Kevin Moore - What You Think You Know About Football is Wrong: The Global Game’s Greatest Myths and Untruths

Contents

Many thanks to Matthew Lowing from Bloomsbury, whose idea this book was, who commissioned me to write it, and who has guided me superbly throughout. A big thank you also to Sarah Skipper for being an excellent editor, and to Jenni Davis and Lisa Hughes for their great work in copy-editing.

Thanks also to all the National Football Museum staff, historians, museum visitors and others with a passion for the game, who have shared their stories with me even if some of them werent true! In writing this, I drew upon a great deal of outstanding research by academic historians of the game in particular, and have listed some of their key books in the bibliography.

I would like to thank those nearest to me who have had to put up with my usual over-enthusiasm mixed with grumpiness while writing a book! Those are my wife Nina, my daughter Zo and my son Oskar. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

My love of the game came from my family my grandfather Neill, my father Bob, and my uncles Bryan and Mick. This book is dedicated to the memory of Neill and Bob, and two very special friends, Jane Carney (Bolton Wanderers) and Magnus Larsen (Newcastle United).

Over nearly 50 years of commentating on football, Ive witnessed, often first-hand, many of the iconic moments in the history of the game, including Sunderlands David versus Goliath win over Leeds in the FA Cup Final, Maradonas Hand of God goal and Leicester Citys incredible Premier League victory. The stories and theories that arise from such moments are forever repeated and expounded on in pubs and workplaces. They become part of the fabric of the sport; apparently reliable assertions that help us make sense of footballs traditions and history.

This book takes a wrecking ball to many of the myths and assumptions about football that usually pass unchallenged. At times it left me surprised and even a little shocked. Dr Moore, who I know to be an expert on the history of football, has delved into every aspect of the game, from the accepted origins of womens football to the importance of the colour of team shirts. He has no sacred cows. Some may ask how he can question Englands 1966 World Cup win or Alex Fergusons place in the football firmament, but he does and puts up a pretty convincing argument, too.

Those who like to debate and dispute conventional football wisdom will devour these pages filled with facts, anecdotes and analysis. And if it turns out the beautiful game isnt quite as straightforward and black and white as its often painted, doesnt that just make it even more beautiful?

A commentators lot is not an easy one. Fall back on a truism such as, There are no easy games at this level or even, Its a game of two halves and you get the whole Twittersphere laughing at or taking issue with you. So, thanks a bundle Kevin Moore! The author of this tome has taken some of the dependable truths, some that even those of us steeped in football lore have taken for granted for years, and ripped them apart.

In claiming that football fans are mistaken in virtually everything we believe about football, Dr Moore is, as Sir Alex Ferguson once described Dennis Wise, a man capable of starting an argument in an empty room. Playing at home is a great advantage; Englishmen taught Brazilians to play football; Denis Laws back-heel relegated Manchester United The author begs to differ and has the facts to back up his case.

Its a feast of contrary and controversial assertions which make you question so much you assume to be true about the game. So next time you hear a commentator remarking on the natural artistry of the Brazilian player, the emergence of the Premier League prawn sandwich brigade or the unerring club loyalty of English football fans, youll be able to take them to task.

We humans love myths. And we always have. And the more passionate we are about something, the more likely we are to tell and invent stories about it. If something didnt actually happen the way it did, we bend the truth, to make it a better story. We all do this every day. Why let the facts get in the way of a good anecdote? The more the story then gets repeated, the more likely it will be accepted as the truth and this can happen very quickly.

Association football is only just over 150 years old, but because many of us are so passionate about it, stories, myths and legends abound, even about quite recent incidents in the game. This book debunks many of these myths. Through meticulous research, it peels back the fiction to get as close as we can to the truth. Of course it is still my interpretation, but I have set out to be as objective as I can. I believed many of these myths, so it has pained me at times to find out that they are not true! I was director of the National Football Museum for England from 1997 to 2017, establishing it first in Preston and then in Manchester, so I have spent over 20 years of my life working with footballs history, including research and writing. This book comes from much that I have learned in that time.

I hope that you are intrigued and surprised at what I have found. You may at times even get a little annoyed as I debunk one of your favourite football stories or beliefs. But given our passion for the game, sometimes we have to set this aside, to understand the game as it really is.

Given how we have collectively mythologised the game so much, there are many myths I havent included in this volume. Soldiers in the First World War did play football in no mans land between the trenches on Christmas Day 1914 but the Germans won! Football is not the worlds most popular sport. WAGs are not new in football they have always been part of the game. The Hand of God goal was fair enough England have cheated just as much on the pitch as Argentina. Sometimes the truth hurts!

Wembley Stadium, 30 July 1966. The World Cup Final. England against West Germany. The score is 2-2, in extra time. In the 101st minute Geoff Hurst shoots, the ball hits the bar, and Is it a goal? For over 50 years, Englands only World Cup Final win has been tarnished by accusations (mainly by Germans) that the ball was not over the line for the third England goal and it shouldnt have been given. This is nonsense. The ball did cross the line; the referee was right to give the goal.

The Swiss referee, Gottfried Dienst, wasnt quite sure at the time, as quite naturally he was behind the play. In 1966 he was considered the best referee in the world. Dienst is one of only four men to have twice refereed a European Cup final, and one of only two to have refereed both the European Championship final and the World Cup Final. He consulted his linesman from the USSR, Tofiq Bahramov, who was level with the play and who was certain it was a goal. Bahramov was also a highly experienced and very well-respected international referee. He refereed a first-round match in 1966 and three games at the 1970 World Cup finals, including a semi-final. So the highly respected linesman had no doubt. The West German TV commentary of the goal was Danger! Danger! Not in the goal! No goal!, but once it was given, a resigned Goal. Even for those who didnt believe the ball was over the line, the referees decision was final.

So why has there been any controversy? The problem is that while 96,924 people were at the game, only a few thousand of these had a clear goal line view. Most people were watching on TV over 30 million in the UK and over 300 million worldwide. The television pictures, in grainy black and white, are inconclusive. But even today, television distorts events on the field of play in football and in other sports. For example, low catches in cricket. To the naked eye, they are clearly a catch. But when the umpires on the field are uncertain and refer them up to the third umpire in the stand, watching on TV, he or she will often give the decision as not out, because in the TV pictures the ball appears to touch the ground. TV distorts now and it did so far more back in 1966. The 405-line system used then was referred to as high definition, but the actual image was only 377 lines high. Sir David Attenborough has reflected that 405 lines was dreadful quality. BBC Two, of which Attenborough was then the controller, had 625 lines, but wasnt covering the game! ITV had the same television pictures as the BBC, but as 29 million people were watching on the BBC and only 3 million on ITV, BBC commentator Kenneth Wolstenholmes words for Englands fourth goal Some people are on the pitch, they think its all over, it is now! have passed into history, whereas Hugh Johns equally eloquent commentary on ITV Heres Hurst, he might make it three. He has! He has so thats it. That is IT! has been forgotten.