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Post by Cynical Shrew on Mar 10, 2005 21:02:41 GMT 1
Not very topical I know, but this was the book that made football trendy amongst the metropolitain liberal elite, who suddenly took on the past-time beloved of the working-classes and middle England alike.
Credited with showing that "middle-classes liked football too", it did nothing of the sort. Ordinary middle class people followed football as much as anyone else, as the excellent coverage in middle England's traditional papers of choice, The Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph, goes back as long as football itself. What was meant was Guardian reading liberal-bigots didn't like football.
The Guardian didn't even cover 'football' until the early-mid nineties, reports were hidden below Rugby coverage under the heading "Soccer". Too white and too working class for the Volvo set. Of course, today's game is a delight for them, the multiracial(ish - no Asians need apply), multinational multicultural Tower of Babel of Premier league soccer. All sorts of campaigns against racism and sexism for the lib-bigs to back to demoralise and patronise the white male proles, who still make up 90% of matchday attendances.
The book itself was full of unintentional humour, showing off the ludicrous lib-big mindset. From getting mugged for his scarf by some black boys, to getting withered at an FA Cup tie at Reading for not supporting his local team, to the good socialist opining that it would be a good thing for football if small clubs like Chester didn’t exist. Hornby set the standards for modern hysteria about “racist” chants, and the scarcity of female season ticket holders. He started the ruining of football journalism.
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Post by Pilch on Mar 10, 2005 21:07:02 GMT 1
nothing to do with thomas's last minute goal then ?
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Post by Cynical Shrew on Mar 10, 2005 21:09:00 GMT 1
nothing to do with thomas's last minute goal then ? That was a great football moment. Like every right minded boy of my generation I hated Liverpool.
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Post by Pilch on Mar 10, 2005 21:16:12 GMT 1
i bet you felt like a muslim that had just won a pig
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Post by aleix on Mar 10, 2005 21:25:03 GMT 1
I loved it
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Post by john on Mar 10, 2005 21:27:36 GMT 1
I liked Fever Pitch and enjoy the film too
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Post by dachs on Mar 10, 2005 22:13:48 GMT 1
I strongly disliked Fever Pitch, had nothing in common with the way I felt about the game.
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Post by jamo on Mar 10, 2005 22:34:38 GMT 1
That was a great football moment. Like every right minded boy of my generation I hated Liverpool. Now this is a sentence i never thought i would write. I am in total agreement with cynicalshrew.
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Post by john on Mar 10, 2005 22:37:22 GMT 1
Every right minded boy?
Cynical you would'nt know anything right minded
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Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2005 22:41:34 GMT 1
I strongly disliked Fever Pitch, had nothing in common with the way I felt about the game. Had so much with the way I felt about it. I guess that's what is great - the way it can provoke extreme reactions in people.
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Post by gobbieshrew on Mar 10, 2005 22:49:53 GMT 1
That was a great football moment. Like every right minded boy of my generation I hated Liverpool. i feel like i was the only shrewsbury boy brought up to love liverpool fc. the book did bore me though. was one great paragraph that struck a chord:- "thats what the whole d**ned thing is: you got to commit yourself to the life you picked. And you picked it - most people dont even do that. You're smart and you're young and you've got, like i said before, talent."
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Post by dachs on Mar 10, 2005 23:02:15 GMT 1
I'd say, gauging the reaction in various pubs over the last five years, that Liverpool are the best supported Premiership side in Shrewsbury.
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Post by why on Mar 10, 2005 23:07:46 GMT 1
That was a great football moment. Like every right minded boy of my generation I hated Liverpool. Do you live there
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Post by rob on Mar 11, 2005 0:01:24 GMT 1
My old man has been watching Shrewsbury since he was at Shrewsbury Boys (mid 60s) Oh and he's not a biggot Are you sure you didn't mean to refere to the Daily "everyone is invading our country and ripping us off" Mail or maybe the Daily "we're no better than the sun" Express Oh I forget, they are the papers read by middle class biggots * )by and large (this does exclude some people)
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2005 0:07:01 GMT 1
I thought the book was great personally.
I also enjoyed 'About a boy' too.
