Football, ritual and nostalgia

Football is rarely just about the football. It's about the past and identity and there's an enormous danger the game's present leaders don't recognise that.

My dad watched a lot of films. He had a deep drawer next to the television full of cassettes, each one carefully numbered, with a sheet detailing what was on each one. It would change often, a neat line ruled through the film he had recorded over, the new film noted alongside it. Every few months he would draw up a new sheet. Some films he kept. Tape 7,…