International football tournaments take us on a rollercoaster of emotions. After the stresses of the past 15 months, watching matches with friends can keep us on a more even keel.
England’s footballers have had their worst ever start to a World Cup – and, bar a miracle, face an early exit. So begins the inevitable search to understand the cause of this calamity. The squad’s inexperience…
I was at the Matisse exhibition at the Tate Modern this week (Yes, I know, top show-off metrosexual). I was with my mate JJ, who had travelled in from the artistic meta-centre of Norfolk to see these pictures…
The expectation placed on Roy Hodgson’s 23-man England squad is immense – each player is representing a country that proudly boasts football as its national sport, and (rightly or wrongly) considers itself…
As a fan and professional sociologist whose main research interest is football, I spend so much of my time immersed in the sport that I should be excited about the World Cup, I know I should. And in a…