The Association Game

The story of British football's journey from public school diversion to mass media entertainment is a remarkable one. The Association Game traces British football from the establishment of the earliest clubs in the nineteenth century to its place as one of the prominent and commercialised leisure industries at the beginning of the twenty first century. It covers supporters and fandom, status and culture, big business, the press and electronic media and development in playing styles, tactics and rules. This is the only up to date book on the history of British football, covering the twentieth century shift from amateur to professional and whole of the British Isles, not just England.

Matthew Taylor is a Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Portsmouth. His previous books include: Moving with the Ball: The Migration of Professional Footballers (with Pierre Lanfranchi, 2001) and The Leaguers: The Making of Professional Football in England 1900-1939 (2005).

Acknowledgements List of Tables Introduction: Football, History and Britain - Early Years, c. 1863-1885 - The Making of British Football, 1885-1914 - Football Between the Wars, 1914-1939 - The Golden Age of British Football?, 1939-1961 - Glory and Decline, 1961-1985 - Football's Revolution, 1985-2000 Epilogue: Into the Twenty-First Century Bibliography Index