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Post by Norway on Mar 11, 2005 0:17:12 GMT 1
Nothing wrong with the book Mr Cynical. To be fair, you talk bollox most of the time so why have i replied
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Post by somersetshrew on Mar 11, 2005 0:46:52 GMT 1
To me, the book wasn't over memorable. it just passed a few hours on a sunbed in Greece. Not like Mein Kampf, of course
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Post by Morleyshrew on Mar 11, 2005 9:40:14 GMT 1
Two Things: If you are going to watch a Premiership side it can ONLY be LIvepool That's a good book and whilst admitting to having sever socialist tendancies myself - why should your social class, paper reading tendancies, etc, etc, etc bar you from watching a sport
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Post by Guest on Mar 11, 2005 9:43:14 GMT 1
I think its poor - although he speaks about watching lower league football he is quite dismissive of it and i seem to remember he has a "so what?" attitude to smaller clubs struggling to stay afloat.
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Post by grinfish on Mar 11, 2005 9:45:18 GMT 1
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Post by harmerhillshrew on Mar 11, 2005 10:49:49 GMT 1
The Guardian didn't even cover 'football' until the early-mid nineties, reports were hidden below Rugby coverage under the heading "Soccer". Too white and too working class for the Volvo set. Of course, today's game is a delight for them, the multiracial(ish - no Asians need apply), multinational multicultural Tower of Babel of Premier league soccer. All sorts of campaigns against racism and sexism for the lib-bigs to back to demoralise and patronise the white male proles, who still make up 90% of matchday attendances. Oh dear, what a sad individual you are CS. I started reading the Guardian when it was known as the Manchester Guardian and at that time it employed the best ever cricket writer and broadcaster, John Arlott. This man is probably the reason why CS hates this paper so much, let me explain. Basil D'Oliveira was a South African "coloured" who was an excellent cricketer, and achieved any number of incredible things in local cricket. At the time, it was impossible for a coloured player to play firstclass cricket in SA, except for a very occasional match against a touring team. A great talent was being wasted purely and simply by the racist policies ofSouth African government and cricket officials of the late 50s. John Arlott regularly received letters from Basil asking if there was any chance of getting a professional job in one of the English leagues (many overseas players played in the Lancashire league).Because he had never played against recognised teams,no club would take a chance when most wanted Test players. In 1960, such a player let a team down at the last minute, and they needed an urgent replacement. Arlott wrote to D'Oliveira telling him he would almost certainly never get another chance to play professionally.It was touch and go whether he would come: the first year's salary would pretty much just pay the air-fare.Largely thanks to a fund raising campaign in South Africa, enough money was put together to enable him tocome and play. D'Oliveira has written vividly of meeting the (white) club officials for the first time,and being amazed at getting into the same train compartment with them.D'Oliveira took some time to get adjusted to English conditions, but ended his first season out performing the great Gary Sobers, who was playing in the same league. Eventually D'Oliveira qualified to play for Worcestershire in 1965. By the next year, with West Indies the visiting team, he was qualified to play for England, and he played in four of the five tests. John Arlott has written that one of the proudest moments of his life was watching Dolly stand up against the West Indian fast bowlers, and Arlott also said in his autobiography that his part in helping to bring Dolly into cricket was one of the best things he ever achieved. D'Oliveira played for England until 1972, playing in 44 tests, scoring five centuries and finishing with an average of 40.06. He also took a number of test wickets and was often considered an all-rounder. D'Oliveira's performance is all the more remarkable when you realise he was born in October 1931, so never played regular first class cricket until he was in his mid thirties. (His birth date has actually changed over the years: early in his career he felt nobodywould give him a job if they knew his true age, so his official year of birth has gradually retreated as this became less important.) He continued to play for Worcestershire regularly well into his forties, which is when I remember seeing him play. As a batsman he was a big hitter, but a hitter not a slogger. After retiring from first class cricket, D'Oliveira became coach at Worcestershire, a post he has recently retired from having seen Worcestershire win two championships and several one day competitions. Basil D'Oliveira also played a more sombre role in cricket history. Having scored 158 and taken a crucial wicket to help win the last test v Australia in1968, he was dropped for the touring team of South Africa, but reinstated when another player dropped out. The South African government refused him a visa, and as a consequence MCC cancelled the tour. This moment was seen as the begining of the end for the vile aparthid goverment of SA as the sporting boycott gathered pace, which in turn forced most goverments to cease trading with SA. Throughout this saga, and since, Basil conducted himself with the greatest dignity and wrote a great book with the help of Pat Murphy called Time to declare. So it could be argued that John Arlott the Guardian writer, sadly no longer with us, was responsible for the end of the sort of place CS would like to live. Well done John. Basil on a visit to Shropshire (1971 I think) Pictured left to right: Basil Dolivera (Worcestershire and England), Van Bernholder (Worcestershire and West Indies), Jim Phillips of Knolton (Capt. Of Oswestry C.C. playing for Shropshire), Geoff Othen (Capt of Shropshire), Brian Davies (Oswestry and Shropshire), Norman Gifford (Worcestershire and England).
