Mark Metcalf’s The Origins of the Football League is one of the most fascinating soccer books I have ever read. Metcalf’s diligent research gives us a firsthand look into the first season of England’s Football League, something that truly revolutionized the sport of soccer. You hear about the challenges faced by those early footballers and the journalists that followed them. Uneven pitches, sketchy weather, unforgiving equipment, pitch invasions, uncertain referees, the list goes on and on. But