The Beautiful Poetry of Football Commentary

Description

Charlie Eccleshare is a football journalist for The Athletic, mainly covering Tottenham Hotspur. He joined in 2019 after five years writing about football and tennis at The Telegraph. He is a co-host of the Football Cliches podcast which explores the glorious and unique language of football.

Madeira, Manchester, Madrid, Turin and Manchester again.
Wreathed in red.
Resorted to this greater gallery of the game.
A walking work of art.
Vintage.
Beyond valuation, beyond forgery or imitation.
18 years since that trembling teenager of touch and tease, first tiptoed on this storied stage;
Now in his immaculate maturity;
CR7 – Reunited.
Peter Drury on Christiano RonaldoWhen you think of many of the most iconic moments in football, it often isn’t just the images that play in your head. Usually, they are accompanied by an ingenious line of commentary, perfectly capturing the moment with a few choice words. From the upper-class voice prosaically describing events on the pitch from the days before television, to the hyperbolic screeching of today’s broadcasts, the commentator is an intrinsic part of our football-watching experience and, in many ways, they are the poets of our time. Yes, really.
From Peter Drury’s eloquent monologues to Robbie Savage’s savaging of the English language, the beautiful game has given us some poetic, and not so poetic, lines of commentary throughout the ages.
This book takes snippets of iconic commentary from football commentators, both good and bad, from various football matches in different eras of English football and present them as poems with accompanying analysis that Craig Shakespeare would be proud of!

An essential stocking-filler for anyone that loves the beautiful words that accompany the beautiful game.

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