In January 1939, just months after hanging up his boots and a few weeks into his new career as a talent scout, William Ralph 'Dixie' Dean, the former Everton and England legend, received a surprise request for assistance from the far west of Ireland. Could he find a goalscorer for Sligo Rovers - the beating heart of a small, provincial town - to drive their dreams of a lucrative cup run and help protect the club's very existence? Dean set about finding the right man, but unable to locate candidates willing to make the move across the Irish Sea, he had an idea. What if he were to answer Sligo's call? And so began the unlikely story of how one of the greatest centre-forwards ever to grace the game added an unexpected and ultimately uplifting chapter to his storied football career. In the Shadow of Benbulben is a romantic tale of divine intervention, uncanny timing and drama on and off the pitch. It's the tale of 'Dixie' Dean's four months with the Bit O'Red that was to leave an indelible mark on the player, the club and the town.

Leeds United On This Day revisits all the most magical and memorable moments from the club's rollercoaster past, mixing in a maelstrom of quirky anecdotes and legendary characters to produce an irresistibly dippable Whites diary - with an entry for every day of the year. From the club's formation from the ruins of Leeds City in 1919 through to the Premier League era, the Elland Road faithful have witnessed League and Cup triumphs, hard-fought grudge matches, European adventures and heartbreak - all featured here. Timeless greats such as Billy Bremner, John Charles and Lucas Radebe, Tony Yeboah, Peter Lorimer and Gordon Strachan all loom larger than life. Revisit 25th April 1963, when Jack Charlton debuted against Doncaster, the first of a record 773 appearances. 28th May 1975: when Leeds took on Bayern Munich and were robbed of European Cup victory. Or 26th April 1992: the first League title in 18 years!

Philosophy and Football: The PFFC Story is the extraordinary account of how a team of friends kicking a ball about in Regent's Park was transformed by European travel in the shadow of Brexit. Playing in shirts adorned with the words of Camus, Shankly and Cantona among others, Philosophy Football FC created its own philosophy in opposition to modern football. Its occasional players travelled from London to take part in tournaments in unique venues such as a national football stadium in Rome, a Spanish bullring in Bilbao and Taksim Square in Istanbul. Practising its 'slow foot' philosophy, it exported the idea of a revolutionary and more complex three-sided football. Inspired by European culture, PFFC was transformed from a team that regularly lost heavily to winning three consecutive London league championships. Over 25 years PFFC attracted players from 24 countries and six continents. Its story illustrates the power of football to reach people from all walks of life: to travel, play, eat, drink, win and lose together.

Community Leisure and Recreation Planning offers an up-to-date, evidence-based approach to planning community leisure and recreation facilities, programs and services. It introduces readers to key theory and best practice in the planning of effective leisure and recreation projects. The book defines planning, leisure, recreation and other key concepts and explains why a thorough planning process is essential to achieving effective outcomes. It presents a comprehensive, integrative four phase model for undertaking leisure and recreation planning, including: pre-planning, planning research, preparing a plan, and implementing, monitoring and evaluating the outputs and outcomes of a plan. It provides a conceptual rationale for each component of the planning process, a detailed explanation of the tools and techniques that can be used, and extensive examples and international case study materials to demonstrate their use. The principles and techniques explained in the book are applicable at a range of community levels from small individual sites to regions, states and even countries. This is an essential course text for all leisure and recreation courses, and invaluable reading for academics, practitioners, stakeholders and students working in leisure and recreation planning, events, culture and sport.

Community Leisure and Recreation Planning offers an up-to-date, evidence-based approach to planning community leisure and recreation facilities, programs and services. It introduces readers to key theory and best practice in the planning of effective leisure and recreation projects. The book defines planning, leisure, recreation and other key concepts and explains why a thorough planning process is essential to achieving effective outcomes. It presents a comprehensive, integrative four phase model for undertaking leisure and recreation planning, including: pre-planning, planning research, preparing a plan, and implementing, monitoring and evaluating the outputs and outcomes of a plan. It provides a conceptual rationale for each component of the planning process, a detailed explanation of the tools and techniques that can be used, and extensive examples and international case study materials to demonstrate their use. The principles and techniques explained in the book are applicable at a range of community levels from small individual sites to regions, states and even countries. This is an essential course text for all leisure and recreation courses, and invaluable reading for academics, practitioners, stakeholders and students working in leisure and recreation planning, events, culture and sport.

