Reflections on the 2018 Soccer Mad Boffins Conference Tour

What a summer! Amazing weather, a fantastic World Cup, and a veritable plethora of Soccer Mad Boffins public talks and academic lectures to fill in the time we weren't watching England progress to the semi-finals.  Here is a recap and reflection as we remember it...




June 1st 'England 1966, USA 1994 and the World Cup: Thoughts on populism, the popular and public indifference' 

Populism and the Leisure Spectacle: A BSA Leisure & Recreation Study Group Workshop 

Venue: University of Bath

This British Sociological Association workshop combined contemporary history with event management, cultural studies and theory with studies of national cases, the binding theme being the whys and wherefores of the populist profile of particular sport and leisure practices and cultural formations.

The event included presentations and panels discussion with experts also including Professor Alan Tomlinson, author/academic/broadcaster David Goldblatt, Michael Willams, and Brian Clift.

Soccer Mad Boffins' Alex Gillett opened the day with a consideration of the 1966 football World Cup finals tournament, hosted and won by England. Drawing upon his work with co-author Kevin Tennant he presented data on the almost serendipitous way in which the British government lent financial support to the event, the disappointment of those English regions beyond London for whom the anticipated tourist bonanza was a washout if not disaster, and the small scale of commercialisation of the product that nevertheless hinted at the later, media-generated and sponsor-based global commodity that the World Cup has become. The broader context was informed by Flyvbjerg’s four sublimes of the mega-project, to which Alex and Kevin’s research has brought an ethnographic and qualitative dimension as applied to the study of event history and business history. These themes and approaches stimulated lively discussion on just how we understand contemporary history and the lived meanings of iconic cultural moments in our past. He also looked at how the 1994 World Cup in the United States sought, through targeted marketing strategies aimed at both established and potential audiences, to popularize the game in the crowded US market dominated by the Big 4 (American Football, basketball, baseball and ice hockey).

June 12th 'The Business of World Cup Football'

co-presented with Greg Dyke (former Chairman of the Football Association)

Venue: York Festival of Ideas, The King's Manor, York

It was our great honour to co-present this event with Greg Dyke, which was attended by a large enthusiastic audience on a warm summer's evening.  We began by presenting from our research of the 1966 and 1994 FIFA World Cups contextualising it with information about more recent and future events, such as Brazil, Russia, Qatar and USA 2026.  Then followed a round table discussion chaired by Greg, who then reflected on his own experiences of being FA Chairman and Director General of the BBC.  The audience posed some excellent questions which we were delighted to answer and everyone enjoyed hearing Greg's views on football and its broader social impact as well as the business side. There were some predictions of England's likely performance in the World Cup which were superseded by Gareth Southgate and his team's performance in Russia!   Two days after the presentation, the 2018 World Cup kicked off. To tie-in with the event our podcast on the story of football was released and we hope to participate in the Festival of Ideas in 2019 - watch this space!  


June 20th 'Project Managing and Marketing the Soccer World Cup: 1966 and 1994'

Aston Organizational History Workshop

Venue: Aston Business School 

A few days after the World Cup kicked off we contributed to this workshop organized by Professor Stephanie Decker, Head of Research at Aston Business School.  This was a great venue because of its links to the 1966 World Cup and the event included several presentations covering a range of organizational history topics from manufacturing to finance.  We must add the catering was excellent - the samosas and cake were particularly enjoyable.  Over the course of one hour we presented findings from our paper accepted for the International Journal of the History of Sport as well as findings from our Project Management Journal paper and book Foundations of Managing Sporting Events.  Our research was very well received and we look forward to returning to Aston at the BAM2019 Conference where we will further develop the theme of our Special Interest Group, Management and Business History.



June 22nd Poster Presentation: 'Using Archival Research in University Teaching'

Venue: University of York Teaching and Learning Conference 

We made our first ever poster presentation on home turf at the University of York Teaching and Learning Conference.  Our poster was about archival research in teaching and served as an excellent warm-up for our appearance at the BAM 2018 annual conference.  See below!



July 9th - 13th Critical Acclaim for Soccer Mad Boffins!

With the World Cup well under way we were able to compare our predictions to reality which created some fun on this blog with several articles which went viral and even caught the attention of Soccernomics author Stefan Szymanski who described it as 'a teachable moment'.

This blog was also considered worthy of archiving by the British Library in the  UK Web Archive, which preserves specially selected websites that represent different aspects of UK heritage on the web, as well as important global events.



