Whose Game Is It Anyway?: Football, Life, Love & Loss

by Michael Calvin

Football has never seemed so distant from its fans. Many have been alienated by the greed and shameless self-interest of the Premier League, and no one can predict how the global game will look post-pandemic. In Whose Game Is It Anyway?, Sunday Times best-selling author Michael Calvin searches for a reason to believe. Written at the height of the Covid-19 crisis, the book is a thought-provoking, deeply personal account of the role sport – and particularly football – plays in everyday life. Part memoir, part manifesto, it takes the reader on a tour of the world's greatest sporting occasions and into its outposts in sub-Saharan Africa, the Amazon Basin and the Southern Ocean. Drawn from Calvin's experience as an award-winning sportswriter, covering every major sports event over 40 years in more than 80 countries, it offers first-hand insight into such icons as Muhammad Ali, Maradona and Sir Bobby Charlton. With settings ranging from a jungle clearing to a township in apartheid South Africa, this is sport as you've never seen it before.

Genres: Football, Sports, Nonfiction

331 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 19, 2021

Reviews

[Mac · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all the title is a bit of a misnomer - this dips pretty regularly into non-football territory, which is fine. This just largely didn't click with me and I can't articulate. Maybe it's because, in spite of all my Anglophilia, I remain resolutely not-English. It's mostly beautifully written, occassionally swerving into maudlin. Maybe I just don't care enough about Watford? But I hate Millwall, and his book on them was a masterpiece. I don't know. Disconnected.

[Steve Chilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike his other books, Calvin this time is writing partly about himself, his work and his relationship with football (and other sports) over the years. Whilst enjoying the read, I did find his viewpoint overly sentimental at times. It is good though on the effect of the Covid pandemic on the sport.

[Jonny Brick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ours, is the short answer. Panoramic view on football from a fan of the game. More personal than his other books but with the same vigour and humanity. Very good on Bury, Wimbledon, Graham Taylor and the geniuses who played the game.

[Martin Rogers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very easy to read, but found it mainly an autobiography with some musings on the game.

[David Macnamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started off really not liking it as it was as much a memoir than an actual commentary but grew into it.