Kevin to Appear at Senate House Symposium!

Kevin will be representing us at an academic symposium at the University of London's central library, Senate House, which is said to have inspired George Orwell's Ministry of Truth in the novel 1984, on Friday June 3rd.  The symposium focuses on the political, social, economic and cultural impact and legacy of the 1966 FIFA World Cup. Kevin will be talking about the financial and organisational findings from our forthcoming book; in particular how government support for the tournament had been crucial for the provincial venues, but also how the hoped for boost for Britain's tourist industries did not materialise as envisaged.

The symposium is free to attend and open to the public, starting at 9.30am.  Other attractions during the day will include a keynote by Professor John Ewing Hudson, Professor of Sport and Cultural Studies and Director of the International Football Institute at the University of Central Lancashire, a discussion on the impact of England's victory on Anglo-German relations by Dr Christoph Wagner of De Montfort University, a paper on women's experiences of the 1966 Finals by Dr Stacey Pope of Durham University, and a roundtable discussion with Dr Kath Woodward from the Open University and the football historian and Guardian journalist David Goldblatt, who will also be making the closing remarks.

It should be a very engaging and thought provoking day - further details and registration is here!

Beer and the Boro - A Perfect Match!

 

If your university of library has access to Springerlink, you can easily download the digital edition of our new book chapter 'Beer and the Boro - A Perfect Match!'

"Although football clubs (FCs) as firms are relatively unsustainable from a purely financial perspective, the club brands appear highly sustainable in comparison with many other industries (Kuper and Szymanski, 2012). While the ownership and the companies running the clubs may change, the club brands themselves appear to be more stable than in other industries where firms and brands go out of business, relocate or diversify to a far greater extent (e.g. Hannah, 1997). This may be because they are less vulnerable to competition — FCs have historically been geographic, and while their catchment area may shrink during less successful periods, it will not disappear entirely. Furthermore, rival foreign clubs do not enter and supply soccer at lower prices (although foreign investors may bid to take over the ownership) and although English clubs as a whole could fall behind foreign competitors and lose their best players, foreign clubs have their own problems of finance and management (Kuper and Szymanski, 2012). Put succinctly, society can keep unprofitable clubs going cheaply: bank managers and tax collectors have historically appeared reluctant to close century-old clubs -and so society swallowed the losses. Perhaps clubs were and still are too small to fail. At the same time, the brand loyalty of supporters means that no matter how lousy the product, a hard core of customers will continue to purchase: “Soccer is more than just a business. No one has their ashes scattered down the aisle at Tesco” (Taylor, 1998, cited by Kuper and Szymanski, 2012, p.82)."

In the chapter, we discuss the relationship between the beer and brewing industry and football in the 1980s, through the case of Middlesbrough FC, a club which experienced severe financial challenges during the 1980s.

So what are you waiting for - have a read, put it on your reading lists, cite it in your research. You know what to do!


http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057%2F9781137466181_16

Walking Football = good for your health

 

Whilst the professional game is fast-paced and physical, particularly here in the UK, participation in football can in fact be enjoyed by people of all ages and ability.

'Walking Football' is proposed as beneficial to mental health.  This short BBC news article looks into the proposed benefits of 'walking football' for older and depressed men.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/video_and_audio/headlines/36329589

World's Worst Groundsmen?

 
(Image from http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40747000/gif/_40747002_footy_pitch_finale1.gif)


Creating the perfect football pitch requires several things, perhaps most obviously are good turf and the ability to produce precise markings.

Whilst a PhD in triganometry is not mandatory, the ability to paint straight lines onto the grass is pretty much a thresshold skill.

Except that is, in the seventh tier of Norwegian football, if British tabloid newspaper The Mirror is to be believed. Reporting on the wonky state of the white lines on the pitch for a recent fixture between Nordic minnows Julebygda and Riska 3, The Mirror writes "we're just amazed they managed to actually play a game through the inevitable fits of laughter..."

Have a look at the handiwork of groudsmen Quang Minh Ha and Nick Duy Do using the following weblink to see for yourself (photos included):

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-zed/worlds-worst-groundsmen-been-found-7983574#rlabs=1%20rt$sitewide%20p$10

Survey on Popularity of Football Managers

The results are in!

Soccer Mad Boffins proudly reveals the results of our highly scientific survey into the popularity of some (in)famous managers.

We asked a panel of academic experts to rate a shortlist of managers on a scale of 1-10 ('1' being the lowest, '10' being the highest mark possible).

