The Football Association 1863-1883: A Source Book – Tony Brown

Outline As the title suggests, the author of this book has consulted a variety of old sources to commit to paper the earliest history of the Football Association. That history does not, incidentally, start in 1863, the year the FA was established, but way earlier. Long before 1863 there were many sets of rules and […]

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Twee keer geel is rood (Two yellows make a red) – John Blankenstein

Outline Twice I had the pleasure of meeting in person John Blankenstein, who passed away nine years ago, almost to the day. He was an insightful, empathic man, who chose his words carefully but managed to work some humour in there anyway. He carried this characteristic over into this small book, using this medium to […]

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Masterclass for Soccer Officials – Stanley Lover

Outline A former referee, FIFA referees instructor in all six football confederations and chairman of the London Referees Association, Stanley Lover enjoyed the respect of many throughout the latter part of the 20th century. Not least because he also authored many refereeing classics, including Soccer Match Control, an excellent book which not only explains the […]

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Referees’ Charts

Who do you turn to when you need to know about the laws of association football? Pundits and commentators on the telly? Don’t make me laugh! Of course, you can always go online (or tweet me!). But the standard reference book for the Laws of the Game is the Referees’ Chart and Players’ Guide to […]

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One more then

Thanks to Stephen from @collectfootball, I can now add a fourth language to my ever-growing collection of refereeing publications. This one is a booklet from 1947, printed in what was then still the USSR: Futbol: Pravila Igry It’s small, but isn’t it so that the greatest things come in small packages? Oh, it deals with the […]

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More new books

I’ve received a few more books over the past few days. Here they are: You Are The Ref: The Ultimate Illustrated Guide to the Laws of Football by Paul Trevillion and Keith Hackett (2010) Diary of a New Referee by Fez Barnard (2012) and the 1942 Dutch version of the Laws of the Game: De […]

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