July 12th - 13th Management History Research Group workshop 

Venue: Riddle's Court, 322 Lawnmarket in Edinburgh

Arriving in Edinburgh we had the pleasure of watching England crash out of the World Cup in the semi-final in a pub full of Scotland supporters! A traditional Scottish deep fried supper helped ease the pain. The MHRG was a major success and the venue was fantastic as this photo depicts.  Our paper developed the poster presentation about using archives and was well received by a prestigious panel of professors.




September 4th-6th 'Management and Business History Track' of the British Academy of Management Annual Conference

Venue: University of the West of England, Bristol

The start of September took us to the historic port town home of Triphop, Banksy and the British aircraft industry. We opened the conference with a dinner in the former Bristol Stock Exchange, now an Indian restaurant. The ornate surroundings complimented the excellent meal. On the first day of activities we delivered a Professional Development Workshop on publishing academic books, drawing on our experience and expertise as editors of the Emerald series Frontiers of Management History. We met many impressive and creative new authors and hope to work with at least some of them soon. On Day 2 we presented a full paper version of our work previously presented at the MHRG and University of York poster session (see above).  By now we had used the constructive feedback to craft a developed paper which we hoped to publish.  Our thanks to the esteemed audience for all their comments and suggestions.  In our roles as Special Interest Group committee members we were also involved in chairing sessions and mentoring early career academics and we thoroughly enjoy contributing to the development of our academic field.  The main conference dinner was held at Aerospace Bristol where we got to walk through Concorde and enjoy the Concorde museum then enjoy a selection of wines and food courses at a table situated underneath the aircraft, whilst listening to Jonathan Dimbleby perform an on-the-couch interview with Micheal Eavis the promoter of Glastonbury Festival.  We were pleased that BAM brought a bit of aeronautic and creative industry business histories to the heart of its conference!

The 2018 FIFA World Cup is here!

The 2018 FIFA World Cup is finally upon us, and the excitement levels are rising at Soccer-Mad Boffins HQ!

It wouldn’t be a World Cup without wall charts, office sweep-stakes, and arguments about which teams will progress from the Group Stages and ultimately win the tournament!

Official FIFA world rankings have Germany in the number one spot (1558 points), with Brazil in second place (with 1431 points). 

Behind them the rest of the top-ten is more bunched on points; Belgium, Portugal, Argentina, Switzerland, France, Poland, Chile, and Spain are all strong teams.  Snapping their heels are Peru (just 1 point behind the Spanish), then Denmark and England, Uruguay, Mexico, Columbia and the Netherlands.

As Kuper and Syzmanski correctly identify, one of the most exciting things about football is that any team can beat another ‘on their day’.  It is the unpredictability and the hope of a giant-killing or a freak score-line that often has us on the edge of our seats.

In 1950 the USA's part-timers beat England, ‘the home of football’ by 1-0.  Even between two heavyweight teams, there can be unpredictable score-lines -  in 2014 who predicted that Germany would thrash Brazil so convincingly 7-1?

Whilst FIFA rankings suggest that either Germany or Brazil are most likely to win this year’s World Cup, if either or both have an early exit then it looks as though the trophy could be any one’s. 

Belgium, Uruguay or Switzerland as finalists?  England to progress beyond the Quarter-Finals?

Just for fun, here at Soccer-Mad Boffins we made our own predictions using a World Cup spread-sheet downloaded from http://www.excely.com/football/2018-fifa-world-cup-schedule.shtml.

According to Alex’s calculations, Germany and Brazil will both reach the finals, with the German’s emerging as winners by a score-line of 2-1.  Third place will go to Portugal who will beat France 3-1 in the 3^rd/4^th place play-off.

Meanwhile, Kevin also predicts a Germany – Brazil final, with Germany winning 1-0 in a slightly more cautious or evenly-matched 90 minutes.  Kevin’s 3^rd/4^th place play-off is between Uruguay and Argentina – with Uruguay winning 2-1.

Just for fun we also conducted ‘the random world cup’ by rolling two dice.  The random factor generated some very interesting results. Here are some highlights:

-       Saudi Arabia to win Group A, Costa Rica to win Group E (with Brazil finishing bottom with just 1 point), and Tunisia to win Group G (England in second place, with Belgium surprisingly in third place and failing to progress). 

-       The dice took Denmark, Mexico, Argentina, and Switzerland into the semi-finals, with dramatic results: Firstly Mexico beat Denmark 5-2 in a seven-goal thriller, then Switzerland (the home of FIFA) dominated Argentine 6-0 to earn their place in the final.