Findings showed that the most highly rated managers com our list was former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, whilst the least popular was Paulo Di Canio.  Sum total results for each manager are summarised below (number of respondents = 9):



Interestingly, one respondent awarded 11/10 to one of the managers whilst there were a couple of instances where a mark of 'zero' was given or the column was left blank. In these instances we awarded the 11 and classified the zeros and blank responses as '0'. We acknowledge that these were off the scale but if you have a problem with that then you need to get a life.

'Honourable Mentions': One respondent asked why we didn't also include Bob Paisley or Arsene Wenger on the list.  We should have done. We'll put them on the list next time for sure, along with a couple of others such as Bruce Rioch and Sir Matt Busby.  Any other nominations please email us.

Any academic journals wishing to publish this please get in touch! ;-) 

Foundations of Managing Sporting Events - Organizing the 1966 FIFA World Cup

Soccer Mad Boffins are very pleased to announce that our new book 'Foundations of Managing Sporting Events - Organizing the 1966 FIFA World Cup' will be published this summer by Routledge as part of their International Studies in Business History series.

The table of contents will be:

1. What, Why, and How?
2. Origins and Background: A Brief History of English Football and the FIFA World Cup
3. Political Capital and International Diplomacy: North Korea and Beyond
4. The FA, FIFA, and the 1966 FIFA World Cup
5. The World Cup as a Temporary Show?
6. The World Cup, Minister?
7. The World Cup and the Provinces: A Tourism Boom that Never Came
8. Legacy and Impact of the Tournament
9. Discussion and Conclusions 

In addition to all that there will also be a forword by the Prof Jim Walvin. 

More info at: https://www.routledge.com/products/9781138645202

Some Recommended Reading.....

Following our previous post about the book chapter 'Beer and the Boro - A Perfect Match' that we have co-authored with Fred Hutchinson for the 'beer, pubs and brewing' book, we decided to survey a select few of our colleagues and friends about what other football-related literature they enjoy reading, academic and non-academic.

Our findings were very interesting and showed the enduring popularity of Nick Hornby's 'Fever Pitch' and also the enduring popularity / infamy of one of the sport's most colourful characters: Brian Clough. 'The Damned United', a fictional account of Brian Clough's short-lived but controversial reign at Leeds United, was a big hit amongst respondents, and Phil Rostron's response 'We Are The Damned United' - a factual account of the same topic based on interviews with the players Clough managed at the time - also received a vote.

Here are the findings in full, hopefully they will inspire readers of Soccer Mad Boffins to get reading:



Favourite football book/article (non-academic)?

Prof Bill Cooke, University of York:
Seth Burkett (2014) The Boy in Brazil: Living, Loving and Learning in the Land of Football

Prof Richard Common, University of York:
'Fever Pitch'  Nick Hornby - predictable, I know...


Prof Stephen Linstead, University of York:
'The Damned United'


Dr Sarah Gilmore, University of Portsmouth
'Football Against the Enemy' by Simon Kuper.

Prof Dil Porter, De Montfort University:
 'The Damned United'.


Dr Niall MacKenzie, University of Strathclyde
 'The Damned United'.


Prof David Preece, Emeritus (Teesside Uninversity)

'We are the damned United', by Phil Roston, Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh, 2009. Tells the true story of Leeds United when 'managed' by Clough (ie a more-or-less complete disaster).


Dr Rory Miller, University of Liverpool 

Nick Hornby, Fever Pitch.


Dr Catherine Budd, De Montfort University

Nick Hornby, Fever Pitch.

Favourite academic football book/article?

We got a few less responses to our request for recommended academic writing about the world's greatest sport, but the ones we did get were very strong (and thanks Bill for mentioning our own forthcoming book about the 1966 FIFA World Cup!)

Prof Bill Cooke, University of York
Tenent, K.D. and Gillett, A.G. (2016 – in press) Foundations of Managing Sporting Events : Organizing the 1966 FIFA World Cup, Routledge International Studies in Business History, Routledge.


Prof Stephen Linstead, University of York
Sarah Gilmore - The mother’s breast and football managers in The Passion of Organization ed. J Brewis, S. Linstead, D. Boje, T. O'Shea



Prof Dil Porter, De Montfort University
Alan McDougall, The People's Game: Football, State and Society in East Germany  (CUP, 2014)


Dr Sarah Gilmore, University of Portsmouth
McGillivray, D., Fearn, R., &McIntosh, A. (2005). Caught up in and by the beautiful game. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 29, 102-123. Exposes the anti-intellectual culture in the Scottish/UK game and analyses it via Bourdieu. It continues to be foundational for me just at the moment in understanding clashes in capital and why sports science, for example, fails to be as institutionalised and recognised as it should be. Great stuff.

Overall, a very interesting selection we hope that you agree. Watch this space for more surveys of academics and soccer, and more news about our own forthcoming book about the 1966 FIFA World Cup.