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Willy Meisl was an Austrian-Jewish sports journalist who dominated the field during the Weimar Republic. A son of Viennese coffee houses, Meisl intellectualised sports writing in the interwar years, covering themes like professionalism, tactics and sporting antiquity for wide audiences, in styles more commonly found in the newspapers'culture sections. Contemporaries called him the King of the Sports Journalists. But his work was affected profoundly by the Nazis'rise to power, whereupon he began to write about Nazism's roots, the terror it unleashed, and about the Jews and Jewish identity; exposing the fallacies of the racial theories that forced him into exile. This volume presents his most searing writings on these themes. Presented in their original German, but with introductory material in English, the texts show Meisl to be one of the interwar period's foremost chroniclers of change, and will reintroduce readers to a now largely forgotten pioneer of journalism between the wars.

Can a football match trigger a war? Can football push back against the tyranny of dictatorship, or usher one into power? Kicking Off Around the World shares some of the incredible stories in which football clubs have been a mirror to—and a maker of—world history. Ramon Usall shows that there is almost no contemporary historical episode that is not reflected in the trajectory of a football club somewhere. Taking the reader on a whistle-stop tour of the events that have defined the last century, we encounter anti-colonial rebellions, class conflict, Nazism, communism, national liberation struggles and sectarian strife. Full of anecdotes, little-known facts and illustrations, Kicking Off Around the World mixes the grassroots with the greatest of all time; the unknown and the unforgettable. It looks at the women's game, football during the war in Ukraine, and stories of clubs from around the world: in Britain and the USA, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.

Never-before-told stories of wild celebrations and heartfelt moments with the Stanley Cup, in the words of the champions themselves, including Sidney Crosby, Brendan Shanahan, Larry Robinson, and Mike Modano.There is no trophy like the Stanley Cup. It has the names of every champion who's won it engraved on its shining sides. And when it is won, it is presented first to the players, who have fought so hard to raise it above their heads. The Cup is special in another way, too. Every summer, it goes on a cross-continent tour (sometimes even overseas), visiting every player, coach, and team member who won it that year. Everyone gets their day with the Cup, chaperoned by one of the ever-watchful Keepers of the Cup from the Hockey Hall of Fame to make sure it doesn't get into too much trouble. The Cup has been everywhere, from the bottom of a pool at a rock star's mansion to a ride through the sky above Montreal in a helicopter flown by none other than hockey legend Guy Lafleur. It has served beer and champagne, breakfast cereal for kids, popcorn, and hot dogs. It brings joy to players and fans and inspires awe everywhere it goes. Veteran sportscaster and bestselling author Jim Lang has interviewed more than thirty players and coaches, and a couple of Keepers of the Cup, to collect these behind-the-scenes stories of the Stanley Cup's adventures. Each one is special, but they all share strong themes of family and friends, community, gratitude, and the feeling that the greatest achievements in life are best celebrated with others.

In many American cities, individual athletes, professional teams, and university sports are integral to the cities'sporting identities. Berlin, in contrast, features no single hallmark sport, team, or annual event. Five political regimes, wartime destruction, and four decades of division instead fostered ever-changing teams, allegiances, and venues. Yet, the desire to play and watch sport continued unabated across these political watersheds. Berlin Sports: Spectacle, Recreation, and Media in Germany's Metropolis explores the history of sport in Berlin from the late nineteenth- to the early twenty-first centuries against the backdrop of the city's sharp political shifts, diverse populations, and status as a major metropolis with both regional and global resonance. This book begins with a long-distance equestrian race in the 1890s and continues with the role of media in spectacle, celebrity, urban life, and gender from the 1890s to the 1920s.It then turns to grassroots sport participation and spectatorship as well as sport diplomacy at the elite international level during the postwar period and the years of German division. Next, it explores recreational sport associations within the context of immigration and youth counterculture. It concludes with the 2015 European Maccabi Games, an international Jewish sports festival through which Berlin sought to grapple with the infamous 1936 Olympics and showcase Berlin as a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Taken together, the book's scholarly essays on all of these sporting endeavors reveal the rich and varied sporting culture in Berlin and yield fresh insights into spectacle, recreation, and media in the city.

A bold and foundational history of the inception and evolution of intercollegiate athletics in the United States.In College Sports, historians Eric A. Moyen and John R. Thelin tell the intriguing story of the success—and excess—of American college sports from their inception to today. Arguing that the modern American university's structure spurred the growth of big-time sports, Moyen and Thelin also highlight the treatment of marginalized groups in athletics and the role that commercialization and the media have played in shaping college sports.Using a wealth of secondary resources, archival records, newspaper articles, and oral histories, Moyen and Thelin offer a chronological account of the popularity, success, and continued challenges of college sports. Most scholarship has portrayed athletics as an anomaly within higher education, but history reveals that college sports enjoy a symbiotic relationship with universities. Reform and a return to a purely amateur model have rarely been a compelling option for those institutions that are successful in commercialized big-time college sports. At the same time, most student-athletes compete in a very different model. And despite their progressive posturing, colleges have been slow to fully adopt civil rights and social justice issues. When full participation was finally extended to women and minorities, it generally meant a move away from the amateur model into a commercial enterprise. By examining key events at specific universities, athletic conferences, and the NCAA, Moyen and Thelin trace how the media and sports marketing have created an incredibly successful financial model for schools in big-time conferences. Yet this model has also created a precarious fiscal situation for hundreds of other institutions. This provocative and refreshing take on sports in American universities provides the context in which to understand—and improve upon—the current landscape of intercollegiate athletics.

In Unbelievable Underdogs and Rebellious Role Models, James Stafford takes readers on an emotional roller coaster through some of the greatest upsets and shocks in the history of world sport.It features incredible true tales of athletes who have overcome poverty, racism, injury, disability and even shark attacks to reach the top against all odds. Sports featured include football, basketball, baseball, surfing, athletics, rugby, ice hockey, American football, wheelchair racing, cricket, tennis, speed skating and boxing.Packed with stunning illustrations by Tuan Nguyen that bring these epic stories and moments to life, this book will inspire, educate and entertain young readers and reveal the remarkable ability of humankind to prevail over seemingly insurmountable obstacles and challenges.

Sport has always been an integral part of life at UNSW. Since 1949, when the university was formed, and the beginning of the Sports Association that quickly followed, sporting clubs have played a crucial role in shaping the identity of the rapidly growing university. Whether played socially or at an elite level, sport has enriched the lives of thousands of students and benefitted the wider university community. Over the decades, numerous UNSW students have been selected for interstate competitions, and have represented Australia at an international level and at the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. The Badge We Wear celebrates the sporting history of UNSW and examines the ongoing impact that sport and recreation has had in the university's history.

