Publisher Description

As a universal game, association football has been particularly suited to the transfer of labour forces. It does not require the use of a specific national language, a recognized diploma or acquired qualification, and the rules are standardized across the globe. Thus the international football market could be considered an ideal example of a transnational and multicultural employment sector. Role models throughout the history of professional football have not necessarily come from the town, nation, racial group or religious denomination of the majority of supporters, as is seen in the cases of Maradona in Naples, the German Bert Trautmann after the Second World War, and more recently the Frenchman Eric Cantona in Manchester, the Cameroonese Milla in France, and the Argentinian Di Stefano in Madrid. Football provides a particularly revealing lens through which to examine changes in national styles and stereotypes as they have been (and still are) reflected in the search for identities in sporting heroes.In this book, the authors consider the movement of football labour from the late nineteenth-century to the present day within the framework of international migration as a whole. Emphasis is given to the initial role of the British in the early twentieth century and the impact of the earliest South American and Yugoslav football 'wanderers'. The position of African footballers in the postwar period and the failure of America's national league in the 1970s are also discussed, along with the international market for coaches and managers, the development of national playing styles and the immediate consequences and future implications of the Bosman ruling.

Notes

Also available in hardback, 9781859733028 GBP50.00 (January, 2001)

Author Biography

Pierre Lanfranchi De Montfort University Matthew Taylor Univerity of Portsmouth

Review

'Professional footballers have always been on the move not only between cities but between countries. This pioneering book illuminates a neglected process and also provides a most satisfying read.'Professor Tony Mason, De Montfort University'New books fly off the presses with amazing regularity. Rarely however does a new football book achieve as much as Moving with the Ball. It approaches football from a remarkably new perspective and, as we might expect from such serious scholars of the game, Moving with the Ball is both historically grounded and sociologically alert. It is the first real story of the players and their migrations; the men who have made the game what it is today. Written in a deft style, here is a book which will appeal to specialist and general reader alike. It is, at once, original and provocative, and will provide an opportunity for subsequent scholars and readers to re--think the history and the current role of this, the globe's dominant game.'Professor Ja

Promotional

Also available in hardback, 9781859733028 GBP50.00 (January, 2001)

Review Quote

This new offering from Lanfranchi and Taylor on migrant footballers across the world is to be welcomed, as and important, detailed, well-written and refreshing contributioin to knowledge on this aspect of the professional game... [The authors] are to be congratulated for an interesting, original and enjoyable discussion of a part of history that has hereto received relatively little systematic attention.

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