-       The 3^rd/4^th place play-off was another goal-feast: Argentina beating Denmark 3-2, to claim ‘bronze’ (if this were the Olympic Games!)

-     World Cup Finals are often something of an anticlimax and ours was no exception with Switzerland winning 1-0 against Mexico, perhaps after a contentious penalty decision involving the use of the newly introduced VAR, leading to accusations in the English papers of a FIFA inside job!

We can't wait for the tournament to unfold and to see which of our predictions most resembles reality.  Which teams will emerge as a surprise package and shock the favorites?  Which players will hit form and have a breakout tournament? Will the beautiful game or parking the bus triumph? It's almost time to find out!

Download our predictions in full (needs Excel):

Alex's Predictions

Kevin's Predictions

Random Predictions

Songs for the world: World Cup anthems through the ages, 1962 - 2018

The 2018 FIFA World Cup is now clearly on the horizon.  Bags are packed. Television schedules memorized. The air is thick with anticipation.  But.....this year the FA has done the unthinkable and packed off the England team WITHOUT AN OFFICIAL SONG!

But do not despair.  At soccermadboffins we have decided to look back at some classics from World Cup history and also bring you news of a brand new unofficial 'anthem' which provides a call-to-arms for the nation at this important time in lieu of any official England World Cup single.


Blasts From the Past (avoiding the usual suspects...)


'El Rock del Mundial' by Los Ramblers (1962)

Not only the first ever world cup song, but also one of the best. This upbeat rockabilly barnstormer got the world cup anthem genre off to a rockin' start despite arguably catching only the tail-end of the original rockabilly movement.  At just two minutes fourty-seven seconds long, and incorprating referees whistles, a singing crowd, and the word 'goooooaaaal' a lot, plus obligatory twangy guitar solo, hand-claps and thumping bass line, this track was custom built for radio airplay.  Whether it achieved that is another matter entirely. An unfortunate fate for many more world cup songs to come.

'World Cup Willie' by Lonnie Donegan (1966)
Our first choice was not so much an England team song, so much as a song for the entire World Cup Finals, albeit hosted (and won) by England.

'World Cup Willie', performed by the by then somewhat over the hill skiffle superstar Lonnie Donegan of 'my old man's a dustman' fame, missed the zeitgeist of the British beat boom like an England semi-penalty.  But it did score in the earworm stakes, Donegan's classic rhyming couplets doing much to raise public awareness as to the tournament and the first ever world cup mascot.

We are not sure if 'World Cup Willie' ever reached the UK charts, although it is remembered fondly as a nostalgia piece.  The track was played before each fixture over the stadium public address systems, although that does not seem to have boosted sales.

Interestingly by 1976 Donegan's hits were drying up and he released the less well known 'I've Lost My Little Willie' although a cursory listen reveals the song is not as good and seems to be an attempt to emulate Chuck Berry's 'My Ding A Ling', a hit for Berry two years earlier.



'Back Home' by The England Squad (1970)

'Back Home' was significant as it was the first in a series of England team songs actually sang by the team themselves.  Released by Pye Records (who were also Lonnie Donegan's record company) in a period when records were usually promoted by getting the whole team on Top of the Pops, the record was a no 1 in the UK. Factoid: The England team also performed a B side, the long forgotten 'Cinnamon Stick' which we've never heard of either.

The tune for 'Back Home' had a legacy in that it was adopted as the theme tune for Fantasy Football League in the 1990s.

'Easy Easy' by the Scotland Squad (1974) and 'Ole Ola' / 'Que Sera Sera' by Rod Stewart + The Scotland Squad (1978)

Released for the 1974 edition of the FIFA World Cup, 'Easy, Easy' was a glam-rock foot stomper notable for its Bay City Rollers influence, clearly a cash-in on the Edinburgh based tartan-clad boy band's appeal at that time.

Denis Law might have looked a bit like Rod Stewart but he certainly didn't have the same singing voice, and it is possible to imagine Rod's reaction to not being asked to perform the song himself, something that the Scottish FA remedied in 1978 when Rod sang with the Scotland World Cup songs 'Ole Ola' and 'Que Sera Sera' for the Argentina 1978 World Cup.

The single qualified for the UK Top 10 before exiting quite quickly - much like the team itself.