Sport often mirrored the racial climate of the time, but it also informed and encouraged equality on and off the field. In Boston, the Black athletic body historically represented a challenge to the city's liberal image. Boston's Black Athletes: Identity, Performance, and Activism interprets Boston's contested racial history through the diverse experiences of the city's African American sports figures who directed their talent toward the struggle for social justice. Editors Robert Cvornyek and Douglas Stark and the contributors explore a variety of representative athletes, such as Kittie Knox, Louise Stokes, and Medina Dixon, that negotiated Boston's racial boundaries at sequential moments during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to demonstrate Boston's long and troubled racial history. The contributors'biographical sketches are grounded in stories that have remained memorable within Boston's Black neighborhoods. In recounting the struggles and triumphs of these individuals, this book amplifies their stories and reminds readers that Boston's Black sports fans found a historic consistency in their athletes to shape racial identity and cultural expression.

The stories behind and legacies of important sports photos from the last 130 years. Ever since photography and professional sports originated in the nineteenth century, photographers have shaped how we perceive sports. Sports through the Lens collects essays by twenty-five historians that consider what it means to capture and revisit a moment of cultural significance in sports, looking at each photo's creation, its contexts, and how its meaning has shifted over time. Some essays provide fresh perspectives on such iconic images as Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston at their 1965 rematch and Michael Jordan soaring at the 1988 NBA All-Star Game slam dunk competition; others introduce readers to the lesser-known stories of the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon or the inaugural World Indigenous Games. The authors examine the photos'legacies alongside the artistry of both the athletes and the photographers. Reflecting on images of athletes from around the world engaged in sports from baseball to horse-racing to hockey, Sports through the Lens provides a wide-ranging meditation on the visual, historical, and cultural meaning of sports photographs.

Ladies First by Ashley Morrison is a compelling account of the remarkable journey undertaken by the Australian women's hockey team at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. These 16 women not only secured Australia's first Olympic Gold Medal in Hockey but also clinched the nation's first Gold Medal for a team sport. Yet, despite their incredible feat, their achievements have faded into relative obscurity over time compared with other Gold Medal winners. Morrison delves into the intriguing question of why this team, despite their groundbreaking success, has been largely overlooked by history. Set against the backdrop of one of the last'amateur'Games, the story raises questions about the shifting landscape of sports and the challenges faced by female athletes in gaining recognition for their accomplishments. Through heartfelt storytelling, Ladies First shines a light on these trailblazing women who etched their names into Australia's sporting history, and who were the pioneers for the team we now know as the'Hockeyroos', ensuring that their legacy is not forgotten.

For several decades following the end of the Civil War, the most popular sport in the United States was walking. Professional pedestrians often covered 500 miles or more for up to six grueling days and nights in pursuit of large money prizes. Walking was also a favorite amateur sport; newspapers often noted a “pedestrian mania” or “walking fever” that only began to give way in the mid-1880s to fast-rising crazes for baseball, bicycling, and roller skating. As competitive walking faded, a new kind of spectacle walking, which had also begun in the late 1860s, came to full flower. Between 1890 and 1930, hundreds of men, women, even children and entire families were on the nation's roads and railroad tracks trekking between widely separated points, sometimes moving in unusual ways such as on roller skates or by walking barefooted, backward, on stilts, or while rolling a hoop. To finance their attention-seeking journeys, many sold souvenir postcards. The public usually found these performers entertaining, but public officials and newspaper editors often denounced them as nuisances or frauds. Tapping vintage postcards and old newspaper articles, this is the first book to bring back to view this once-familiar feature of American life.

“A tour-de-force that touches on how soccer is always mixed up with politics in every corner of the globe” Mehreen Khan, The Times and co-host of the Humans & Heroes soccer podcast“An absolute must for anybody interested in the history of soccer clubs. It not only provides riveting stories, it also reveals surprises about the politics of soccer” Stephen Ortega, Global Sports Initiative, Harvard UniversityThink you know everything about soccer?Which soccer match triggered a war? How did “the beautiful game” push back against the tyranny of dictatorship, and usher another into power? Kicking Off Around the World includes 55 incredible stories in which soccer clubs have been a mirror to—and a maker of—world history.Full of anecdotes, surprising facts and illustrations, Ramon Usall mixes the grassroots with the greatest of all time; the unknown and the unforgettable. He looks at the women's game, soccer during the war in Ukraine, and stories of clubs from the US to Britain, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa, from football under the Nazis to the communists and everyone in between. Ramon Usall is a writer, academic and political activist. He is the author of Futbol per la llibertat, which won the Josep Vallverdú Essay Prize.

This definitive and expertly researched work chronicles the careers and life stories of 61 Worcestershire cricketers who played just a single game of Championship cricket for the county. The breadth and depth of material not only provides the career details of each player, which you would expect to see in such a publication, it reaches way beyond that. It includes at least one photograph of each player, and in several instances, details of births, deaths, schools, universities attended and chosen careers; have been included or corrected based on new information which has come to light. Coupled to that, it provides a fascinating insight into the lives of players and dovetails as a social history of the last 120 years. Due to this research, and because of the thorough work undertaken by the author, the identity of two players has been changed completely. It has; therefore, necessitated the re-writing of existing and hitherto definitive, established cricket records. While many of the players may not be household names, the book celebrates their remarkable lives and careers away from the cricket field, because each has a unique story to tell. Included are great Test cricketers, stalwarts of league cricket and those who excelled in their own professions or served their community and country with dignity. Whether at other sports, within education, business and commerce or during times of conflict - the latter tinged with sadness that two of the players paid the ultimate sacrifice - they all helped to forge a unique place in Worcestershire's cricketing history.

In Win or Else, Larry E. Holmes shows us how Soviet football culture regularly disregarded official ideological and political imperatives and skirted the boundaries between socialism and capitalism. In the early 1920s, the Soviet press denounced football as a bourgeois sport that was injurious to both mind and body. Within that same decade, however, it blew up, becoming the most popular spectator sport in the USSR and growing into a fiercely competitive business with complex regional and national bureaucracies, a strong international presence, and a conviction that victory on the field was also a victory of Soviet supremacy. Writing as both historian and fan, Holmes focuses his study on the provincial Kirov team Dinamo from 1979 to 1985, when the club played at both its worst and its best. Spurred by a dismal 1979 season, the team's administrators and regional authorities had two options: obey Moscow's edict to reduce expenditures on professional sports or seek out new—and often illicit—funding sources to fill out a team of champions. Drawing on rich archival materials as well as newspapers and interviews with former players, Win or Else reveals the foundations of Soviet sports culture—and the hazards that teams faced both in victory and in loss.

