British Football and Social Change

A review of soccer in Britain and its relations with the state, the media, and the fans, set against social changes since the 1970s. Also covered are the economics of the game, hooliganism, Hillsborough, women, fanzines, relations with overseas bodies, and the game's unique status in Scotland.

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Association football, traditionally, has not been well served by its literature. But, in the 1970s and 1980s, a new movement in football writing began to make its presence felt: "Foul" magazine, football fanzines and jargon-free books by interested academics together offered a more thoughtful perspective on the game and its problems. This book aims to continue that perspective. In it, a number of academic writers in the field, most of them also football supporters and activists, try to take stock of the British football world as the "New Europe" of 1992 beckons.
The book looks respectively at: the game, the state and changing social relations; the relationship between football and the media; the history of the participation of supporters in the affairs of football clubs; an overview on the debate about hooliganism; football and location, and the dislocations threatened by new developments in the game; the growing complexity in the economics of football clubs; the game's power brokers; football and Scottish culture; the involvement, and proposed involvement, of women in football; the historically fractious relationship between the Football League and the Football Association; the changing football labour market in Europe; and youth cultures and style in football.