Using largely untapped local press and archive sources, five of these six essays trace the historical emergence of a professionalised sport out of the family of pastimes that were traditional 'football.'The final historical essay recounts the 'Crook Town affair, a once-famous 1920s 'shamateurist' football scandal in County Durham.
A Fateful Love unpicks the intricate complexities of football's origins and rapid commercialization in a way that not only explains the past but also illuminates current debates about the meaning of the game. Combining mastery of the archive, deft theoretical insights, and the feeling for the game of a lifelong fan, Gavin Kitching's new book is an important contribution to our understanding of how and why football became so important to so many people. (Tony Collins, author of Sport in Capitalist Society and How Football Began)
CONTENTS: From Time Immemorial: The Alnwick Shrovetide Football Match and the Continual Remaking of Tradition 1828-1890 - What's in a Name? Playing Football in the Mid-Victorian North-East - Mercutio and Friends: The Press and the Commercialisation of North-Eastern Football 1885-1892 - Shamaterurism, Corruption and Prejudice on the Eve of Professionalism: The Sunderland AFC/Sunderland Albion Split of 1888 - The Curiously Contorted Class Struggle: Crook Town FC, the Durham Football Association, and the FA, 1927-1933 - Conclusions: Football as a Commodity.