This review first appeared on espnfc.com
When the Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj was asked about the possibility of the break-up of the United Kingdom just before the Scottish referendum in September 2014, she responded “God forbid”. While the Scots and the English easily perceive the faultlines that made break-up a real possibility, the rest of the world was bemused. Much the same applies to the state of English soccer. David Goldblatt’s latest book, “The Game of Our Lives”, dwells extensively on the problems that beset the English game, which might come as a surprise to many foreign readers (I used the American edition to write this review, which makes almost no concessions to American readers, including insisting on using the word “football” rather than “soccer”).
Goldblatt, who wrote what is now the authoritative history of the world’s most popular game, states candidly in his introduction that his book is aimed at his fellow countrymen/women. Since we are of a similar age and both grew up in the suburbs of London (he North, me South), I identified closely with much of his narrative. As a sociologist he also delves extensively and cogently into economic issues. In the first chapter he identifies a central paradox of the modern game in England: in the last 25 years it has unquestionably enjoyed a renaissance, yet many English fans are not happy. In the 1980s it was close to extinction and today the Premier League wields an economic power far greater and extends its reach far further than any other league in the world, but many fans seem to hanker for the past.
Like Tolstoy’s families, English fans can be unhappy in many different ways. High ticket prices, crooked owners, foreign owners, overpaid players, foreign players, lost traditions, a poorly performing national team, inequality between the divisions, inequality within the divisions: each of these provoke the ire of at least some fans. Goldblatt successfully chronicles this discontent, but is perhaps weaker on solutions. It’s not just that many of these problems are intractable, it is that Goldblatt is a progressive, while much of the critique is inherently conservative in nature.
I enjoyed the second and third chapters of the book the best. The former is an often hilarious description of what it’s like to be at a game today, which might also be of greatest interest to foreign readers who have not had a chance to go to a game. I especially enjoyed the discussion concerning the variety and contents of football pies.
The third chapter is a tour de force, a virtual tour of English clubs explaining the changing structure of ownership over the last 25 years- I’ve never seen such a well written survey on the issue. I counted a description of no less than 54 clubs covered in some detail, mentions maybe twenty or so more – although still he left some out (my own team, Scunthorpe United, among them). Goldblatt manages to convey the intense regional loyalties that underpin the strength in depth of English football.
Goldblatt also uses those cases where unscrupulous profiteers have pushed local teams to the brink of extinction to mount his case against the present organizational structures. He also chronicles the numerous millionaires who have funneled huge sums into meeting the ambitions of the fans, but somehow this weighs for little in his analysis.
In the later chapters he becomes progressively more critical. The English have tended to congratulate themselves on having dealt with the problem of racism in the game, but Goldblatt scratches the surface to reveal problems that remain; gender issues abound. But he unleashes his full savagery on those who govern the game, who, he argues, are motivated by nothing more than “power, money and status”. He leans toward government regulation without exactly saying so, paralleling the failures of self-regulation in soccer with those in banking.
I think this is where the English focus is a weakness. Sure, English football governance leaves a lot to be desired in an absolute sense, but what we need to know from a policy perspective is what the alternatives look like. For example, there are many soccer nations where government plays a strong role, and things don’t seem to go that much better. Corruption and profiteering is present almost everywhere. No other nation manages to sustain four professional divisions, with such a high level of support.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It is a mine of information, entertainingly presented. There are some minor errors (the maximum wage was abolished in 1961, not 1963, and Andy Appleby, who owns Derby County, was never the owner of the Detroit Pistons, although he did work for them), but overall the degree of accuracy on economic issues is impressive. Above all, a reader can get a genuine flavor of the English game as it is today. So even if you’re not English, I still think you’d get a lot from this book.