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Post by JAMO on Mar 11, 2005 11:09:13 GMT 1
superb stuff Andrew
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Post by gobbieshrew on Mar 11, 2005 11:52:24 GMT 1
Do you live there no, just half my family supported the club and they played such fantastic football during the eighties "when i were a lad"! Also so my first ever footie match at anfield, 1983 vs spurs, ray clemence first trip back to the kop. the red won 3-0.
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Post by john on Mar 11, 2005 13:05:08 GMT 1
CyprusShrew, sorry but that wasnt aimed at you, it was aimed at cynical...I believe
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Post by mike-in-cairo on Mar 11, 2005 14:18:02 GMT 1
i always thought that the michael thomas bit in the film wasn't done too well. in real-time it's gotta be the most amazing football moment.
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Post by stainesr on Mar 11, 2005 15:58:21 GMT 1
maybe the mods should just offend cynical's "libertarian" beliefs and just ban his IP?
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Baafly
Midland League Division Two
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Post by Baafly on Mar 11, 2005 17:11:34 GMT 1
The Guardian didn't even cover 'football' until the early-mid nineties, reports were hidden below Rugby coverage under the heading "Soccer". I'm sorry, just not true. They had a full and comprehensive football coverage from at least 1980 onwards. And they employed many fine, incisive football writers, including David Lacey, for many decades. A Salop fan, Robert Pryce, was also used by them to cover football. I'm afraid you're letting your political bias get in the way of facts. And "Fever Pitch", as the first of its genre, was an excellent read.
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Post by The Shropshire Tenor on Mar 11, 2005 17:26:55 GMT 1
The post by HHS brings back memories of seeing Dolly play for England at Edgbaston. The great quality he had was of being able to pull out his best performances when the team were in trouble and he saved England on many occasions. John Arlott was the best sports commentator I have ever heard. His Hampshire accent seemed perfect for cricket and he had a poets turn of phrase as well a superb wit. He was also an expert on wine (sometimes this showed during post lunch sessions ). He was also politically active and had stood for Parliament as a Liberal. Arlott, Jonners and Fred Truman, the dream team
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Post by Salop_Ian on Mar 11, 2005 19:53:18 GMT 1
Fever Pitch is an extremely well written book which would certainly mean it is no where near being the worst football book ever. Honestly, with all those naff players autobiographies around. I didn't really identify very much with Hornby in the social sense, but a lot of his observations about football obsessives are funny, clever and very true. I've absolutely no problem about "middle class" people watching enjoying football (it's the people's game after all). What I don't like is the way some people use football to give them a working class "street cred". Talking of excellent sports books, anyone wanting to know about Basil D'oliveira should read Peter Oborne's "BASIL D'OLIVEIRA - CRICKET AND CONSPIRACY: THE UNTOLD STORY" (Little Brown). It reveals the realities of Apartheid, the uplifting story of how D'oliveira fought to realise his cricketing destiny and how the English cricket establishment shamefully tried to maintain relations with the racist South Africian cricket authorities. Far from being a trendy liberal Oborne is the political editor of the right-wing Spectator magazine. The book has been voted sports book of the year for 2004.
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Post by harmerhillshrew on Mar 11, 2005 20:39:04 GMT 1
as the excellent coverage in middle England's traditional papers of choice, The Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph, ................and so we go full circle. As it was the cricket correspondent of the Torygraph, EW Swanton that offered Dolly a bribe to return to SA so the MCC tour could go ahead. This is revealed in Basil D'Oliveira. Cricket and Conspiracy: the Untold Story, as IRJBA states a very good read.
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