'Yer Man' by Dana & The Northern Ireland Squad (1982)

Northern Ireland's campaign in the 1982 World Cup is best known for their 1-0 victory over Spain following Gerry Armstrong's iconic goal to get out of the group stages.  But Eurovision winner Dana (who had actually represented the Republic of Ireland) also got in on the action, teaming up with Northern Ireland's squad to riff on the traditional riff of rain in Spain in this amusing little song characterised by its 'viva Northern Ireland refrain'.

'Put 'em Under Pressure' (We're All Part of Jackie's Army) - Produced by Larry Mullen

Dynamic Celtic Rock in the style of Horslips or Thin Lizzy, interspersed with sampled quotes from manager 'Big Jack' Charlton, himself a former world cup winner from the 1966 England team.  The song seems to be a patchwork quilt of Irish rock music and terrace chant singing with the Jack Charlton quotes laid over the top of the whole glorious racket.

Superior to the England effort from the same year (an overly earnest collaboration between the England squad and synth-poppers New Order with a John Barnes middle-eight rap), but unfortunately not as well remembered.


'If I Can Dream' - Terry Venables

El Tel is almost as famous for his entrepreneurship as for his football career.  In 2010, the former England coach released a single, a cover version of Elvis' 'If I Can Dream' despite having retired from management several years before.

The song is a bit dreary but the audacity of a former England coach, whose relationship with the English FA had reportedly been somewhat strained, releasing a World Cup single when England  were competing in the tournament is quite amusing.

‘Football (world cup version)’ by Bermondsey Joyriders (2010)

A fast-paced punk rock n’ roll tune released as an ‘unofficial’ England anthem to coincide with the South Africa 2010 World Cup.   Power chords rain down as a London accent barks lyrics about English working life in offices, markets, factories and docks, and England footballers of the day.  It’s slightly reminiscent of the Anti-Nowhere League’s infamous punk classic ‘So What’, however, the main hook and best bit of the songs is a ‘tannoy’ announcement paraphrasing Corporal Jones from Dad’s Army: ‘will the English supporters please note that the Germans do not like it up ‘em!’. Worth a listen for that alone! An instant classic. That should have topped the charts for the entire summer, but of course didn’t get anywhere near the charts because the British public has no taste.

'Red, White & Blue' by Alexi Lalas (2014)

After rising to fame at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 'grunge footballer' from the USA, Alexi Lalas then cashed in - firstly with a transfer to Italian giants AC Milan, then more recently with a tongue-in-cheek country song 'red, white and blue' with all-American lyrics such as "in ‘98 we lost to Iran, I nearly drove my truck off the Hoo-ver dam".


An anthem for 2018?

‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ by The Tallywags (2018)

There might not be an official England squad single for the 2018 World Cup, but in this day and age of social media there is no end of unofficial attempts at creating a new football national anthem.  One of the most memorable videos we’ve seen from the current crop is for ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ by The Tallywags, a sort of punk rock supergroup comprising Paul Cook (the drummer from the Sex Pistols and The Professionals), Tom Spencer (The YoYos, The Professionals, The Men They Couldn’t Hang, The Loyalties) Chris McCormack (The Professionals, Three Colours Red), his brother Danny McCormack (The Wildhearts, The YoYos) and Olga (Toy Dolls).

The video begins with an old man in red and white football scarf sat in his garden shed, opening a box containing a newspaper from 1966 reporting the theft of the Jules Rimet Trophy.

Without giving away the entire plot, we can tell you that he’s transported to a ‘local’ football facility where The Tallywags are performing.

A book of world cup memories is opened and flicks through headlines of England’s ‘near misses’ in the competition over the decades.

Then the fun really begins: An actor made-up to look like a comedic Diego Maradona re-enacts the infamous ‘hand of God’ incident, followed by more actors in a variety of low budget disguises re-enacting other incidents, only with the outcome changed: So Gazza crying at Italia 90 has his yellow card torn up, David Seaman doesn’t get lobbed from the halfway line in 2002, Chris Waddle (resplendent with brilliant nylon mullet wig) puts his penalty in the back of the net, and history is re-written each time, with newspaper headlines declaring ‘England wins its 14^th consecutive World Cup’.

Its self-depricating English humour and terrace-chant choruses in the tradition of previous unofficial England World Cup singles ‘Three Lions’ and ‘Vindaloo’.  Given their use of all things historic/nostalgic in the video, we decided to contact the Tallywags Tom Spencer to find out more.


Interview with World Cup Songwriter Tom Spencer

Alex: Hello Tom, how’s things? Tell us about how this new project The Tallywags came into being. It seems to be a bit of an amalgamation of several bands you’ve been involved with.  You even have a Sex Pistol in the band?

