This ambitious and fascinating history considers why, in the space of 60 years, between 1850 and 1910, football grew from a marginal and unorganised activity to become the dominant winter entertainment for millions of people around the world.

This audio book explores how the world’s football codes—soccer, rugby league, rugby union, American, Australian, Canadian and Gaelic—developed as part of the commercialised leisure industry in the 19th century. Football, however and wherever it was played, was a product of the second industrial revolution, the rise of the mass media and the spirit of the age of the masses.

It makes for an important listen for students of sports studies, history, sociology, development and management; this audio book is also a valuable resource for scholars and academics involved in the study of football in all its forms as well as an engrossing listen for anyone interested in the early history of football.

Tony Collins