Graham Curry – författare

This fascinating collection brings together leading football historians and sociologists from the UK, Germany, the USA and Australia to offer fresh perspectives on the early development of football (soccer), not only illuminating our understanding of the early history of the world’s most popular sport, but also the importance of sport in our broader social and cultural history.

The book presents new evidence and fresh perspectives which will inform the robust debate that has been raging about the origins and early development of football. It addresses key issues at the centre of this debate, including the influence of former English public schoolboys, the development of football subcultures outside of prestige educational institutions, and the intersection and divergence of the various football codes around the world.

The Early Development of Football is an important resource for anyone working in the history of football or sports in general, football studies or the sociology of sport. It is also a useful read for those interested in sport management and the development of sports organisations and rules.

This fascinating collection brings together leading football historians and sociologists from the UK, Germany, the USA and Australia to offer fresh perspectives on the early development of football (soccer), not only illuminating our understanding of the early history of the world’s most popular sport, but also the importance of sport in our broader social and cultural history.

The book presents new evidence and fresh perspectives which will inform the robust debate that has been raging about the origins and early development of football. It addresses key issues at the centre of this debate, including the influence of former English public schoolboys, the development of football subcultures outside of prestige educational institutions, and the intersection and divergence of the various football codes around the world.

The Early Development of Football is an important resource for anyone working in the history of football or sports in general, football studies or the sociology of sport. It is also a useful read for those interested in sport management and the development of sports organisations and rules.

This book is concerned with the early years of the Football Association Challenge Cup – more commonly known as the FA Cup – examining events from its inception in 1871–2 to the beginning of the Football League in 1888–9. The work is underpinned by the figurational sociology of Norbert Elias, employing his ideas around the European ''civilising process'', power and lengthening chains of human interdependency.

Most of all, the majority of the text has been compiled using primary source material, such as newspaper reports and the minutes of the Football Association, which encourages original and unique additions to the body of knowledge. There exist no comparable offerings on the time period involved, with the book providing a distinct perspective for scholars and non-specialists alike. The initial years of the competition were dominated by teams consisting mainly of upper-middle-class southern amateurs. However, by the early 1880s, they were supplanted by men who were initially covert– and eventually overt – professionals, many of whom hailed from Scotland, but mainly represented clubs from Lancashire and the West Midlands.

The FA Cup, despite losing some of its allure when compared to competitions such as the UEFA Champions League, still retains a magic of its own in the English football calendar.

This book is concerned with the early years of the Football Association Challenge Cup – more commonly known as the FA Cup – examining events from its inception in 1871–2 to the beginning of the Football League in 1888–9. The work is underpinned by the figurational sociology of Norbert Elias, employing his ideas around the European ''civilising process'', power and lengthening chains of human interdependency.

Most of all, the majority of the text has been compiled using primary source material, such as newspaper reports and the minutes of the Football Association, which encourages original and unique additions to the body of knowledge. There exist no comparable offerings on the time period involved, with the book providing a distinct perspective for scholars and non-specialists alike. The initial years of the competition were dominated by teams consisting mainly of upper-middle-class southern amateurs. However, by the early 1880s, they were supplanted by men who were initially covert– and eventually overt – professionals, many of whom hailed from Scotland, but mainly represented clubs from Lancashire and the West Midlands.

The FA Cup, despite losing some of its allure when compared to competitions such as the UEFA Champions League, still retains a magic of its own in the English football calendar.

This book delves into the complex, yet fascinating evolution of football. From a relatively unruly mob game played on festival days, the game was adopted, codified and ''civilised'' by the major English Public Schools and then diffused into the wider society to become a codified, modern sports-form. The birth of the Football Association in 1863 in London provided compromise rules, enabling teams geographically divided by distance and football''s differing interpretations to oppose each other, which marked a pivotal moment for the sport. Thereon, history records the establishment of the FA Cup, football''s internationalisation, the advent of professionalism and, perhaps finally, the establishment of a national league structure, all of these developments originally taking place in the British Isles.

Within this multifaceted framework, eminent sociologists and historians have attempted to wrestle with these processes. As a result, over the past two decades, researchers and academics have reached the conclusion that, although a solid grounding in the macro-history of football is required, testing the existing hypotheses and questions in the early development of the game is best explored by drilling down deeply into local studies using a micro-historical approach. Consequently, many of the chapters included in this book, on Staffordshire, Norfolk, London, Sheffield, East Lancashire, Rugby School, follow this methodology.

