Football - The First 50 years

Why is football so popular?

There are a few reasons why people believe that football is so popular, more popular than any other sport in England.

The main reason is because football is so easy to play! All you need is a ball, 2 goals and some friends to play with! You don’t even need real equipment either – many people create goalposts from pieces of clothing or marks on the ground and a ball can be made of plastic bags and string!

In addition, there are very few rules in football compared to other sports so it can be very enjoyable to play and watch.

Bloomsbury-international.com

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Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win.
Gary Lineker

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“I had discovered… …that loyalty, at least in football terms, was not a moral choice like bravery or kindness; it was more like a wart or a hump, something you were stuck with.”

Nick Hornby - Fever Pitch

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Football is tribal, a shared experience of war by other means, a conflict you can - by virtue of being a fan – take part in vicariously; experience triumph and disaster in various measures as part of something bigger than yourself… It is these things but it is also more: it is human endeavor turned into physical art for all to see. A framework of achievement, against which our chosen exponents can be subjectively measured, so that we may be reflected in their glory and our spirits lifted by their golden moments. It is a set reference point where all can admire the height of skill and the depravity of ineptitude and feel the full measure of both deep in our souls so we know we are alive. Or as Nick Hornby put it:

“…the natural state of a football fan is bitter disappointment, no matter what the score.”

Binneyink

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“If a man watches three football games in a row, he should be declared legally dead.”
Emma Bombeck

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Manager’s response to being told that the striker Colin McGlashan was concussed and didn't know who he was:

"Tell him he's Pele and get him back on."

John Lambie - Partick Thistle Manager

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“I must say that Stanley’s all-round game was sensational… Stan’s first touch was the key. He had a left foot like a hand, and could put the ball anywhere he wanted it to be. It wasn’t a case of controlling the ball first, because he knew he could do that, it was what he was going to do after that. He was like one of those highly technical foreign players, he just had that type of ability.”

Terry Venables on Stan Bowles

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“I blew the lot on vodka and tonic, gambling and fags. Looking back, I think I overdid it on the tonic.”
Stan Bowles on Stan Bowles

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"They'll forget all the rubbish when I've gone and they'll remember the football. If only one person thinks I'm the best player in the world, that's good enough for me."

George Best on George Best

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THE SUNDAY FAN – The EVE OF SHIZUKA 2002

In Henley Town where I do dwell,
The house market was swellin’.
So I clung on to 10 per cent
Of the house of Barbara Allan.

Now round about St Erik’s Mass
Or so my calendar was tellin’,
The World Cup came upon us all
And also Barbara Allan.

And through the towns and villages
A fever started fallin’
For football and the England team,
But not on Barbara Allan.

She upped and went straight way to work
She said: ‘This football’s smellin’
Rottener than your woolly socks’,
Thus spake cold Barbara Allan.

But Lo – The England Team did win,
Through their group they kept progressin’
And everyone professed to cheer,
Except for Barbara Allan.

‘They’ll never win’ she said again,
As the Danish they were fellin’
But God had chosen white to wear,
To confound poor Barbara Allan.

St George’s men then earned the right,
To face the men in lemon,
And everyone did fear the foe,
Except for Barbara Allan.

‘Those samba boys are quick to dance,
But slow to stop our Owen.
And Ferdinand will hold the bridge.’
Said cocky Barbara Allan.

Alas, alas she could not know
The funeral bell was knellin’
For England’s newest Sunday fan
The three lions Barbara Allan.

For if she had followed England’s tale
O’er thirty years of tellin’
She would have known her heart would break.
Oh despair for Barbara Allan.

The penalties that missed the goal,
The German fans all yelling,
As England bowed their heads once more
Their birth-right cheaply sellin’.

And so the odds were stacked against
England dearly buyin’
A semi-final place despite
The support of Barbara Allan.

‘Oh mither, mither make my bed,
O make it saft and narrow,
Since England won’t produce the goods,
They’ll be coming home tomorrow.’

‘Farewell,’ she said, ‘You sad fans all.
And shun the fault I fell in.
To follow England’s team in hope.
How cruel.’ Says Barbara Allan.

Binneyink

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