century, arguing that the structure of football was a product of industrialisation, urbanisation and population growth that had resulted in a far-reaching restructuring of the class system and urban hierarchies. It was these new hierarchies and class system that gave birth to professional football by the late 1870s. It is essential reading for students of sports studies, economic, social and cultural history, urban and local history, and sociology, as well as a valuable resource for scholars and academics involved in the study of football across the world. This is an absorbing and fascinating read for any of the millions of fans of the game who are interested in the early history of football.

This book takes a close look at discrimination in football in order to illuminate our understanding of the interaction between sport and wider society, politics and culture, particularly in terms of the (re)production of identity. It presents insightful and diverse international case studies, including the shadow of fascism in Italian football; fan activism against racism, sexism, and homophobia in US soccer; migrant football clubs in Germany, and the use of football club history in the teaching of antisemitism. Together they demonstrate the damaging societal consequences of unchecked resentment and discrimination in football fan cultures but also the potential for fan activism as a socio-positive force. This is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in football or fandom, the sociology of sport, cultural studies, or political science.

Since the 1970s, a "Polynesian Pipeline" has brought football players from American Samoa to Hawaii and the mainland United States to play at the collegiate and professional levels. In Gridiron Capital Lisa Uperesa charts the cultural and social dynamics that have made football so central to Samoan communities. For Samoan athletes, football is not just an opportunity for upward mobility; it is a way to contribute to, support, and represent their family, village, and nation. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, archival research, and media analysis, Uperesa shows how the Samoan ascendancy in football is underpinned by the legacies of US empire and a set of imperial formations that mark Indigenous Pacific peoples as racialized subjects of US economic aid and development. Samoan players succeed by becoming entrepreneurs: building and commodifying their bodies and brands to enhance their football stock and market value. Uperesa offers insights into the social and physical costs of pursuing a football career, the structures that compel Pacific Islander youth toward athletic labor, and the possibilities for safeguarding their health and wellbeing in the future. Duke University Press Scholars of Color First Book Award recipient

Mistrusted and derided, instrumentalised and adored - the story of football in Tsarist and early Soviet Russia is as wild and intriguing as that of the country itself. In many ways it is the same story... Football in the Land of the Soviets offers a fresh perspective on a momentous chapter in modern political history. Carles Vinas shows how the Russian game was transformed in just a few decades: from a minor emigre pastime, to a modernising driver of society, to a vanguard for Soviet diplomacy and internationalism, and finally, with the first championship of the Soviet League in 1936, into a truly mass phenomenon. So exactly how did a bourgeois game end up as the collective passion of the Soviet working class? And why does it matter? Football in the Land of the Soviets brings these questions to the fore in this thrilling, unorthodox account of the fall of an imperial dynasty and the rise of the world's first socialist state.

This is the first book to introduce key themes in the study of women's rugby from multi-disciplinary perspectives, including history, sociology, gender studies, sport development and sport science. Featuring contributions from leading researchers and former international players from across Canada, England, France, New Zealand and the USA, the book opens with a global history of women's rugby, locating the game in the wider context of the development of women's sport and exploring important social issues such as race, gender and violence. The book then looks at training and performance analysis at pitch level, helping the reader get a sense of the game from the ground up, before focusing on women's rugby through the eyes of others (such as rugby coaches), women's experiences of rugby's culture and promotional culture. This is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in women's sport, rugby, sport and social issues, sport development, or sport history.

This book presents a cross-disciplinary examination of the lived experiences of girls and women football players using theoretical insights from sports studies, psychology, sociology and gender studies. It examines the concept of 'the football self' - your own, personal football identity that encapsulates the importance of football to our everyday lives - and what that can tell us about the complex relationships between sport, family, gender and identity. The book draws on in-depth ethnographic research involving players and family members, and offers important new insights into the everyday experiences of those girls and women who play. It breaks new ground in focusing on the significant relationships between player and family with a particular focus on parenting through football. The book brings to the fore key debates around gender identity, barriers to participation, cultural gaps and discrimination. The author also brings a personal perspective to bear, drawing on experience gained over 20 years as a player, adding an extra critical layer to her important empirical research. This is essential reading for all researchers and students with an interest in football, sport studies or issues around gender, inclusion or the family in sport, and fascinating reading for anybody generally curious about football.