This book takes a close look at how the sport industry has been impacted by the global Coronavirus pandemic, as entire seasons have been cut short, events have been cancelled, athletes have been infected, and sport studies programs have moved online. Crucially, the book also asks how the industry might move forward. With contributions from sport studies researchers across the world, the book offers commentaries, cases, and informed analysis across a wide range of topics and practical areas within sport business and management, from crisis communication and marketing to event management and finance. While Covid-19 will inevitably cast a long shadow over sport for years to come, and although the situation is fast-evolving and the future is uncertain, this book offers some important early perspectives and reflections that will inform debate and influence policy and practice. A timely addition to the body of knowledge regarding the pandemic, this is an important resource for researchers, students, practitioners, the media, policy-makers, and anybody who cares about the future of sport.

The untold story of the most contested fixture in world football.

Liverpool and Manchester. Two gloriously independent-minded, eclectic, culturally vibrant places. Yet the inhabitants dislike each other with a passion that is visceral. It is a divide that spans generations, across class, gender and ethnicity. And it has grown over the years, largely driven by one thing: football.

The dark, malignant loathing shared by the followers of Liverpool and Manchester United has seeped into every aspect of life in the two cities. Football is not a barometer of disdain, as it is in places like Glasgow or Istanbul or Moscow. In northwest England, it is the engine of animosity.

How did it come to this? Why did things turn so nasty? And what does it say about the two cities in which the clubs are based?

Written by a Scouser and a Manc in a rare collaboration, Red on Red addresses the divide by talking to those involved in ten seminal football matches. It speaks to the characters who patrolled and provoked the rivalry: Alex Ferguson, Kenny Dalglish, Steven Gerrard and Gary Neville, among many others. Also questioned are the fans, the administrators, the referees, the police, and politicians. And through each legendary game, its authors tell the full story of the most extraordinary division not just in football, but in modern Britain.

This is Red on Red, a rivalry like no other.

Sports, and in particular the Olympic Games, are enjoying a rapid increase in interest among social scientists worldwide, who see them as important "public events." This volume offers the first analysis of the Winter Olympic Games, primarily based on the Lillehammer Games of 1994. The authors identify "olympism" as a key agent in the modernization process and, more specifically, ask how the winter games, as a mega-event, relate to Norwegian culture and ethos. The authors of these specially commissioned papers examine various aspects of this encounter, including problems such as gender as related to nature and culture, masculinity and heroism, national identity and invention of tradition, the impact of venue construction on a traditional cultural landscape, the ideological criticism of the I.O.C. as it emerged, dramatically, before the opening of the Games and the conflict between the Norwegians and the Greeks over the ritual status of the two flames used during the torch relay, one from Olympia and one from Morgedal in Telemark, "the cradle of skiing."

The Matilda Effect is the exciting, inspiring, sometimes infuriating and always colourful story of the Australian women's football (soccer) team, the Matildas, and their ultimately successful struggle, alongside other women from around the world, to compete in World Cup football. From the 1980s, when women had to pay to participate in the pilot Women's World Cup, to 2019, when the principle of equal pay for women players was finally accepted amid surging interest in their game, the voices of key figures emerge. A book at once about and not about sport, and with a throughline of human rights and gender equality history, The Matilda Effect takes the reader out of the stands and onto the pitch, into the team's hotels, buses, boardrooms and social media universe, where positive change has been wrestled into being.

Got, Not Got: The Lost World of Liverpool is an Aladdin's cave of memories and memorabilia, guaranteed to whisk you back to Anfield's fondly remembered 'Golden Age' of mud and magic - as well as a Reds-mad childhood of miniature tabletop games and imaginary, comic-fuelled worlds. The book recalls a more innocent era of football, lingering longingly over relics from the good old days - Reds stickers and petrol freebies, league ladders, big-match programmes and much more - revisiting lost football culture, treasures and pleasures that are 100 per cent Liverpool. If you're a lifelong Liverpool fan, one of the army of obsessive soccer kids at any time from when Shanks won his first '60s silverware to the early days of the Premier League, then this is the book to recall the mavericks - Keegan, Dalglish and St John, Rush, Barnes and Souness - and the marvels of the Lost World of Football.

