Football In Fiction

Football in Fiction represents the most comprehensive historical mapping and analysis of novels related to association football (soccer). It offers a theoretically informed field guide, a scholarly cartography of football fiction’s uncertain – and until now – only partially explored terrain. Combining an extensive search for texts with up-to-date academic research, journals, surveys, catalogues, and reviews the book demonstrates a topographic perspective of the field – one that captures and establishes its breadth, depth, and distinctive identity. The book uses and adapts two distinct reading models of abstraction, in conjunction with closer textual analyses. Together they assist in realising a set of demonstrable conventions, outline a taxonomy of fictive types, establish the genre’s current state of play, and advance the football novel as a form with its own literary history and traditions. This book is a valuable resource for those studying and researching in the areas of the social and cultural aspects of football, sports fiction, sports writing, creative writing, and literary and genre studies. Furthermore, related industry professionals will find this a fascinating read, particularly football writers, fans of the sport, and those interested in sports history and cultural phenomena.

Football in Fiction represents the most comprehensive historical mapping and analysis of novels related to association football (soccer). It offers a theoretically informed field guide, a scholarly cartography of football fiction's uncertain - and until now - only partially explored terrain. Combining an extensive search for texts with up-to-date academic research, journals, surveys, catalogues, and reviews the book demonstrates a topographic perspective of the field - one that captures and establishes its breadth, depth, and distinctive identity. The book uses and adapts two distinct reading models of abstraction, in conjunction with closer textual analyses. Together they assist in realising a set of demonstrable conventions, outline a taxonomy of fictive types, establish the genre's current state of play, and advance the football novel as a form with its own literary history and traditions. This book is a valuable resource for those studying and researching in the areas of the social and cultural aspects of football, sports fiction, sports writing, creative writing, and literary and genre studies. Furthermore, related industry professionals will find this a fascinating read, particularly football writers, fans of the sport, and those interested in sports history and cultural phenomena.

After only his second year with the New York Giants, T. J. Brookman has become the best tight end in professional football. His stats are nothing short of amazing---and what's even more amazing is that he was only a sixth-round pick in the first place. With one season remaining on his rookie contract, his agent, Barry Sturtz, wants to renegotiate and get a more lucrative deal---a common practice among players who have exceeded expectations. But the Giants refuse. They want Brookman to play through his last year, then they'll talk about a new contract. Sturtz, however, doesn't trust them. He wants the deal now—and if he doesn't get it, he's going to instruct T.J. to boycott the team's upcoming training camp. Head coach Alan Gray doesn't flinch at the threat—if T.J. doesn't show, he says, they'll simply bench him. Sturtz thinks it's a bluff---the Giants have had problems with offensive production, and T.J. is their only bright spot. But Gray insists he's serious. No one is more stunned by this development than offensive coordinator Dale Greenwood. Having struggled in polite subordination under Gray's megalomaniacal leadership, the talented Greenwood is concerned that he will now lose his most productive receiver. He suspects Gray's true motivation is that he simply doesn't want to spend the money on a tight end---Gray is a defensive-minded coach with little interest in the offensive side of the ball. What Gray really wants is for everything to stay just the way it is. And to create the necessary leverage, he orders Greenwood to bring in three "camp bodies"---decoys, essentially---to compete for T.J.'s job. Greenwood has no choice but to comply, and he assembles a trio of unsigned players from the bottomless pool of league wannabes. What no one anticipates, however, is that these three recruits have more drive and talent than anyone expected. Delighted, Gray believes Sturtz will soon be at his mercy. But neither Sturtz nor any the three hopefuls are willing to be a part of Alan Gray's plan. Many variables are in play here, both on and off the field. And as any student of the game knows, there are more losers than winners on the last day of preseason---a day known as the Cut.

This book explores how recent football fiction has negotiated the decisive political developments in English football after the 1989/90 publication of the 'Taylor Report'. A direct response to the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster and growing concerns of hooliganism, the 'Taylor Report' suggested a number of measures for stricter regulation of fan crowds. In consequence, stadiums in the top divisions were turned into all-seated venues and were put under CCTV surveillance. The implementation of these measures reduced violent incidents drastically, but it also led to an unparalleled increase in ticket prices, which in turn significantly altered the demographics of the crowd. This development, which also enabled football's entry into other mainstream cultural forms, changed the game decisively. Piskurek traces patterns across prose and film to detect how these fictions have responded to the changed circumstances of post-Taylor football. Lending a cultural lens to these political changes, this book is pioneering in its analysis of football fiction as a whole, offering a fresh perspective to a range of scholars and students interested in cultural studies, sociology, leisure and politics.

Includes excerpts from six e-book oriignals published by Avon Impulse.

'The best book on football ever written.' Franz Beckenbauer, winner of the World Cup as both player and manager.In Football Memories, Brian Glanville himself writes, 'The central character, Garry, was a Scottish inside-forward based on Danny Blanchflower. This, largely because the footballer had to be untypically intelligent and aware, as well as an accomplished performer. Danny, so fluent, so original, and in certain ways so flawed, seemed an ideal model. Yet he, or his surrogate, could not carry the whole book. I used various voices. His wife's. My own.'Ever since J. B. Priestley's pre-publication endorsement - 'I enjoyed this highly original novel' - praise has been constant:'This is a brilliant novel. Any footballer can see a little of himself in Gerry Logan, as I did when I first read it. The book tells what the pressures are like in the game, the temptations to which successful players are exposed and yet the human qualities tell us much about society and human nature in general.' Derek Dougan'The best novel on soccer I have ever read.' Daily Herald'Soars into first-class fiction.' The Spectator'An acid fable of our age, solid with expertise about football and its seamier secrets.' Daily Mail 'The whole world of big time soccer, with its glamour and bitter feuds, made very real.' Sunday Telegraph

This first-ever volume focusing on sports pulp fiction devoted to America's two most popular pastimes of the 1935-1957 era--baseball and football--provides extensive detail on authors, along with examination of key plots, themes, trends and categories. Commentary relates the works to real-life baseball and football of the period. The history of the genre is traced, beginning with the debut of Dime Sport (later renamed Dime Sports), the first magazine from a major publisher to provide competition for Street & Smith's long-established Sport Story Magazine. Complementing the text is a complete catalog of fiction from the six major publishers who competed with S&S, also noting the cover themes for 1,054 issues.

An interactive fantasy football adventure game in which the reader acts as the star player. Based upon a role-playing concept, the reader is challenged to appear as a substitute midway in an international football match alongside a team consisting of fictional players. They must then seek to score the goals in order to 'win' the story, although depending upon their performance their team may also lose or draw, or they might be injured, substituted and even sent off. Football Fiction places an emphasis on team-work and self-determination, stimulates decision-making, and encourages football fans to enjoy reading. The book contains differing results dependant upon decisions made, and can be re-read time after time after time. Suitable for all football fans aged 8+, and no upper age limit!