The Football Scholars Forum’s last session of 2017 took place on December 7.
Author and journalist Anthony Clavane discussed his splendid book, Promised Land: A Northern Love Story, which won the 2011 UK Sports Book of the Year award.
Part memoir, part social history, part fútbology, Promised Land is as much about Leeds (the city) as it is about Leeds United (the club). In the publisher’s words: “This is a book about football. It’s about unconditional love for a club, even when it doesn’t always seem to love you back. But it is also a book about much more than that.”
The FSF discussion revolved around the themes of belonging, community, and identity. Football cannot be adequately understood, Clavane’s work shows, without thinking deeply about the social, economic, political, and cultural underpinnings of sport. Leeds and United lent themselves quite well to this kind of analysis, as they embodied broader transformations in English football and society.
Listen to an audio recording of the session here and read live tweets here.
The Football Scholars Forum’s next online gathering takes place on February 23, 2018 (2pm ET). It will explore documentary film as a medium for stories about soccer. For additional information and to participate, click here.
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