An absolutely essential book for every modern football fan, about the development of Premier League tactics, published to coincide with 25 years of the competition. Back in 1992, English football was stuck in the dark ages, emerging from a five-year ban from European competition. The game was physical, bruising and attritional, based on strength over speed, aggression over finesse. It was the era of the midfield general, reducers, big men up front and getting it in the mixer; 4-4-2 was the order of the day. Few teams experimented tactically. And then, almost overnight, it all changed. The creation of the Premier League coincided with one of the most seismic rule changes in football history: the abolition of the back-pass. Suddenly defenders had no-get-out-of-jail-free card, goalkeepers had to be able to field and play the ball and the pace of the game quickened immeasurably. Tactics evolved dramatically, helped by an increased foreign influence. The Mixer is the first book to delve deep into the tactical story of the Premier League, and take a long view of how the game has developed over the last quarter century. From Ferguson's directness to Keegan's relentlessly attacking Newcastle outfit, to Mourinho's cagey, reactive Chelsea, all the way to Ranieri's counter-attacking champions, The Mixer is one of the most entertaining, rich and knowledgeable football books ever written.

Digital sport marketing is a new, dynamic and rapidly evolving area that is having a profound impact on contemporary sport business. This is the only textbook to introduce core principles and best practice in digital sports marketing, focusing on key issues, emerging topics and practical techniques. The book surveys the new international digital landscape in sport business and explains how to apply digital marketing across key areas from fan engagement and public relations to strategic communication and branding. Every chapter includes discussion of key concepts, an in-depth case study, and an in-depth conversation with a leading industry practitioner that demonstrates how digital marketing works in the real world. Full of useful features, this is an essential textbook for any sport marketing, sport management, sport business or sport development course.

Widely regarded as the greatest footballer of all time, seven-time Ballon d'Or and six-time Golden Shoe winner, Lionel Messi, enjoyed a record-breaking 17-year career at FC Barcelona during which time he scored more goals, played more games, won more titles and provided more assists than any other player in the Catalan club's history. Adored by Barca fans, Messi reigned supreme until August 2021, when he made a tearful farewell to a stunned global audience. Messi: The King of Camp Nou is the definitive story of Lionel Messi's entire Barca career, written by Jason Pettigrove, a football journalist who worked for FC Barcelona during Messi's final years in Catalonia. Charting Messi's rise as a hopeful 13-year-old Argentinian boy from Rosario to becoming the best footballer in the world, Pettigrove's comprehensively researched book features exclusive interviews with key individuals in Messi's story - team-mates, opponents, managers, agents and fellow journalists - including: Joan Laporta, Lionel Scaloni, Victor Font, Sir Kenny Dalglish, Jamie Carragher, Mike Phelan, Josep Maria Minguella, Horacio Gaggioli, Tony Watt, Santi Padro and Jorge Barraza. From being signed by Barca on a napkin to Champions League glory and becoming FC Barcelona captain, Messi: The King of Camp Nou reveals the inside story of Leo's remarkable reign at Barca including breaking Pele's incredible record for most goals scored at one club, how the longed for Copa America title was won and how he, season-on-season, mesmerised the football world.

This empirically-grounded text examines the policy, planning, development and implementation of disability sport events. It draws insights from a major international comparative study of different types of large multi-national sporting events: integrated events where able-bodied athletes and athletes with a disability compete alongside one another, and non-integrated events where athletes with a disability are separated by time but occurring in the same location. Guided by a critical disability studies perspective, the book highlights the strategic opportunity of sporting events to influence social change around community participation, and attitudes and awareness about disability more broadly. It also challenges assumptions about positive event legacies and suggests a need for a multi-lateral approach to planning. An important read for students, researchers and scholars in the fields of sport policy, sport development, disability sport, sport management, disability studies and event studies.