Since Pauline Konga's breakthrough performance at the 1996 summer Olympics in Atlanta, the world has become accustomed to seeing Kenyan women medal at major championships, sweep marathons, and set world records. Yet little is known about the pioneer generation of women who paved the way for Kenya's reputation as an international powerhouse in women's track and field. In Kenya's Running Women: A History, historian and former professional runner Michelle M. Sikes details the triumphs and many challenges these women faced, from the advent of Kenya's athletics program in the colonial era through the professionalization of running in the 1980s and 1990s. Sikes reveals how over time running became a vehicle for Kenyan women to expand the boundaries of acceptable female behavior. Kenya's Running Women demonstrates the necessity of including women in histories of African sport, and of incorporating sport into studies of African gender and nation-building.

‘Correia takes us around the world to examine how soccer has produced the kind of political energy that can change minds and even topple governments'Dave Zirin, Sports Editor, The Nation‘A fascinating journey through the game's history [as] a vehicle of change'Shaka Hislop, former player, anti-racist educator and broadcaster‘An essential read for soccer fans everywhere'Juliet Jacques, writer, filmmaker and journalistSoccer is so much more than the billionaire owners and eye-watering signing fees that dominate the headlines. Look beyond the Premier League and the World Cup, the sublime brilliance of Messi and Mbappé, and you'll find a story unparalleled in the world of sport.From England, France and Germany to Palestine, South Africa and Brazil, A People's History of Soccer reveals how the ‘beautiful game'has been a powerful instrument of emancipation for workers, feminists, anti-colonialist activists, young people and protesters around the world.Countering the clichés about soccer fans, Mickaël Correia dives into soccer countercultures born after the Second World War, from English hooligans to the ultras who played a central role in the ‘Arab Spring.'And with chapters on anti-fascism, the women's game, and the rise in community-owned clubs, Correia reminds us that soccer can be a powerful social and political force—as generous as it is subversive.Mickaël Correia is a journalist at Mediapart. He is the author of several books. He has written for Le Monde Diplomatique, Le Canard Enchaîné and La Revue du Crieur. His passion for soccer began when he was 4, with kickabouts on the streets of Roubaix.

For more than a century, professional wrestling has cultivated some of the most eccentric and compelling personalities. As the embodiment of flamboyance and intensity, the “Nature Boy” Ric Flair stood at wrestling's apex for decades, cementing his place as a once-in-a-lifetime athlete and performer. When he was in the ring, fans knew they were witnessing the very best, and he not only became a multi-time world heavyweight champion in the NWA, WCW, and the WWE, but his status as a generational great has been confirmed with inductions into numerous Halls of Fame. The Last Real World Champion: The Legacy of “Nature Boy” Ric Flair is a gripping portrait of a wrestling legend. This unflinching biography explores the successes, struggles, and controversy of Flair's life in wrestling, pulling no punches in sharing the truth behind his in-ring achievements and out-of-the-ring hardships. Today, Flair is celebrated for his pioneering career and as an iconic figure in the realm of mainstream sports entertainment. Celebrated wrestling historian Tim Hornbaker tells Flair's complete story, with meticulous attention to detail and exhaustive research, creating a must-read for fans of wrestling, sports, and popular culture.

The first book to examine the transformation of sporting cultures in South America in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Sports in South America follows the transformation of sporting cultures in South America leading up to Uruguay's hosting of the first FIFA Men's World Cup in 1930. Matthew Brown shows how South American soccer culture, envied worldwide, sprang out of societies that were already playing and watching games well before British sportsmen arrived to teach “the beautiful game.” These vibrant and distinct sporting traditions, including cycling, boxing, cockfighting, bullfighting, cricket, baseball, and horse racing, were marked by South American societies'Indigenous and colonial pasts and by their leaders'desire to participate in what they saw as a global movement toward human progress. Drawing on a wealth of original archival research, Brown debunks legends, highlights the stories of forgotten sportswomen and Indigenous sports, and unpacks the social and cultural connections within South America and with the rest of the world.

This is the first academic history of the FA England women's national football team. Based on unprecedented access to FA data, it details the careers of the 227 women who debuted for England from 1972 to 2022. England won the UEFA Women's Euros in 2022, and Jean worked with Sarina Wiegman and the squad, on the Legendary Lionesses from 1972.

Using the history of sport in the small towns and local communities of Poland, this book shines new light on the everyday reality of life under a communist regime in Eastern Europe in the 20th century.This book shows how socio-cultural history – ‘history from below'– that draws on rich sources, including oral testimony, personal archives, and literary and visual material, can provide the missing piece in our understanding of a significant time and place in the contemporary history of Europe. Focusing on the period between 1945 and 1989, this book shows how sport was an important element of state politics and propaganda but looks closely at the local level – at the spaces and material culture of sport – to reveal the extent to which sport had penetrated the daily culture of rural and small-town life in Poland. The stories of football players, local clubs, small sports arenas, and cyclists who crossed geographical and culture boundaries, all add new depth to the history of contemporary Poland, and by examining the history of local sport organisations, this book also reveals important differences between official state ideology, the provincial party apparatus, and the lives of ordinary people.This is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the history of sport, socio-cultural history, European history, the history of the 20th century, or historical methods.

The quintessential book for Newcastle United fans everywhere, Sky Sports presenter Pete Graves tells the inside story of the Magpies today, using exclusive interviews with Eddie Howe and other club legends.Welcome to Newcastle United, the most exciting football club in the world right now.Since joining the team in 2021, Eddie Howe has been determined to transform Newcastle United from a perennial underachiever into one of the biggest teams in not just the Premier League, but Europe as well. With the players, fans and decision-makers finally all working together, and with the pain of the past behind them, the Magpies are ready for a new era to begin...Telling the story of Newcastle through some of its most competitive moments, including Kevin Keegan and Bobby Robson's stewardships, as well as touching on some of its trickier times, television presenter and diehard fan Pete Graves recaps the team's history and goes inside the club to show what is so exciting about this team today.Featuring interviews with key figures past and present, including Eddie Howe himself, Graves builds a picture of what's happening with Newcastle, both on and off the pitch, as they climb the league and set their sights on silverware.With extensive research and unparalleled access, Here to Compete is the incredible story of a team reborn and the man who is on course to build an empire.

