What You Think You Know About Football is Wrong: The Global Game’s Greatest Myths and UntruthsOur view of football will never be the same again... Written by a world-respected football historian, this football history/gift title reveals the global game's greatest myths and untruths. Football has been completely mythologized and many of the things football fans think they know about football and its history turn out not to be true. We want to believe the myths, and so they become accepted. So much football writing is not properly researched, and so the myths get repeated... again and again and again. Backed up by the highest level of academic research yet written in an accessible, mass-market style, the book will explore the truth behind many accepted myths. For example, did you know: - The Germans took football to Brazil, not the English - Rugby and not football could quite easily have been the world's leading sport - There are gay professional players ....and always have been! - Goalkeepers should not dive for penalties - Football hooliganism did not begin in England - Shirt colours do make a difference - Cambridge and not Sheffield is the home of the oldest football club in the world - Arsenal should not be in the Premier League... they cheated to be there - The Dynamo Kiev team were not executed after beating a German SS team in 1941 - England did not win the World Cup fairly in 1966 ... but not in the way you think! Written by Kevin Moore, the founding director of the National Football Museum (the world's leading football museum), this thoroughly researched and authoritative book will debunk more than 50 of the greatest myths surrounding football. |
Contents
1 | |
3 | |
7 | |
12 | |
17 | |
FIFA does not make the rules and never has | 21 |
England did not win the World Cup fairly in 1966 | 24 |
British players can and have succeeded abroad | 29 |
The Germans do not always win on penalties | 117 |
Home advantage is not as vital as we think and its value is declining | 121 |
Its science not artistry that made the Brazilians the best at football | 125 |
The World Cup has always been controversial | 131 |
There are gay footballers and there always have been | 137 |
The FA did not ban womens football in 1921 | 144 |
Football hooliganism is not the English disease | 149 |
Footballers singing their national anthem does matter | 153 |
Soccer and not American football could have been the main winter sport in the USA | 34 |
Most fans are not loyal to one club they play the field | 38 |
Black players are not new in English football | 43 |
The English didnt spread football to Brazil it was the Germans | 46 |
Theres no such problem as scoring too early | 51 |
Cambridge and not Sheffield is home to the worlds oldest football club | 54 |
Arsenal should not be in the Premier League | 58 |
Leicester City will never win the Premier League again | 62 |
The Dynamo Kiev team were not executed after beating a German SS team in 1942 | 66 |
20 is not the worst lead | 70 |
Most football managers make no difference at all | 73 |
Denis Laws backheel goal for Manchester City did not relegate Manchester United | 78 |
Womens football is not new | 81 |
Penalty shootouts are a lottery | 85 |
It will never be a global game European countries will increasingly dominate the World Cup | 90 |
Hooliganism is not and never has been a major problem in English football | 95 |
Football shirt colours do matter | 100 |
Africa is not and never has been a football backwater | 103 |
English football has never been clean cheating has always been part of it | 107 |
England is not the centre of football and for much of its history its been a backwater | 113 |
The FIFA World Cup has not always been the most important international competition | 157 |
The prawn sandwich brigade is not new | 162 |
The Chinese did invent football | 166 |
Womens soccer has never been more important than mens soccer in the USA | 170 |
It will not be too hot to play football in Qatar | 175 |
Its not a game of two halves | 181 |
Wembley is not a worldclass stadium and never has been | 184 |
Disabled players are not new they have always been part of the game | 189 |
England will never win the World Cup again | 193 |
Football in India is not new and has a greater tradition than cricket | 197 |
The Zaire player in that World Cup moment did know the rules he was in fear of his life | 202 |
There are great football films | 207 |
The Premier League is not exciting its increasingly dull and predictable | 212 |
Sir Alex Ferguson is not the greatest ever manager in English football | 216 |
Association football will not last forever | 220 |
Acknowledgements | 223 |
Afterword | 225 |
Bibliography | 227 |
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What You Think You Know About Football is Wrong: The Global Game’s Greatest ... Kevin Moore No preview available - 2020 |
Common terms and phrases
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