Friday, 2 May 2025

York Festival of Ideas 2025: The Delights of Football

 



  • Saturday 7 June 2025, 3.15pm to 4.15pm
  • Location: In-person only at Ron Cooke Hub, Campus East, University of York (Map)Admission:
  • Free admission, booking required

Book tickets

From sportswashing to ticket prices, we hear much that is critical about modern football - but what remains magic about the game? From the beauty of floodlights to the glorious moment when a referee falls over, Daniel Gray, author of the Delights series of football books and owner of a Bootham Crescent turnstile, lyrically celebrates the simple joys of the beautiful game.

Join in the conversation at an event hosted by York’s Soccer-Mad Boffins Alex Gillett and Kevin Tennent of the University of York.

Daniel Gray is the author of the Delights series of football books, Stramash and Homage to Caledonia. For a short period in the early 1990s he was the finest left-back in his village, once marking Gordon Strachan’s youngest son (the one who didn’t become a footballer) out of the game. A Middlesbrough supporter, Daniel began attending football matches in 1988 and has never recovered. He has worked in a psychiatric hospital, a library and in television and politics.