WINNER OF THE SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2024 CYCLING BOOK OF THE YEARA WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2023: SPORTNOMINATED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023'An absorbing mix of historical sleuthing and travel writing'The Telegraph'[a] fascinating and often touching book… Wonderful'The TimesThe story of an obsession. When cycling commentator Ned Boulting bought a length of Pathé news film featuring a stage of the Tour de France from 1923 he set about learning everything he could about it - taking him on an intriguing journey that encompasses travelogue, history and detective story.In the autumn of 2020 Ned Boulting (ITV head cycling commentator and Tour de France obsessive) bought a length of Pathé news film from a London auction house. All he knew was it was film from the Tour de France, a long time ago. Once restored it became clear it was a short sequence of shots from stage 4 of the 1923 Tour de France. No longer than 2.5 minutes long, it featured half a dozen sequences, including a lone rider crossing a bridge. Ned set about learning everything he could about the sequence – studying each frame, face and building – until he had squeezed the meaning from it. It sets him off in fascinating directions, encompassing travelogue, history, mystery story – to explain, to go deeper into this moment in time, captured on his little film.Join him as he explores the history of cycling and France just five years after WWI.

Women in the Olympics traces the history of women in the Olympic Games. This pocket book offer details about important milestones in Olympic history and illustrates the salient themes that have shaped women's involvement in the Games. From ancient times to today, women have always had a tenuous position in the Olympics. When Pierre de Coubertin founded the modern Olympic Movement at the end of the nineteenth century, he did not include women in his vision. He viewed the Olympics as a way for boys to cultivate manliness and men to demonstrate masculinity. Women eventually overcame such prejudices and competed at 1900 Olympics. Despite their inclusion, they remained beset by roadblocks. Sports that Olympic officials considered too grueling, taxing, or physical remained off limits to women. Leaders introduced sex tests to remove muscular female Olympians who breached gender norms from the Games. The Olympics were inaccessible for women in certain countries. And women remained severely underrepresented in the Olympic governance structure. Women in the Olympics shows how women have continuously fought for increased opportunities as athletes, equal access to elite sports, and a place in the decision-making process.

From its earliest days, association football was seen not just as a contest between individuals and teams, but also between nations and peoples. The Irish national team was among the first in the world to participate in international competition in the early 1880s, but not everyone accepted it as a truly national entity. Sport in Ireland was disputed ground in a manner that was not the case elsewhere – even the term ‘football'itself was a contested one. But soccer followers generally found no contradiction between their sporting and national loyalties, and the game found an important niche in Irish life, supported by many leading nationalists, from James Connolly to John Hume. This book provides a unique window into the history of Ireland and Britain, with keen insights into the making of national, regional, sectarian, class and gender identities that crystallised around Irish soccer. Taking the story from the 1870s up to the present, it examines the domestic as well the international game in Ireland, North and South, and sets both in a richly detailed historical and cultural context. It also examines the experience of Irish communities in England and Scotland, and the ways in which the game affected their relationship with their host societies. Carefully weaving together political, social, cultural and sporting history, No Foreign Game tells a story not just of division and conflict, but also one of solidarity and celebration, and in doing so it breaks new ground in the history of Irish sport.

This book is concerned with the early years of the Football Association Challenge Cup – more commonly known as the FA Cup – examining events from its inception in 1871–2 to the beginning of the Football League in 1888–9. The work is underpinned by the figurational sociology of Norbert Elias, employing his ideas around the European'civilising process', power and lengthening chains of human interdependency. Most of all, the majority of the text has been compiled using primary source material, such as newspaper reports and the minutes of the Football Association, which encourages original and unique additions to the body of knowledge. There exist no comparable offerings on the time period involved, with the book providing a distinct perspective for scholars and non-specialists alike. The initial years of the competition were dominated by teams consisting mainly of upper-middle-class southern amateurs. However, by the early 1880s, they were supplanted by men who were initially covert– and eventually overt – professionals, many of whom hailed from Scotland, but mainly represented clubs from Lancashire and the West Midlands. The FA Cup, despite losing some of its allure when compared to competitions such as the UEFA Champions League, still retains a magic of its own in the English football calendar.

The Forgotten Cup tells the colourful story of the Mitropa Cup, the inter-war equivalent of today's Champions League. One of the most prestigious football stages of the era - along with the World Cup, which was first played in 1930 - it was a tournament to determine the kings of Europe at the end of a round-robin competition. European football at the highest level was dominated by Italian and Danubian teams - Austrian, Hungarian and Czechoslovakian - and would remain so until the end of the Second World War. The top teams of the time have now fallen into oblivion, and the exploits of Europe's football stars are largely forgotten. Matthias Sindelar, Karel Peš ek'Ká d'a, Giuseppe Meazza, Gyö rgy Sá rosi and Josef Bican along with a few others were the icons of a sport that had just turned professional, born out of the frictions of a politically heated era with an atmosphere that reverberated on the pitch. The Forgotten Cup takes us back to that lost age.

In late 1975 and early 1976, at the height of the Cold War, two of the Soviet Union's long-dominant national hockey teams traveled to North America to play an eight-game series against the best teams in the National Hockey League. The culmination of the “Super Series” was reigning Soviet League champion HC CSKA Moscow's face-off against the defending NHL champion Flyers in Philadelphia on January 11, 1976. Known as the “Red Army Club,” HC CSKA hadn't lost a game in the series. Known as the “Broad Street Bullies,” the Flyers were determined to bring the Red Army team's winning streak to an end with their trademark aggressive style of play.Based largely on interviews, Ed Gruver's book tells the story of this epic game and series as it lays out the stakes involved: nothing less than the credibility of the NHL. If the Red Army team had completed its series sweep by defeating the two-time Stanley Cup champion Flyers, the NHL would no longer have been able to claim primacy of place in professional-level hockey. The Stanley Cup, the most famous trophy in sports, would be devalued if the Flyers fell to the Soviets. Gruver also describes how the game and series affected the styles of both Russian and NHL teams. The Soviets adopted a more physical brand of hockey, while the NHL increasingly focused on passing and speed.