This book is an essential read for students, scholars and academics of sports studies, history, sociology, development and management, as well as an engrossing read for anyone interested in the early history of football.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Soccer & Society.

This book delves into the complex, yet fascinating evolution of football. From a relatively unruly mob game played on festival days, the game was adopted, codified and ''civilised'' by the major English Public Schools and then diffused into the wider society to become a codified, modern sports-form. The birth of the Football Association in 1863 in London provided compromise rules, enabling teams geographically divided by distance and football''s differing interpretations to oppose each other, which marked a pivotal moment for the sport. Thereon, history records the establishment of the FA Cup, football''s internationalisation, the advent of professionalism and, perhaps finally, the establishment of a national league structure, all of these developments originally taking place in the British Isles.

Within this multifaceted framework, eminent sociologists and historians have attempted to wrestle with these processes. As a result, over the past two decades, researchers and academics have reached the conclusion that, although a solid grounding in the macro-history of football is required, testing the existing hypotheses and questions in the early development of the game is best explored by drilling down deeply into local studies using a micro-historical approach. Consequently, many of the chapters included in this book, on Staffordshire, Norfolk, London, Sheffield, East Lancashire, Rugby School, follow this methodology.

This book is an essential read for students, scholars and academics of sports studies, history, sociology, development and management, as well as an engrossing read for anyone interested in the early history of football.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Soccer & Society.

Over the past two decades, academic, sociological/historical writing on football has flourished, mainly on the back of the debate over the game''s early development led by Eric Dunning, Graham Curry, Tony Collins, and Adrian Harvey. This book adds to that debate, providing more information on the early meetings of the Football Association.

The initial two chapters constitute the centrepiece of the work, presenting detailed analysis of the first six meetings of the association when, eventually, arguments raged over the merits and demerits of what, increasingly, had become two very differing forms of football - kicking and dribbling, which was to become soccer, and handling carrying and hacking, which became rugby. The adherents of the former may have conspired to engage additional supporters to the all-important gathering, when significant votes were taken which decided the future of the game.

Despite their triumph in these divisions, the association did not initially thrive. However, mainly due to the growing involvement of Charles Alcock, the body became resurgent in the early 1870s, with the introduction of the FA Cup and international competition. A decade later during the debate over professionalism, the association avoided a split in the sport and, although the game was entering an era of over-seriousness and commercialisation, they maintained their hold over its administration and, precariously, its value system.

Ultimately, the Football Association succeeded in establishing itself as the governing body of the sport in England, thereby cementing its place in the history of the game.

Over the past two decades, academic, sociological/historical writing on football has flourished, mainly on the back of the debate over the game''s early development led by Eric Dunning, Graham Curry, Tony Collins, and Adrian Harvey. This book adds to that debate, providing more information on the early meetings of the Football Association.

The initial two chapters constitute the centrepiece of the work, presenting detailed analysis of the first six meetings of the association when, eventually, arguments raged over the merits and demerits of what, increasingly, had become two very differing forms of football - kicking and dribbling, which was to become soccer, and handling carrying and hacking, which became rugby. The adherents of the former may have conspired to engage additional supporters to the all-important gathering, when significant votes were taken which decided the future of the game.

Despite their triumph in these divisions, the association did not initially thrive. However, mainly due to the growing involvement of Charles Alcock, the body became resurgent in the early 1870s, with the introduction of the FA Cup and international competition. A decade later during the debate over professionalism, the association avoided a split in the sport and, although the game was entering an era of over-seriousness and commercialisation, they maintained their hold over its administration and, precariously, its value system.

Ultimately, the Football Association succeeded in establishing itself as the governing body of the sport in England, thereby cementing its place in the history of the game.

This book presents a synthesis of the work on early football undertaken by the authors over the past two decades. It explores aspects of a figurational approach to sociology to examine the early development of football rules in the middle part of the nineteenth century. The book tests Dunning’s status rivalry hypothesis to contest Harvey’s view of football’s development which stresses an influential sub-culture outside the public schools. Status Rivalry re-states the primacy of these latter institutions in the growth of football and without it the sport’s story would remain skewed and unbalanced for future generations.