A young German immigrant, Barney Dreyfuss was an American success story in business and in baseball. He fell in love with the game after settling in Paducah, Kentucky, where he discovered he had a knack for assembling good players on the diamond. Relocating to Louisville, he became involved in the professional game with the Colonels. Faced with ouster from the National League, he took his players to Pittsburgh, where he became owner of the Pirates and forged a winning tradition, leading the club to six pennants and two World Series. This first biography of Dreyfuss chronicles the innovative career of the Hall of Famer executive who built Forbes Field-the National League's first concrete-and-steel ballpark, into which he put $1 million of his own money-pushed for creation of the office of commissioner to govern the game and helped initiate the modern World Series.

Foreword by Kevin Keegan. Scoreboard Soccer develops players through play and praise. The Scoreboard Soccer concepts derives from the belief that the environment created for players will influence the behaviors they will practice and refine over time. This book presents the fun, inclusive, and nurturing environments which can be used to develop young players' skills. When participating in a Scoreboard Soccer game, players will work in an environment that creates realistic game situations, practicing opposition, change of direction, and transition. In these situations, the players will work on those skills coaches wish to develop in young players: passing, dribbling, shooting, and tackling. What sets the Scoreboard Soccer concept apart from traditional training methods is the added incentive for players to demonstrate these positive behaviors: the scoreboard. Using the scoreboard gives each practice a fun challenge that runs parallel to learning the tactics and techniques. It can be used to encourage and reward player effort and involvement within the game. In addition to the Scoreboard Soccer concept, coaching, and content is a complete Scoreboard Soccer curriculum which can be used as a longer-term development plan.

In 2020, Liverpool Football Club reclaimed its position as the number one football team in England. But it was a journey that had taken the world-famous club 30 years; a journey that was filled with drama, intrigue, and numerous false dawns. Written by a lifelong Liverpool fan, this is a dramatic story of highs and lows, and how the club overcame their extended wait to become Champions Again! Featuring analysis of the managers, the players (good and bad), and the owners who have come and gone, this is a rollercoaster ride from the success of 1990 through the disappointments that were endured during a three-decade hiatus. Covering the triumphs and travesties - and the incidents and tragedy - along the way, this book celebrates the reappearance of Liverpool FC at the pinnacle of English football. Ian Carroll is a published writer of fiction and non-fiction, and was the Script Editor for the play 'Waiting for Hillsborough', which won the Liverpool Echo Best Writing award. He was born in 1966, and named after Ian St John, who scored the winning goal in the 1965 FA Cup final - the first time in the club's history that they had won the cup - and has been a Liverpool football fan since the day he was born.

The book is proposed by globally recognised subject leaders in the field. There is a strong collection of contributors across the various chapters. The book covers several key themes that are pertinent to youth rugby including a chapter on tackling which is topical in youth sports and the young female athlete will address the current bias towards male-focused research The chosen chapters cover a good breadth of subject matter across interlinking themes and there are clear practical applications embedded within every chapter.

In early 1969, New York City and all it represented was in disarray: politically, criminally, and athletically. But while Simon and Garfunkel lamented the absence of a sports icon like Joe DiMaggio, a modern Lancelot rode forth to lead the New York Mets to heights above and beyond all sports glory. This book tells the complete, unvarnished story of the great Tom Seaver, that rarest of all American heroes, the New York Sports Icon. In a city that produces not mere mortals but sports gods, Seaver represented the last of a breed. His deeds, his times, his town-it was part of a vanishing era, an era of innocence. In 1969, six years after John F. Kennedy's assassination, Seaver and the Mets were the last gasp of idealism before free agency, Watergate, and cynicism. Here is the story of "Tom Terrific" of the "Amazin' Mets," a man worthy of a place alongside DiMaggio, Ruth, Mantle, and Namath in the pantheon of New York idols.