A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 - SPORT'A mesmerising, unforgettable journey around world rugby.'Donald McRae – Twice Winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year'Magnificent… hugely intelligent and entertaining.'Stuart Barnes, Sunday Times'Really enjoyed it.'Will Carling'An absolutely marvellous book… Recommended heartily.'Jonathan Drennan, Sydney Morning HeraldCONTRASTING CHARACTERS, COLLIDING CULTURES, THE SAME OVAL-SHAPED BALL. A JOURNEY TO FIND THE RUGBY'S MOST REMARKABLE PEOPLE, TEAMS AND PLACES. What makes rugby special? Which individuals and teams have defined the modern game? Around the World in 80 Minutes charts the'golden era'of global rugby union between 1973 and 2023 and goes in search of the sport's most influential trailblazers.Robert Kitson, the Guardian's long-time rugby union correspondent, assesses the game's current health, tracks down the battered gladiators of yesteryear and asks some pertinent questions. Does rugby retain its old rugged charm? What does its future look like? And what, ultimately, constitutes rugby'greatness'?Observant, amusing and thought-provoking, the journey takes in some of the game's more prominent names – including David Campese, Brian O'Driscoll, Maggie Alphonsi, Sean Fitzpatrick, Eddie Jones and Sir Clive Woodward – to reflect on rugby's intangible shared joy.Millions of fans continue to find rugby maddeningly irresistible and endlessly compelling. This book is for them, and for anyone else wondering where the appeal lies.

This is the first book to offer a comprehensive overview of the history and development of sport from the ancient to the contemporary era in China. It addresses the gap between the vibrant academic scholarship within China and the limited understanding of Chinese sport outside of the country. It opens different perspectives on Chinese sport and addresses a wide range of issues central to the development of sport in the context of Chinese culture, politics, economy, and society. It explores a diverse set of topics including the history of Chinese traditional sport, the rise of modern sport and the Olympic movement, sport and nationhood, sport and politics and international relations, sport and physical education, sport and economy and commerce, sport and social stratification and diversity, and sport leisure and tourism. It offers critical insights into the multifaceted world of China, past and present—a contribution to our collective knowledge and understanding of Chinese sport and society—and is useful reading for students, researchers, and professionals with an interest in the field of China and Chinese sport.This Handbook has been contributed to by a team consisting of 88 leading Chinese and Asian experts and scholars with varied backgrounds of studying and working in European, North American, and Australian universities, as well as Western scholars with expertise on China and its sports system and practice. It is composed of ten parts classified by different subjects. It provides a wide lens through which to better contextualise the relationships between China and the world within the global sport community.The Routledge Handbook of Sport in China is a vital resource for students and scholars studying the history, politics, sociology, culture and policy of sport in China, as well as sport management, sport history, sport sociology, and sport policy and politics. It is also valuable reading for those who are working in international sport policy making and sport organisations.

2024 Independent Publisher Book Awards Winner – Silver Medal, World HistoryNadia Comaneci is the Romanian child prodigy and global gymnastics star who ultimately fled her homeland and the brutal oppression of a communist regime. At the age of just 14, Nadia became the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10.0 at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games and went on to collect three gold medals in performances which influenced the sport for generations to come, cementing Nadia's place as a sporting legend. However, as the communist authorities in Romania sought an iron grip over its highest-profile athletes, Nadia and her trainers were subjected to surveillance from the Securitate, the Romanian secret police. Drawing on 25,000 secret police archive pages, countless secret service intelligence documents, and numerous wiretap recordings, this book tells the compelling story of Nadia's life and career using unique insights from the communist dictatorship which monitored her.Nadia Comaneci and the Secret Police explores Nadia's complex and combustible relationship with her sometimes abusive coaches, Béla and Marta Károlyi, figures who would later become embroiled in the USA Gymnastics scandal. The book addresses Nadia's mental struggles and 1978 suicide attempt, and her remarkable resurgence to gold at the Moscow Olympics in 1980. It explores the impact of Nadia's subsequent withdrawal from international activity and reflects on burning questions surrounding the heart-stopping, border-hopping defection to the United States that she successfully undertook in November 1989. Was the defection organised by CIA agents? Was it arranged on the orders of President George Bush himself? Or was Nadia aided and abetted by some of the very Securitate officers who were meant to be watching the communist world's most lauded sporting icon? What is revealed is a thrilling tale of endurance and escape, in which one of the world's greatest gymnasts risked everything for freedom.

A classic David & Goliath tale, complete with colorful heroes, cold-hearted villains, and nail-biting games—with the hockey rink serving as an arena for a nation's resistance.During the height of the Cold War, a group of small-town young men would lead their underdog hockey team from the little country of Czechoslovakia against the Soviet Union, the juggernaut in their sport. As they battled on the ice, the young players would keep their people's quest for freedom alive, and forge a way to fight back against the authoritarian forces that sought to crush them. From the sudden invasion of Czechoslovakia by an armada of tanks and 500,000 Warsaw Pact soldiers, to a hockey victory over the Soviets that inspired half a million furious citizens to take to the streets in an attempt to destroy all representations that they could find of their occupiers, Freedom to Win tells a story that ranges from iconic moments in history to courageous individual stories. We will witness the fearless escape by three brothers who make up the core of the national team. We will experience thrilling world championship games. We will watch as one brave player takes a stand and leads ten thousand people in a tear-filled rendition of the Czechoslovak national anthem amid chants of “freedom!” while a revolution rages in the streets of Prague. And we will cheer as the team takes on its nemesis one last time with the Olympic gold medal at stake. At the heart of Freedom to Win is the story of the Holíks, a Czechoslovak family whose resistance to the Communists embodied the deepest desires of the people of their country. Faced with life under the cruel and arbitrary regime that had stolen their family butcher shop, the Holík boys became national hockey icons and inspirations to their people. Filled with heart-pounding moments on the ice and unforgettable slices of history, Freedom to Win is the ultimate tale of why sports truly matter.

'Few have a better feel for Argentine rugby than Rex Gowar... his experience oozes from every paragraph. A fascinating, educational read'– Robert Kitson, The Guardian Argentinean rugby is a unique – and often mysterious – beast. In Pumas, veteran journalist Rex Gowar digs to the heart of rugby in Argentina to reveal a history like no other in the sport. Gregarious, colourful, controversial, violent, shocking, beautiful – these are just some of the words to describe the stories that emerge in these hair-raising pages as some of the biggest characters in the game are profiled, famous matches relived and painful history is scrutinised. In the first book in English to examine rugby in Argentina in any depth, Gowar explores how the roots of the game in the early twentieth century has produced a twisting, astonishing history that has flowered in the present day as the Pumas have established themselves as one of the world's powerhouse rugby nations.