The global health and fitness industry is worth an estimated $4 trillion. We spend $90 billion each year on health club memberships and $100 billion each year on dietary supplements. In such an industrial climate, lax regulations on the products we are sold (supplements, fad-diets, training programs, gadgets, and garments) result in marketing campaigns underpinned by strong claims and weak evidence. Moreover, our critical faculties are ill-suited to a culture characterized by fake news, social media, misinformation, and bad science. We have become walking, talking prey to 21st-Century Snake Oil salesmen. In The Skeptic's Guide to Sports Science, Nicholas B. Tiller confronts the claims behind the products and the evidence behind the claims. The author discusses what might be wrong with the sales pitch, the glossy magazine advert, and the celebrity endorsements that our heuristically-wired brains find so innately attractive. Tiller also explores the appeal of the one quick fix, the fallacious arguments that are a mainstay of product advertising, and the critical steps we must take in retraining our minds to navigate the pitfalls of the modern consumerist culture. This informative and accessible volume pulls no punches in scrutinizing the plausibility of, and evidence for, the most popular sports products and practices on the market. Readers are encouraged to confront their conceptualizations of the industry and, by the book's end, they will have acquired the skills necessary to independently judge the effectiveness of sports-related products. This treatise on the commercialization of science in sport and exercise is a must-read for exercisers, athletes, students, and practitioners who hope to retain their intellectual integrity in a lucrative health and fitness industry that is spiraling out-of-control.

Here is the definitive story on how the Trojans once dominated college football and are doing so once again. Here also are the glittering history, rich tradition, and remarkable athletes who have marked the USC football program throughout the years.

This handbook offers an important and timely contribution to the interdisciplinary field of Olympic studies. It brings together for the first time in a single volume a complete analysis of current and future economic, commercial, socio-political, cultural and governance challenges facing both the Olympic and Paralympic Games, their athletes and institutions. The book presents new research and broad surveys exploring pressing debates, challenges and possible solutions surrounding the modern Olympic and Paralympic Games, across diverse socioeconomic and political contexts. Featuring chapters written by leading scholars, athletes and administrators from a range of disciplines and backgrounds, the handbook is divided into four main areas: athletes, business, governance and socio-cultural issues within the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Examining key themes, theories and new emerging issues within the field, the book offers expert insights into every major topic related to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, including doping, integrity, athletes' rights, culture, nationality, sponsorship, branding, governance, sports policy and law, marketing, social media, technology, e-sports, politics, ethics, international relations, legacy and impact. The only up-to-date handbook to reflect the true breadth and depth of this international field of research, the Routledge Handbook of the Olympic and Paralympic Games is a landmark publication for all students and scholars of sport studies, as well as those working in sport business, media, event management and administration, economics, marketing, management, politics, Olympic studies and cultural studies. It is also an important resource for sport management practitioners and sports officials.

How much do you really know about Manchester City? Put your Blues knowledge to the test with this bumper book of brainteaser quizzes and fascinating facts, beautifully illustrated by one of the world's leading sports artists. It's packed with trivia on all the Man City greats - from Meredith and Trautmann to Summerbee and Bell, from Mercer to Mancini and on to the Guardiola glory years - providing hours of highly dippable fun and entertainment. Mike Summerbee once owned a fashion boutique with which Manchester United star? Can you name City's first Ukrainian-born player? Which former City striker voiced an ugly sister in Spanish versions of the Shrek movies? Whose '23' City squad number was retired following his death on international duty? Which goalkeeper broke a finger in a game against Bury, played on at centre-forward and scored? Trivquiz Manchester City holds the answers to all these questions and hundreds more.

While the NFL Super Bowl has become a worldwide cultural event, the annual league championship games had a long history even before the first Super Bowl in January, 1967. From the first American Football League's attempt to settle the league title on the gridiron in 1926 to the separate NFL and AFL championships of the 1965 season, this history offers a narrative of each game, including line-ups, box scores, and team statistics.

Applying concepts, data, and other information from various sources in the literature when and where appropriate, the book reveals and examines the behavior, contribution, and impact of student athletes (SAs) on campuses of American colleges and universities. It highlights, in part, SAs' progress academically while they devoted time and resources to participate in one or more of their schools' individual and/or team sports in Division I, II, and/or III of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and/or National Junior College Athletic Association.

One of the greatest changes in the sports world in the past 20 years has been the use of mathematical methods to analyze performances, recognize trends and patterns, and predict results. Analytic Methods in Sports: Using Mathematics and Statistics to Understand Data from Baseball, Football, Basketball, and Other Sports, Second Edition provides a concise yet thorough introduction to the analytic and statistical methods that are useful in studying sports. The book gives you all the tools necessary to answer key questions in sports analysis. It explains how to apply the methods to sports data and interpret the results, demonstrating that the analysis of sports data is often different from standard statistical analyses. The book integrates a large number of motivating sports examples throughout and offers guidance on computation and suggestions for further reading in each chapter. Features Covers numerous statistical procedures for analyzing data based on sports results Presents fundamental methods for describing and summarizing data Describes aspects of probability theory and basic statistical concepts that are necessary to understand and deal with the randomness inherent in sports data Explains the statistical reasoning underlying the methods Illustrates the methods using real data drawn from a wide variety of sports Offers many of the datasets on the author's website, enabling you to replicate the analyses or conduct related analyses New to the Second Edition R code included for all calculations A new chapter discussing several more advanced methods, such as binary response models, random effects, multilevel models, spline methods, and principal components analysis, and more Exercises added to the end of each chapter, to enable use for courses and self-study Full solutions manual available to course instructors.

