A Photographic History of British Football - DVD-vel [antikvár]

ntroduction D } e reopes Game Britain is "the motherland of football". Two centuries before FIFA president Sepp Blatter coined that phrase, Sir Walter Scott - an early celebrity fan - said "Kfe is but a game of football". Scott was writing when the game was in a state of flux, but once the spht from rugby was effected in the mid-19th century, Association Football flourished throughout the land. England and Scotland contested the world's first international in 1872, and founded the two oldest cup competitions. By 1880 all the home nations had estabhshed football associations - the first four countries to do so - and soon launched an annual round-robin tournament. All would enjoy bragging rights at various times during the next century. League football was no less hotly contested, and all around Britain there were local rivalries to stir the blood: Manchester-Liverpool, Glasgow's Old Firm, London, Tyne and Wear, the Midlands. Add in the South Coast, South Wales and East Anghan derbies and a picture emerges: victory over the neighbours is almost akin to silverware. Expatriates spread the footballing gospel to all corners of the globe with missionary zeal. The People's Game in Britain became the world's most popular sporting pursuit, and the students eventually became a match for the masters. Even so, Britain stiU leads the way in terms ofEuropean trophies won, and the unique blend of power, pace and passion is a magnet to TV audiences worldwide. This lavishly illustrated book charts the key events in the history of British football, from the time when players wore knickerbockers and tasseUed caps, balls had laces and the first j{|l,000 transfer raised a storm, to the game we know today. It covers shocks and controversies, tactical developments and rule changes, with a wealth of statistics to setrie most arguments. There is ecstasy, but plenty of agony, too. It is the story of a great unending soap opera, set in the nation that gave the Beautiful Game to the world.