Football's Great War: Association Football on the English Home Front, 1914-1918

As modern football grapples with the implications of a global crisis, this book looks at first in the game’s history: The First World War. The game’s structure and fabric faced existential challenges as fundamental questions were asked about its place and value in English society. This study explores how conflict reshaped the People’s Game on the English Home Front.

The wartime seasons saw football's entire commercial model challenged and questioned. In 1915, the FA banned the payment of pla...