All of us loved Tony Collins’ The Oval World: A Global History of Rugby. That’s why we were so excited to hear that Collins was involved with another title, How Football Began: A Global History of How the World’s Football Codes Were Born.
This Routledge offering is a great title, a deep look into the history of football. You’ll see how football started and evolved into several variations: soccer, rugby league, rugby union, American, Australian, Canadian, and Gaelic. What started as a haphazard group of crude games has evolved into some of the world’s most popular sports.
It’s an amazing journey that will take you all over the world and through almost 200 years of history. It’s an easy read at 207 pages, which includes an index and an extensive bibliography. There are 21 chapters, each one a concise story of football lore.
It was nice to see Collins touch on all the sport’s variations, providing detail on each. It was just the right amount of content. There wasn’t too much information to be overwhelming; yet there was plenty to get the point across.
In the end, How Football Began: A Global History of How the World’s Football Codes Were Born will be enjoyed by many, including history buffs and football fans. It will be known as the definitive text on the early history of football.
