---
layout: post
title: Football
tags: [arsenal, football, lit]
---

I have just finished reading *Fever Pitch* by Nick Hornby. To those who don't
know, *Fever Pitch* is about Nick's obsession with Arsenal. For those who don't
know what Arsenal is: nothing to see here, please move along, folks. I haven't
read of a lot of football literature, but as an Arsenal fan, it gave me a
peephole into a world long since gone: the world when Arsenal were the
equivalent of Stoke City of the last few seasons - the ogres of football. No,
honestly. The way Nick described Arsenal and the Highbury crowd reminds me of
the Potters in every way - the siege mentality, the general dislike from other
fans, the media, the shit football…

Me, I started following Arsenal in 2006, with that Champions League final. I had
started staying up late during my Std 10 exams, and had kept the habit. :) On
one such late night, while channel surfing, I came up on a live match. There was
some ruckus going on. I had some idea of football, since I had watched the '98
World Cup and the '04 Euro (Greece won?). Apparently the keeper had been sent
off, no penalty, though. I started it too late and didn't get to see the replay
of the foul. At that time I didn't know who Pires was, so I didn't get the full
import of him being subbed. I did know who Henry was, though. :) 

Even so, my memory gets a bit hazy here: I know that ten minutes later Campbell
scored and then around 80' Barca equalised, and then later took the lead and
won. The way I *remember* it, Arsenal almost immediately scored ('*10 men Arsenal
take the lead!*') and the underdogs (to me, and hence I supported them - well,
that and Henry) kept on gamely trying. To me it seemed that Henry was a lone
fella trying to do the best he can up front, without much support. And then late
in to the match they scored twice in quick succession. Damn. Since then I have
followed Arsenal, first by keeping an eye on the papers for news of them, and
then in IITG, by watching them regularly.

Anyway, I digress. I intended to talk about the books. After reading *Fever
Pitch*, I felt that the best follow-up would be reading Richard Sanders'
*Beastly Fury: The Strange Birth of British Football* once again. In many ways,
*Beastly Fury* mirrors *Fever Pitch*. Nick is a fan of The Arsenal, Richard a
fan of the enemy, Tottenham Hotspur. Nick's book is an intimately personal one,
it's about him and Arsenal. Richard's book is about football itself, it is
impersonal. It's very interesting, getting to know the early history of
football. For example, I always thought the offside law was some reaction to
stop players from loitering near the goal, and the change from requiring three
defenders between you and the goal to two was meant to help attacking football.
I was correct about the latter, but about the former, not so much.

Or things like why Chapman and his WM revolutionized things so much. I knew that
the first international was played with 9 forwards on one side and 8 forwards on
the other. But then you read about people considering passing "unmanly". Why
*Roog-by* (:P) has *Roogby* league and *Roogby* union. An anecdote in the book:
Alfred Lyttelton's mother complains to Charles Alcock that she's afraid one day
Lyttelton will come home with a broken leg. Alcock reassures her that if he
does, it won't be his own. And I had always assumed that an amateur was someone
who wasn't good enough, as compared to a professional. I hadn't thought that
professional had more to do with profession than with being good, despite being
a programmer - and that is one field where many amateurs are a sight better than
many "professionals". The original football clubs - they were all amateur.

Footballers' wages - back then people were amazed at footballers being paid a
few pounds a week (the average earnings of a skilled worker then) and now we are
amazed at footballers earning a ten thousand times what most people are paid. It
also shows how some things remain the same, no matter how much other things
change. The first keeper to Preston North End was racially abused in the press
as soon as his form dipped. People only died playing Rugby. So of course a few
career-ending tackles in football is okay.

Hmmm… After my second time through *Beastly Fury*, assuming *Stillness and
Speed* is delivered soon, I'd be reading my next football book. And hopefully by
then the hostel field will be in a condition fit for play. And I'll be playing
kick-and-rush again. :)