Shortlisted for the 2023 Sports Book Awards for Best Sports Writing of the Year The British, who are rightly proud of their sporting traditions, are now having to come to terms with the dark, unacknowledged, past of racism in sport – until now the truth that dare not speak its name. Conscious and unconscious racism have for decades blighted the lives of talented black and Asian sportsmen and women, preventing them from fulfilling their potential. In Formula One, despite Lewis Hamilton's stellar achievements, barely one per cent of the 40,000 people employed in the sport are of ethnic minority heritage. In football, Britain's premier sport, the number of non-white managers in the professional game remains pitifully small. And in cricket, Azeem Rafiq's testimony to the Commons select committee has exposed the scandal of prejudice faced by Asian cricketers in the game. Veteran author and journalist Mihir Bose examines the way racism has affected black and Asian sportsmen and women and how attitudes have evolved over the past fifty years. He looks in depth at the controversies that have beset sport at all levels: from grassroots to international competitions and how the ‘Black Lives Matter'movement has had a seismic impact throughout sport, with black sports personalities leading the fight against racism. However, this has also led to a worrying white fatigue. Talking to people from playing field to boardroom and the media world, he illustrates the complexities and striking contrasts in attitudes towards race. We hear the voices of players, coaches and administrators as Mihir Bose explores the question of how the dream of a truly non-racial sports world can become a reality. The Marcus Rashford mural featured on the cover was commissioned by the Withington Walls community art project, created by artist AskeP19 (@akse_p19) and based on photography by Danny Cheetham (@dannycheetham). To find out more about the Withington Walls project, you can follow them at @Withingtonwalls on both Twitter and Instagram, or visit their website: www.withingtonwalls.co.uk

Shortlisted for the 2023 Sports Book Awards for Best Football Writing of the Year Discover the origins of the Lionesses that brought football home. England's Lionesses are on the front and back pages; their stars feature on prime-time television; they are named in the national honours lists for their contribution to their sport and to society. The names of Lucy Bronze, Steph Houghton and Ellen White are emblazoned across the backs of children's replica jerseys. These women are top athletes – and top celebrities. But in 1921, the Football Association introduced a ban on women's football, pronouncing the sport'quite unsuitable for females'. That ban would last for half a century - but despite official prohibition the women's game went underground. From the Dick, Kerr Ladies touring the world to the Lost Lionesses who played at the unsanctioned Women's World Cup in Mexico in 1971, generations of women defied the restrictions and laid the foundations for today's Lionesses - so much so that in 2018 England's Women's Super League became the first fully professional league in Europe...when just a few decades previously women were forbidden to play the sport in England at all. This book tells the story of women's football in England since its 19th-century inception through pen portraits of its trailblazers. The game might have once been banned because of its popularity – find out about the subversive women who kept organising their teams and matches despite the prohibition, who broke barriers and set records – the legends of the game who built the foundations of the stage upon which today's stars flourish.'At what feels like a pivotal moment, Carrie's forensic research and depth of knowledge make her the perfect person to guide us through the constantly changing landscape of women's football'- Kelly Cates, TV presenter

The Working Hands of a Goddess is the story of how Atalanta BC rose from the lower reaches of Serie A to become Champions League quarter-finalists in just four years. The appointment of Gian Piero Gasperini as manager in 2016 changed the club's fortunes forever. Quickly making his mark, he developed a squad that play one of Europe's most scintillating brands of football, and upset the status quo by going toe-to-toe with the giants of the Italian game. The Working Hands of a Goddess analyses and details the tactics and systems that underpin this thrilling team, the stories and backgrounds of the unique players that define it, and the culture and history that not only produced a beautiful football team but a special club and city-wide community. When the pandemic rocked the community, Atalanta became far more than just a football team by uniting a city in strife.

Puddings, bullies and squashes were terms used at Radley, Uppingham and Charterhouse to describe the melee, a feature of every early public school football game: half the school in one team attempting to drive the ball through the goal of the other half of the school in defence. The scrum of modern rugby is a pale imitation and soccer's defensive wall just a flimsy substitute by comparison. This is the story of those early public school codes before the nationalisation of football by the FA from 1863 and the RFU from 1871. The 20 schools are Bradfield College, Charterhouse, Christ's Hospital, Clongowes Wood College, Durham School, Edinburgh Academy, Eton College, Forest School, Harrow School, King's School Canterbury, Marlborough College, Radley College, Repton School, Rugby School, Sherborne School, Shrewsbury School, Tonbridge School, Uppingham School, Westminster School and Winchester College. With a preface by sports historian Tony Collins tracing the sweep of these remarkable innovative versions of football.

'All the best players began with futsal!'- Pelé'If it wasn't for futsal, I wouldn't be the player I am today.'-- Cristiano Ronaldo The untold story of soccer's little brother futsal, the grassroots game that is the secret behind the success of Pelé, Neymar, Messi, Ronaldo and the US star Christian Pulisic Futsal, a form of indoor soccer, is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. Jamie Fahey uncovers its global stories, tactical innovations and fascinating history and reveals its the secret behind the success of the likes of Brazilians Ronaldhino, Ronaldo Fenômeno and Romario and the kind of soccer revolutionized by Pep Guardiola at Barcelona – with Spain's Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta – and at Manchester City, with Belgium's Kevin De Bruyne and Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson. As Brazilian superstar Neymar said: ‘It has developed my technique, quick thinking and short moves...Futsal is fundamental to a footballer's life. It had a big importance in mine. When you're out there playing, you're forced to think fast and move even faster – if you lose a second, then the ball will be gone.'Born in Uruguay almost a century ago but raised to an art form in Brazil, futsal is one of the fastest-growing sports on the planet: over 60 million people play this lightning-fast and tactically intricate variation of indoor soccer, which is also a bona fide professional sport in its own right. Despite its growing status, however, futsal's history remains largely unknown and untold. Jamie Fahey is a leading futsal expert and qualified youth coach. He spent his childhood playing endless soccer matches in the shattered urban landscape of 1980s Liverpool – on the same streets later graced by Wayne Rooney, the ‘last true street footballer'. Yet when Fahey's own soccer career stalled, he realised he had been unwittingly learning the skills that pointed to his true passion. In Futsal: The Indoor Game Revolutionizing World Soccer, Fahey makes the case for futsal's transformative grassroots effect, both in the UK and abroad. He also tells the story of futsal's politics, tactics and personalities – and in doing so, illuminates a hidden corner of sporting history.