The remarkable story of a championship college football team that achieved perfection in 1941 as America drew closer and closer to World War II and the sacrifices the young athletes made when Pearl Harbor turned their fears into reality. As the United States veered towards war during the fall of 1941, the University of Minnesota football team completed an undefeated national championship season just fifteen days before the strike on Pearl Harbor. After the attack, players left behind college football stardom to command PT boats in the South Pacific, sweep mines on the beaches of Normandy, and join the invasion of Iwo Jima along with so many others from the Greatest Generation. In From the Gridiron to the Battlefield, Danny Spewak shares the struggles and triumphs of the Golden Gophers' national championship season. He recounts how players from the University of Minnesota battled on the field even with the threat of war hanging over their heads, bringing to life the tensions Americans felt in their daily lives during a time when the country was bitterly divided about whether to aid the Allies. When the United States finally entered the war, every member of the team participated in the war effort in one way or another. Some, including team captain and Heisman Trophy winner Bruce Smith, remained stateside in the U.S. Navy. Others set sail for the Pacific Theater. Some saw more direct combat: reserve fullback Mike Welch earned a Purple Heart for saving five shipmates on the USS Tide at Normandy, halfback Gene Bierhaus fought with the Marines at Iwo Jima, and backfield mate Joe Lauterbach lost his left leg during the same invasion. In commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, From the Gridiron to the Battlefield reveals the sacrifices and courage of the Greatest Generation through the eyes of the 1941 Golden Gophers.

The most up-to-date and in-depth book on the business of professional team sports Pro team sports are the biggest and most important sector of international sport business Strong focus on applied analysis and performance measurement, invaluable real-world skills Covers sports, teams and leagues all over the world from the EPL to the NFL Addresses key themes from ownership and competitive balance to media revenue and the role of agents

1966: Baseball and America in the Space Age brings to life a year of transition in a country on the cusp of radical changes in politics, mores, and popular culture. What was mainstream in 1966 could be considered old-fashioned just a year or two later when the counterculture emerged as an important societal force; by the early 1970s, standards had loosened further when Hollywood producers broke free of the constraint of benign storylines in favor of movies and TV shows with political issues as their foundation. With the baseball season as its narrative arc, 1966 traces the end of one baseball dynasty and the beginning of another while revealing untold stories and offering new perspectives about highly significant events in both baseball and the country's affairs. The Orioles shocked the baseball world with a World Series sweep; it sparked an American League dynasty and ended the Dodgers' National League reign that had begun after World War II. But baseball's significance went beyond box scores to establish equality, fairness, and social justice. In his Hall of Fame induction speech, Ted Williams used his clout to do what few, if any, of his peers had done publicly-call for the induction of players from the Negro Leagues; Emmett Ashford became the first black umpire in Major League Baseball; and Marvin Miller helped form the Major League Baseball Players Union, which changed the status of players from property of owners to free agents with bargaining power. Against a backdrop of NASA's five successful Gemini missions that set the stage for the Apollo moon landings, 1966 brings this amazing year to life. In addition to baseball and the Space Race, it will uncover massive changes in popular culture. Producer William Dozier brought a satirical version of the comic-book icon Batman to television, igniting a superhero phenomenon. Jacqueline Susann's controversial novel Valley of the Dolls exposed the dark side of Hollywood with stories about drugs, sex, and mental illness. And Mission: Impossible premiered in 1966, offering great espionage fodder for Cold War audiences after James Bond became a household name in the early 1960s. This book will remind readers of a time when social progress and cultural revolutions made Americans feel that the country's promise was limitless.