Research on Indigenous participation in sport offers many opportunities to better understand the political issues of equality, empowerment, self-determination and protection of culture and identity. This volume compares and conceptualises the sociological significance of Indigenous sports in different international contexts. The contributions, all written by Indigenous scholars and those working directly in Indigenous/Native Studies units, provide unique studies of contemporary experiences of Indigenous sports participation. The papers investigate current understandings of Indigeneity found to circulate throughout sports, sports organisations and Indigenous communities. by (1): situating attitudes to racial and cultural difference within the broader sociological processes of post colonial Indigenous worlds (2): interrogating perceptions of Indigenous identity with reference to contemporary theories of identity drawn from Indigenous Studies and (3): providing insight to increased Indigenous participation, empowerment and personal development through sport with reference to sociological theory.

How much do you really know about West Ham United? Put your Hammers knowledge to the test with this bumper book of brainteaser quizzes and fascinating facts, beautifully illustrated by one of the world's leading sports artists. It's packed with trivia on all the West Ham greats - from World Cup heroes Moore, Hurst and Peters to Hammers legends Bonds, Brooking and beyond - providing hours of highly dippable fun and entertainment. Which West Ham manager played in a rock band called Rawbau? Who was West Ham's first non-British manager? A statue erected near the Boleyn Ground, honouring the Hammers' 1966 World Cup heroes, also includes which Everton player? Fan favourite Clyde Best was born in which country? Trivquiz West Ham United holds the answers to all these questions and hundreds more.

'A rollicking read and a mighty achievement' - Donald McRae, The Guardian 'Magnificent' - Owen Slot, The Times The 1997 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa is one of the most iconic in rugby history. Written off at home and abroad, Martin Johnson's men were given no hope of success against the world champion Springboks in their own backyard. But a combination of brilliant coaching, astute selections and outstanding players laid the foundations for the touring side's outstanding attacking mindset and brutal stonewall defence. On the other side was a team expected to stamp their authority on the tourists and confirm their place as the best side on the planet. But with political, racial and economic scandals swirling around the Springbok camp, plus a rookie coach parachuted into office just before the tour began, the hosts were under huge pressure. In a Test series that will go down in legend as one of the most compelling of all time, the sides could barely be separated. This is the inside story from both camps as they battle for supremacy, lifting the lid like never before as a huge cast of characters look back on those extraordinary weeks and the impact it had on their lives and careers thereafter. Hilarious, insightful and spine-chilling, Tom English and Peter Burns provide the perfect read for all Lions fans.

Sport officials are tasked with maintaining order and adjudicating sport contests. Given their multifaceted role in enforcing rules, standardizing competitions, and keeping sport safe for all participants, they are a requisite part of the sport workforce. With ongoing reports of annual attrition rates in officiating in excess of 20-35% for various sports around the world, there is more than ample evidence that officiating dropout is a persistent, pervasive, and global challenge underpinned by multiple contributing factors including, but not limited to, the threat of verbal and physical abuse. Moreover, despite worldwide recognition and growing interest in the problem, there has not been a comprehensive resource for sport scientists and practitioners studying or working to reverse the ongoing trend. Sport Officiating: Recruitment, Development, and Retention provides a 'state of the science' summary in the emerging area of inquiry limited to sport officiating recruitment, development, and retention, and, provides insight and evidence-based approaches to the development of successful officiating development programs (ODP). This book is a primary reference work using a multifaceted, holistic, and evidence-based approach to integrate key findings from the sport science literature to date in suggesting and providing real-world solutions to the practical issues faced by sport organizers. Sport Officiating: Recruitment, Development, and Retention is a key resource for researchers interested in the development of sport officials and for sport practitioners aiming to implement officiating development programs (ODP) at any level within sport systems.