Chapter 10: The Football Association's ‘new course' regarding close season tours, 1938–1939
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: During the late 1930s, Britons still believed that they remained masters of the football world, given England’s results playing Germany in Berlin (1938) and Italy in Milan (1939). By contrast, the performances overseas of touring Football League teams did not always proclaim British primacy on the world screen. As Secretary of the Football Association (F.A.), Stanley Rous aimed to uphold Britain’s global footballing primacy in the fast-changing footballing world, and in 1938 he proved instrumental in the F.A.’s adoption of revised stricter regulatory procedures for foreign tours. Arguably, further progress on the tours’ issue required Football League clubs to play foreign fixtures in the playing season, when British players were still in peak condition, not the close season, alongside the introduction of win bonuses to encourage players on tour to replace holiday mindsets with play hard mode.
Source: Soccer and Society
Author: Peter J. Beck
Institution: Kingston University London
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4414102469