In 1954, one year after Baltimore bought the St. Louis Browns, the New York Yankees hired former Browns executive and owner William O. DeWitt as assistant to general manager George Weiss. "DeWitt," the paper announced, "was considered an astute baseball man who would have a definite role to play with the Yankees." Baseball fans had assumed that once the Yankees were no longer the American League's doormats, DeWitt would quietly retire. But DeWitt, a protege of Branch Rickey, was shrewd and intelligent and his years with the Browns were only the beginning of a long and fascinating career, including his years as owner and general manager of the Cincinnati Reds. This first ever biography focuses on the life and career of a baseball executive who contributed greatly to America's pastime.

Offers a first hand description by the players themselves of historic moments that helped shape our national game. There is an examination of social events with interviews of former Negro League players such as Larry Doby, the first African American player to break the color line in the American league. We also hear from Jim "Mudcat" Grant who in 1965 became the first black pitcher to win a World Series game in the junior circuit. Hank Aaron explains the challenge of breaking Babe Ruth's home run record wasn't only on the diamond. There is an examination of the war years when 500 major-league players served in the armed forces during WWII. Prominent players such as Bob Feller, Cecil Travis, Tommy Henrich and Jerry Coleman talk about their experience and sacrifice without fanfare. Bobby Thompson and Ralph Branca address the "Shot Heard Round the World" in the Giants vs Dodgers playoff of 1951. Bill Mazeroski tells us what went through his mind as he watched his game seven walk off home run win the fall classic for his Pittsburgh Pirates, and Pitcher Bob Gibson brings you back to 1968 and the year of the pitcher when he finished with an ERA of 1.12. It is certainly an All - Star lineup of not only great baseball players but outstanding men who were gracious enough to look back at a time when they displayed talent and heart for the game.

Football is the world's most popular sport and is entrepreneurial by nature. There is a constant need for entities and individuals involved with football to act or behave in an entrepreneurial way. Competition is part of the football industry and emphasises the need to compete but also collaborate through entrepreneurial endeavours. This book is amongst the first to focus specifically on football entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial nature of football. The book looks at entrepreneurship and how it can occur through direct and indirect engagement with football in a variety of contexts. It examines different types of football including gridiron, rugby and soccer and offers insights on the international aspects of football and how cultural aspects influence entrepreneurship. This book provides a holistic understanding of how football can include innovation, risk-taking and proactive activity and will be useful for those interested to learn more of the football industry and entrepreneurship in the global context.

*Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year* 'Harrowing, brave, hugely important book' HENRY WINTER 'Absolutely amazed by the power of Andy Woodward's testimony' JEREMY VINE SHOW 'I'm sure this will be one of the defining football books of the era' SAM WALLACE, CHIEF FOOTBALL WRITER FOR THE TELEGRAPH The brave and moving account by football's first whistle blower, breaking the silence on the scandal of sexual abuse in youth clubs and junior teams. Essential reading for parents, and for anyone afraid to speak up. Andy Woodward was a wide eyed, hopeful footballer playing for Stockport Boys, when Barry Bennell first noticed him. Andy was 11 years old, and Bennell a youth coach with a big reputation for spotting and nurturing young footballing talent. The clubs Bennell worked for and the parents of the boys he coached, trusted and believed in him, inviting him into their lives and their homes. But behind the charismatic mask was a profoundly evil man willing to go to any lengths to satisfy his own dark appetites. Andy has been heralded a hero for speaking up about his horrific experiences at the hands of Bennell, but also at going further to expose the long hidden abuse buried within our nations' best loved sport. His story is only the tip of the iceberg. Andy's childhood was shattered by what happened to him and by the fear and silence that surrounded it. His youthful dreams of playing the game he loved were utterly broken, and years of living with the terrible secret and shame all but destroyed him. He hopes that by coming forward he might encourage others in similar situations to find the courage to speak out. A compelling and relevant story of the dark secret at the heart of football and another chapter in the ongoing expose of institutionalised corruption.