The British Football Film

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

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2. Introduction

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. The British Football Film: The Rules of the Game

      • Stephen Glynn

      Pages 3-17

3. The Professionals

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 19-19

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   2. Machinations

      • Stephen Glynn

      Pages 21-49

   3. Mavericks

      • Stephen Glynn

      Pages 51-71

   4. Managers

      • Stephen Glynn

      Pages 73-86

4. The Amateurs

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 87-87

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   2. Cons

      • Stephen Glynn

      Pages 89-106

   3. Kids

      • Stephen Glynn

      Pages 107-127

   4. Sunday Soccer

      • Stephen Glynn

      Pages 129-137

5. The Supporters

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 139-139

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   2. Gambling

      • Stephen Glynn

      Pages 141-149

   3. Getting There

      • Stephen Glynn

      Pages 151-177

   4. Gangs

      • Stephen Glynn

      Pages 179-203

6. Conclusion

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 205-205

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   2. The British Football Film: Directors and Directions

      • Stephen Glynn

      Pages 207-233

7. Back Matter

   Pages 235-262

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This book constitutes the first full volume dedicated to an academic analysis of British football as depicted on film. From early single-camera silents to its current multi-screen mediations, the repeated treatment of football in British cinema points to the game’s importance not only in the everyday rhythms of national life but also, and especially, its immutable place in the British imaginary landscape. Through close textual analysis together with production and reception histories, this book explores the ways in which professional footballers, amateur players and supporters (the devoted and the demonized) have been represented on the British screen. As well as addressing the joys and sorrows the game necessarily engenders, British football is shown to function as an accessible structure to explore wider issues such as class, race, gender and even the whole notion of ‘Britishness’. 

• football
• British
• film
• sports
• player
• national identity
• class
• race
• gender

 “Stephen Glynn’s survey will be welcomed by film historians and historians of sport … The British Football Film is a more than helpful compendium, and Glynn proves a sure-footed and undogmatic guide.” (Dilwyn Porter, Journal of British Cinema and Television, Vol. 16 (2), April, 2019)

“This is the first full-length study of the British football film. It is comprehensive in its coverage, full of original insights and accessibly written, combining the genuine enthusiasm of the football fan with the critical sophistication of the cultural historian.” (Jeffrey Richards is Emeritus Professor at Lancaster University, UK)

• De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom

  Stephen Glynn

Stephen Glynn is Associate Research Fellow at De Montfort University, UK. His previous Palgrave publications are The British Pop Music Film: The Beatles and Beyond (2013) and The British School Film: From Tom Brown to Harry Potter (2016).

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