A Cultural History of Sport in the Age of Industry covers the period 1800 to 1920. Over this period, sport become increasingly global, some sports were radically altered, sports clubs proliferated, and new team games - such as baseball, basketball and the various forms of football - were created, codified, commercialized, and professionalized. Yet this was also an age of cultural and political tensions, when issues around the role of women, social class, ethnicity and race, imperial relationships, nation-building, and amateur and professional approaches were all shaping sport. At the same time, increasing urbanization, population, real wages and leisure time drove demand for sport ever higher, and the institutionalization and regulation of sport accelerated. The 6 volume set of the Cultural History of Sport presents the first comprehensive history from classical antiquity to today, covering all forms and aspects of sport and its ever-changing social, cultural, political, and economic context and impact. The themes covered in each volume are the purpose of sport; sporting time and sporting space; products, training and technology; rules and order; conflict and accommodation; inclusion, exclusion and segregation; minds, bodies and identities; representation. Mike Huggins is Emeritus Professor at the University of Cumbria, UK. Volume 5 in the Cultural History of Sport set General Editors: Wray Vamplew, Mark Dyreson, and John McClelland

A Cultural History of Sport in the Age of Enlightenment covers the period 1650 to 1800, a period often seen as a time of decline in sporting practice and literature. In fact, a rich sporting culture existed and sports were practised by both men and women at all levels of society. The Enlightenment called into question many of the earlier notions of religion, gender, and rank which had previously shaped sporting activities and also initiated the commercialization, professionalization and associativity which were to define modern sport. The 6 volume set of the Cultural History of Sport presents the first comprehensive history from classical antiquity to today, covering all forms and aspects of sport and its ever-changing social, cultural, political, and economic context and impact. The themes covered in each volume are the purpose of sport; sporting time and sporting space; products, training and technology; rules and order; conflict and accommodation; inclusion, exclusion and segregation; minds, bodies and identities; representation. Rebekka von Mallinckrodt is Professor at the University of Bremen, Germany. Volume 4 in the Cultural History of Sport set General Editors: Wray Vamplew, Mark Dyreson, and John McClelland

EIGHT YEARS WITH RANGERS, MORE THAN 300 GAMES, INCREDIBLE HIGHS, PAINFUL LOWS – AND IT ALL CAME DOWN TO ONE NIGHT IN THE NOU CAMP'24 May 1972. The biggest night in the history of Rangers. Having overcome the might of Italian giants Torino and Beckenbauer's Bayern Munich en route to the final of the European Cup Winners'Cup, Dynamo Moscow stood between the Light Blues and the trophy. The stage was set in Barcelona for an unsung hero: Dave Smith. Creator of two of the goals on the night and arguably man of the match. In a rollercoaster career, Smith joined the Ibrox club from Aberdeen in 1966 for a record fee. He tasted defeat in the 1967 European Cup Winners'Cup final and had his career blighted by two horrific leg breaks during a period in which he also experienced the tragedy of the Ibrox disaster. But by 1972 Smith was a lynchpin of Willie Waddell's team. Playing as sweeper, he dicated the tempo of games with his vision and pinpoint passing. The star of the Nou Camp victory was voted Player of the Year in Scotland to cap the most memorable of seasons. He departed Rangers in 1974, making a shock switch to Arbroath after a fallout with new Ibrox manager Jock Wallace, before going on to star overseas in South Africa and then alongside George Best for the LA Aztecs in America. Rejecting the chance to join Paris Saint-Germain, Smith chose to end his career in Scotland's lower leagues as player-manager at Berwick Rangers where he would find success and happiness playing the game the way it was meant to be played.

SELECTED AS ONE OF WATERSTONES BEST SPORT BOOKS OF 2022.A CRICKETER BOOK OF THE YEAR.'Superb'Matthew Syed, The Times'Fascinating'The Observer'Crickonomics is packed with sufficient statistical analysis to have the most ardent cricket geek purring with pleasure'Mail on Sunday'An insightful, Hawk-Eye-like analysis of the numbers behind cricket'Financial TimesAn engaging tour of the modern game from an award-winning journalist and the economist who co-authored the bestselling Soccernomics. Why does England rely on private schools for their batters – but not their bowlers? How did demographics shape India's rise? Why have women often been the game's great innovators? Why does South Africa struggle to produce Black Test batters? And how does the weather impact who wins? Crickonomics explores all of this and much more – including how Jayasuriya and Gilchrist transformed Test batting but T20 didn't; English cricket's great missed opportunity to have a league structure like football; why batters are paid more than bowlers; how Afghanistan is transforming German cricket; what the rest of the world can learn from New Zealand and even the Barmy Army's importance to Test cricket. This incisive book will entertain and surprise all cricket lovers. It might even change how you watch the game.

As modern football grapples with the implications of a global crisis, this book looks at first in the game's history: The First World War. The game's structure and fabric faced existential challenges as fundamental questions were asked about its place and value in English society. This study explores how conflict reshaped the People's Game on the English Home Front. The wartime seasons saw football's entire commercial model challenged and questioned. In 1915, the FA banned the payment of players, reopening a decades-old dispute between the game's early amateur values and its modern links to the world of capital and lucrative entertainment. Wartime football forced supporters to consider whether the game should continue, and if so, in what form? Using an array of previously unused sources and images, this book explores how players, administrators and fans grappled with these questions as daily life was continually reshaped by the demands of total war. From grassroots to elite football, players to spectators, gambling to charity work, this study examines the social, economic and cultural impact of what became Football's Great War.

Shortlisted for the Cricket Writers Club'Book of the Year'2022 and the Sunday Times Sports Book Awards'Cricket Book of the Year'2023In telling the story of cricket from the bottom up, Different Class demonstrates how the'quintessentially English'game has done more to divide, rather than unite, the English.In 1963, the West Indian Marxist C.L.R. James posed the deceptively benign question:'What do they know of cricket, who only cricket know?'A challenge to the public to re-consider cricket and its meaning by placing the game in its true social, political and economic context, James was, all too subtly, attempting to counter the game's orthodox history that, he argued, had played a key role in the formation of national culture. As a consequence, he failed, and the history of cricket in England has retained the same stresses and lineaments as it did a century ago — until now.In examining recreational rather than professional (first-class) cricket, Different Class does not simply challenge the widely accepted orthodoxy of English cricket, it demonstrates how the values and belief systems at its heart were, under the guise of amateurism, intentionally developed in order to divide the English along class lines at every level of the game. If the creation of opposing class-based cricket cultures in the North and South of England grew out of this process, the institutional structures developed by those in charge of English cricket continue to discriminate. But, as much as the exclusion of Black and South Asian cricketers from the recreational mainstream is the most obvious example, it is social class that remains the greatest barrier to participation in what used to be the national game.

