New Article Published by 'Soccer & Society'

We are pleased to announce that our latest paper '‘Filip’ or flop? Managing public relations and the Latin American reaction to the 1966 FIFA World Cup' is now available online.

It is published by the journal 'Soccer & Society' and will when available in print it will be included in a Special Issue on the topic of 'Moments, Metaphors, Memories: Defining Events in the History of Soccer'.

First 50 readers using this weblink get FREE access to our article by clicking HERE

Thereafter you can find it by clicking HERE

ABSTRACT

The 1966 FIFA World Cup has become part of the iconography of its hosts and champions, England. Extant literature has tended to focus on the cultural and symbolic legacy of the tournament, or engaged with diplomatic relations between Britain and North Korea. Contrastingly, we use archival sources from footballing and government institutions to explore the less studied topic of how the tournament was reported and perceived in Latin America, where England had commercial interests and influence, but where there were allegations that FIFA, the FA and even the UK government manipulated the tournament to the advantage of England and other European teams. We provide fresh perspectives on the social and cultural significance of the 1966 FIFA World Cup by analysing how the tournament’s organizers attempted to manage the situation and resulting negative public relations, and how 1966 fits within longer-term footballing and diplomatic relations between England and Latin America.

Soccer Mad Boffins at Wembley Stadium

As we have previously reported, here at Soccer Mad Boffins we were very pleased to have contributed to the National Football Museum's flagship World Cup 1966 commemorative exhibition which runs until 23rd April 2017.

Conveniently for footy fans in the South of England, the exhibition is replicated at London's famous Wembley Stadium until 31st December 2016.

Whilst slightly scaled-down, many of the features of the Manchester exhibition are included, as we discovered when we visited.  For example, you can see information about the public sector's involvement in planning and organising the tournament, as featured in our book 'Foundations of Managing Sporting Events':

We also got to see many other interesting exhibits and artefacts:

It was exciting to see the name of the exhibition that we had contributed to being advertised in huge writing on the front of the stadium in front of the iconic statue of World Cup winner Sir Bobby Moore:

We caught this photo from long distance just as the board message was changing, but it gives a sense of size and perspective:

More luck with this one and the good news is that the exhibition is FREE to visit:

The view from Wembley Way (aka Olympic Way):

We were also pleased to see our names on the acknowledgements list inside, at the end of the exhibition, although is somewhat smaller print than the advertising outside of the stadium!:

After a long day of travel and looking around Wembley Stadium and the World Cup '66 exhibition it was time to visit the hotel bar to rehydrate and debrief the day's work, with a great view of Wembley Stadium as our inspiriting backdrop:

The exhibition can be visited for FREE at Wembley Stadium, London and also at the National Football Museum in Manchester. More info here.

Our book 'Foundations of Managing Sporting Events' which helped to inform the exhibition is available now in hardback and e-book formats from all good book stores and libraries.