Price: £9.99 - £11.99
(as of Mar 07, 2026 17:22:03 UTC – Details)
Football before it was an industry.
A working-class novel about labour, loyalty, and the price of belonging.
Ages of Football by Dan E. Smith tells the story of the people who built the game – and what was lost when it changed – a working-class football novel rooted in realism rather than nostalgia. Spanning generations, it follows Arthur Groves and his son John, professional players shaped not by academies or branding but by labour, insecurity, and the narrow chances offered to talented boys from ordinary towns.
This is football as work, not fantasy: short contracts, damaged bodies, family pressure, and the quiet fear of failure. The novel moves between terraces, dressing rooms, and domestic life, treating football as part of a wider social history rather than an escape from it.
Clear-eyed and unsentimental, Ages of Football asks who the game was really for — and who paid the price as it became something else. For readers who believe football’s soul lives with its communities, not its owners, this is an honest, resonant story of class, loyalty, and loss in the modern era.
ASIN : B0G2ZYV733
Publisher : Independently published
Publication date : 25 Nov. 2025
Language : English
Print length : 513 pages
ISBN-13 : 979-8270182243
Item weight : 857 g
Dimensions : 15.24 x 3.28 x 22.86 cm
Best Sellers Rank: 1,253,087 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) 2,380 in British Football Clubs 2,488 in Football Biographies (Books) 4,939 in Football Clubs
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