The World’s First Football Superstar - The Life of Stephen Smith

The World’s First Football Superstar - The Life of Stephen Smith written

by Owen Arthur and published by Pen & Sword Books - £25 - Hardback -

Pages 296

Buried in an unmarked grave in the churchyard of the small village of Benson in

Oxfordshire lies the body of a footballing world champion from a bygone era

shrouded in the mists of time. His name was Stephen Smith. This footballer of

the Victorian and Edwardian era could claim as many league title winning medals

as John Terry and Wayne Rooney, more league winners medals than Eric Cantona,

Frank Lampard, Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry and Alan Shearer.

This book is the never before told story of a footballer born at the end of the Industrial Revolution, son of agricultural labourers who became a miner, working underground combining that job with one as a professional footballer to rise to the top of the footballing world. Smith won trophy after trophy in the best and only professional league anywhere in the world at that time. He also scored the goal that made England World Champions in 1895.

Smith, at the top of his game in a move that mirrored the Premier League breakaway of 1992 and the recent ill-fated European Super League then joined the newly formed Southern League at a time when the Football League started to cap player wages. He did this in order to ensure his family’s future as well as end his reliance on his part-time earnings from mining. Football’s zeitgeist has fundamentally changed very little in the last 130 years for those inside the industry.

This book is the story of Stephen Smith, England’s leading footballer at the turn of the 19th century, this man would have been the equivalent of the likes of Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Having the world at his feet, he was playing at a number of clubs and England, winning a plethora of trophies. Pen & Sword Books always exposes my knowledge of sporting history because I think like many, very few will have heard of Stephen Smith. But his story is interesting to learn and if anything makes me wish we could have some more of him present today. A really good book and makes me think about how good football used to be.

Carmen Pomies

Carmen Pomies - Football Legend & Heroine written by Chris Rowe and

published by Pen & Sword Books - £25.00 - Hardback - Pages 240

Carmen Pomiès (1900-1982) is a significant figure in the history of women’s football in the interwar years. Carmen was in the first generation of women’s sport in France, first in athletics, winning medals throwing the javelin in international competitions, and playing football for Fémina Sports and France from 1920. Her life in sport is intertwined with key personalities such as Alice Milliat and Violette Morris.

Carmen also played a huge part in the story of women’s football in England: she played many times for and against the famous Dick, Kerr Ladies of Preston, including their 1922 football tour of the United States. Carmen became almost an honorary Englishwoman, making lifelong friends of important footballers such as Florrie Redford, Lily Parr and Lizzy Ashcroft. During these years, Carmen was not only a player but also an important influence in promoting the game and fighting for equality. Carmen also had fascinating siblings: her brother Georges was a film star and famous modern dancer who died tragically young, her older sister Hélène was a left-wing author and translator.

From 1940 Carmen was secretary to a famous film star, Renée Saint-Cyr, and was active in the French Resistance. In 1946, she settled in Rochester NY before moving to New York to work for the United Nations. From 1956, her life is shrouded in mystery because of gaps in the evidence. She died in France in 1982. So her life is about much more than just football.

Carmen Pomies was a figure I must admit to never hearing of previous to reading this interesting book. A woman of real character and who was you argue a forerunner for women in being able to achieve and doing what they wanted. I have to say at this point that the number of and standard of sporting books particularly football both women and men is very high and incredibly interesting, as a football, I fan I am loving all about these new sporting characters I have little or no knowledge of. They really show there was a time when sporting people were leaders and strived to achieve goals for others to follow.

It turns out that Carmen Pomies, a young woman from France was it seems a very good, high achieving athlete of note taking part in field events notably the javelin and athletics, and then, later on, she moved on to football playing regularly for Femina Sports and internationally as she was particularly well known in England too. We learn that during the outbreak of the Second World War she was having to live under German occupation but she then got involved with the French Resistance to support the French cause. What a fascinating woman and a very well written book, it’s a book that leaves you wanting to meet her and ask her lots of questions yourself.

Football’s Great War

Football’s Great War written by Dr Alexander Jackson and published by

Pen & Sword Books - £25.00 - Hardback - Pages 384

As modern football grapples with the implications of a global crisis, this book looks at the

first in the game’s history: The First World War. The game’s structure and fabric faced

existential challenges as fundamental questions were asked about its place and value in

English society. This study explores how conflict reshaped the People’s Game on the

English Home Front.

The wartime seasons saw football's entire commercial model challenged and questioned. In 1915, the FA banned the payment of players, reopening a decades-old dispute between the game's early amateur values and its modern links to the world of capital and lucrative entertainment.

Wartime football forced supporters to consider whether the game should continue, and if so, in what form? Using an array of previously unused sources and images, this book explores how players, administrators and fans grappled with these questions as daily life was continually reshaped by the demands of total war. From grassroots to elite football, players to spectators, gambling to charity work, this study examines the social, economic and cultural impact of what became Football's Great War.

This book in my opinion is certainly an important one and asks the readers a number of questions about the role football plays in society, how much of a role does professionalism play in it and is there a big difference between keeping it in an amateur format or professional. The author of this book is also the Curator at the Football Museum in Manchester, and this certainly shows up well as he is able to draw on many sources and archive material in his writing for the book. I enjoyed the picture section within the book but then I am a football fan, it does seem though that having read a number of football books recently surprising how inept the FA really has been.  I mean they almost ruined Women’s football and had it not been so big it’s lucky they didn’t kill off the men’s game or at least set it back a number of decades. A thoroughly good book and very enjoyable to read, highly recommended and I’m enjoying getting into the sporting history books.