Germany did not have professional players or a national league until the 1960s, yet it became one of the most successful football nations in the world. Tor! (Goal!) traces the extraordinary story of Germany's club and international football, from the days when it was regarded as a dangerously foreign pastime, through the horrors of the Nazi years to postwar triumphs and the crisis of the new century. Tor! challenges the myth that German football is'predictable'or'efficient'and brings to life the fascinating array of characters who shaped it: the betrayed pioneer Walther Bensemann; the enigmatic genius Sepp Herberger; the all-conquering Franz Beckenbauer; the modern misfit Lothar Matthäus. And even the radio commentator Herbert Zimmermann, whose ecstatic cries of'Tor!'greeted the winning goal in the 1954 World Cup final and helped change a whole nation's view of itself. Fully revised and updated ahead of the 2022 World Cup, Tor! is the definitive history of German football.

Football's culture is complex and controversial. Debates rage over rules, transfers, wages and rich owners who prioritise income streams and elite league status. But the sport has a nobler side. Clubs become families who celebrate the good times and collectively mourn tragic events. This community culture is embedded in football and the same questions have been asked for generations. What is a fair salary? How can we help to educate and support children and families in need? Who stands up for the rights of the voiceless? This book journeys through the industrial heartlands in and around Glasgow, Birmingham and Manchester to explore how migration, industry and the aspirations of working-class people and their employers influenced the early structure and culture of English and Scottish football. Often serious, sometimes funny, it reveals how ordinary people experienced life and the rise of the beautiful game in the 19th and 20th centuries, drawing on material from club archives, newspapers, personal anecdotes and military records.

From is genesis as Newton Heath LYR Football Club founded in 1878 all the way to the global sporting and commercial superpower that it is today, this is the history of Manchester United Football Club as you have never seen it before. Lifelong Red Devils'fan Neville Moir has distilled this extraordinary history into an amusing, fascinating and easy to read anthology. This entertaining volume is an instructive, if sometimes irreverent – but always affectionate – guide to some of the groundbreaking firsts, controversies, innovations, characters, achievements and disasters that have shaped one the greatest sporting institutions on the planet. Whether an expert or a novice, this compendium is perfect for all Man United fans, young and old, around the world.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2023 - SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT BOOK OF THE YEARSports Report is as much a 75-year history of sport as a BBC radio institution and Pat Murphy pays handsome tribute to a programme that is still followed affectionately by millions.For nearly 75 years, one BBC programme has been a constant factor in chronicling the way sport is covered, in all its many facets. It has been a window on the sporting world all over the globe – packed tightly into every Saturday evening for the bulk of the year. First broadcast in 1948, Sports Report is the longest-running radio sporting programme in the world and one of the BBC's hardy perennials. Pat Murphy has been a reporter on the programme since 1981 and here he sifts comprehensively through the experiences of his contemporaries and those who made their mark on Sports Report in earlier decades.He hears from commentators, reporters, producers, presenters and the production teams who regularly achieved the broadcasting miracle of getting a live programme on air, without a script, adapting as the hour of news, reaction and comment unfolded. Drawing on unique access from the BBC Archives Unit, he highlights memorable moments from Sports Report, details the challenges faced in getting live interviews on air from draughty, noisy dressing-room areas and celebrates the feat of just a small production team in the studio who, somehow, get the show up and running every Saturday, with the clock ticking implacably on.

Red Men Reborn takes a unique look at the entire history and socio-cultural significance of Liverpool FC, from the club's foundation in 1892 to the present day. John Williams skilfully weaves his narrative around the great managers - from Tom Watson to Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley and Kenny Dalglish, Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez, then finally the current epic era of Jü rgen Klopp. The book shines a spotlight on the post-2010 period when the club was faced with an ownership crisis and possible extinction. Since then, new American owners, FSG, and Klopp have together presided over a period of extraordinary success at home, in Europe and globally. Red Men Reborn examines how this remarkable turnaround happened by analysing Klopp, his wider influences and his key recruitment and coaching strategies. Williams has been present at most of the major Liverpool finals and key matches since the late 1970s, and his treatment includes an analysis of the lasting impact of the Hillsborough and Heysel disasters on the club and its supporters.

Back in the Big Time! Sheffield Wednesday's Return to Division One, 1984-86 tells the story of the Owls'return to the top flight after 14 years in the wilderness. In the 1970s, the club had been a footballing byword for underachievement. After flirting with relegation to Division Four in 1976, it began its slow climb back to the top table under Jack Charlton and then Howard Wilkinson. It was Wilkinson's team that gained promotion to the highest league in 1984. They attacked Division One with gusto - within two years finishing fifth in the league and embarking on cup campaigns that took them heartbreakingly close to Wembley. Drawing on detailed research, John Dyson shines new light on the period, combining exclusive interviews with key players, management and club officials with the perspective of supporters and others to piece together a new history. Here is the unfiltered story of a team that did not give up. This is the Owls back in the big time!

•••WINNER OF A SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARD••• A TIMES SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR'A truly important book.'MEGAN RAPINOE'Hardhitting and clear sighted.'THE TIMES'Impassioned... joyous.'SPECTATOR DISCOVER THE STORY OF THE WOMEN WHO PAVED THE WAY FOR THE LIONESSES This is the astonishing history of women's football: from the game's first appearance in England in the late nineteenth century to the incredible teams that at their height drew 53,000 spectators to Goodison Park, through to its fifty-year ban in the UK and the aftershocks when restrictions were lifted. Following the game's meteoric rise in recent years, Suzanne Wrack considers what the next chapter of this incredible story might - and should - be.'A thoroughly entertaining and enlightening read.'CLARE BALDING'A fantastic book on how the game has developed and what its future could hold.'PHIL NEVILLE'A compelling narrative... The history of the women's game has been long overlooked. This book celebrates it, and the teams and individuals who helped the sport develop into today's nationally and internationally recognized phenomenon.'TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT'Wrack is something of a trailblazer herself... few would be better placed to write its history.'IRISH TIMES