Tom: I’m playing in ‘The Professionals’ now with Paul Cook (ex-Sex Pistols drummer), there’s the first obvious connection. The others may be from my past musically, but I still see them regularly out and about – for example Chis McCormack is now in the Professionals too.

Alex: I’m familiar with some of your back catalogue and listening to the melody and the lyrics of this World Cup song I’m guessing you were one of the songwriters? How did the song come about?

Tom: Yes, I came up with the original draft of the song.  I read a lot of historical fiction. I love the Flashman books. The obvious parody of the charge of the light brigade hit me - England charging towards inevitable doom. But also that there’s always hope. I mean there are people out there from Panama and Iran that are dreaming of winning. It’s only 7 games to win it. Outsiders do come in - occasionally.


Alex: I used to go and watch your old band The YoYos play almost every week in and around London.  I even got to play a gig with you guys once when my own band was invited by a local promoter to be the support act.   Those were great days, but the YoYos didn’t quite get the success that you should have had, and the band seemed to split in negative circumstances. However, I hear that this new Tallywags project sees you reunited with your old YoYos pal Danny McCormack (brother of the aforementioned Chris)?

Tom: We needed a bass player. As I said we’re in regular contact, especially since his recent leg related troubles. He jumped (well hopped) at the chance to be on it. I believe it’s also the first time him and his brother Chris have been on the same recording - an exclusive!!


Alex: Back to football –  which teams do you support?

Tom: I support QPR. They last won something in 1967, England obviously in 1966. It’s about time I tasted football glory. I’ve learnt to party when we avoid relegation.

Alex: For this new Tallywags single ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ were you influenced by any previous World Cup singles from previous tournaments?

Tom: There’s been so many crap football songs.  I’m more influenced by Chas n’ Dave’s Tottenham songs - even though I’m a QPR fan - or ‘Swords of A Thousand Men’  by Ten Pole Tudor.

 

Alex: Who do you think will win the World Cup this time around? Does England have much chance to progress beyond the Group Stage?

Tom: I think England will progress. Then it’s 4 games to win the World Cup - anything can happen. Maybe this time we’ll get lucky. Bad luck has been at the heart of our previous failures. As well as overconfidence - this time we’re going in with less expectation - Charge of the Light Brigade, into the breach!
Then again Brazil are still smarting and have a point to prove. I can see them winning.

Alex: Will the Tallywags be touring at all so we can hear the song played live?

Tom: No the Tallywags won’t ever tour.  I guess if England do well the whole line up are playing rebellion festival this August. We could take to the stage for a one song performance. Or maybe the Profs will play it? Just once....and only if we win the World Cup!!

Charge of the Light Brigade by The Tallywags is available now via Spotify, iTunes, or buy it here as a limited edition CD single. The video is available on Youtube.

Soccer Mad Boffins 2018 Summer Tour!

Soccer Mad Boffins are pleased to announce the following appearances over the next few months - more being added all the time - watch this space!

June 1st 'England 1966, USA 1994 and the World Cup: Thoughts on populism, the popular and public indifference' 

Populism and the Leisure Spectacle: A BSA Leisure & Recreation Study Group Workshop 

Venue: University of Bath

https://www.britsoc.co.uk/events/key-bsa-events/populism-and-the-leisure-spectacle/

 

June 12th 'The Business of World Cup Football'

co-presented with Greg Dyke (former Chairman of the Football Association)

Venue: York Festival of Ideas (tickets available from the below link)

http://yorkfestivalofideas.com/2018/talks/business-world-cup-football/



June 20th 'Project Managing and Marketing the Soccer World Cup: 1966 and 1994'

Venue: Aston Business School 



June 22nd Poster Presentation: 'Using Archival Research in University Teaching'

Venue: University of York Teaching and Learning Conference 

https://www.york.ac.uk/staff/teaching/community/events/annual-conference/2018/



September 4th-6th 'Management and Business History Track'

Venue: University of the West of England, Bristol

Soccer Mad Boffins will be helping to run the track as well as presenting a paper - come and say hello!

https://www.bam.ac.uk/civicrm/event/info?id=3337


We are hoping to give more talks and media appearances to tie in with the 2018 FIFA World Cup - please get in touch if you would like to book us!

For press and media enquiries please contact the University of York Press Office at pressoffice@york.ac.uk or call 01904 322029 or 01904 322153.