The Football History Boys

The famous class of 1966, led by Bobby Moore What does the year 1966 mean to you? To most British people, football fans or not, 1966 is the year that we constantly hear about every World Cup. The “spirit of ’66”, the year that England did it, actually won the World Cup. So with less than a month before World Cup 2014 kicks off, its time to investigate this famous tournament.  England had treated the World Cup with great piety ever since its beginnings in 1930 . They initially refused to get involved, considering themselves world champions since they invented and codified the sport. This led to matches like the Battle of Highbury where they wished to assert their supremacy against nations who were dominating such as Italy. The FA decided to get involved with FIFA in the first post-war competition, Brazil 1950. Historian Matthew Taylor, sees this as significant for boosting the international profile of the British game as previously it had been seen as self-obsessed and introve

It has been almost two months since I last put together a piece for The Football History Boys, due to dissertation and exam commitments, but at last we are free and the blogging can resume! Throughout our 18 month existence we have written frequently about the history of football in Wales, be it the Cardiff City rebrand , the rise of Swansea or the legacy of the 1958 World Cup . However, to date we have not written about the female side of the Welsh game. Women's football has once again become the centre of attention with the kick-off of the WSL and the controversial emails of a certain Richard Scudamore. Despite minor setbacks the WSL has produced an abundance of new talent, like Manchester City's Toni Duggan, Liverpool's Lucy Bronze and Bristol Academy's Welsh international Angharad James. James for one has become integral to the rise of her national side over the last two seasons, a side which looks, for the first time, set to compete with the major players of