Underdogs

'Fancy! A lot of working chaps beating a lot of gentlemen' 1879, the third round of the FA Cup. A football team from the humble Lancashire cotton town of Darwen, take on Remnants - a Berkshire club of the moneyed and well-connected - and beat them. It is football's first ever giant killing. Their reward is a quarter-final with the mighty Old Etonians. It pitches rulers against ruled, rich against poor, champions against underdogs, old tactics against new, the inventors of the game against the upstarts. It is an encounter that is seen as symbolic and hidden at the heart of the encounter lies the bitterest controversy. Underdogs, is a fascinating story that covers the very birth of football and its development towards the game we recognize today. Storyteller, football connoisseur and historian, Keith Dewhurst, shows how 130 years ago, at its beginning, football was already reflecting the modern game closely - money talks, cheating abounds, and victory is secured whatever the cost.

ISBN 0224083139   Pages 320 ISBN13 9780224083133 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 455 Publisher Vintage   Published in London Imprint Yellow Jersey Press   Height (mm) 222 Format Hardback   Width (mm) 143 Publication date 01 Mar 2012   Spine width (mm) 29 DEWEY 796.334094209034   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC23

"Dewhurst has dug widely and clearly enjoyed the archives.this entire team has the memorial that it richly deserves" -- Huw Richards When Saturday Comes "Fascinating and entertaining...a social and cultural history of sport, class, British society and identity ... it is another example of the importance of sport in analysing the contemporary world, its passions, its cultures, and its understanding of rules, regulations, competition and fair play" -- John Foot History Today "An engaging tale mixing social history with what could be called the roots of modern football" Press Association

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Version	Price	Published	Edition
Paperback	£10.99	2013
Electronic Book	£7.99