For the love of the beautiful game

Oct 24 2007 by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post

Says Hunter: “Well, boys of all ages, but also girls, as although the original books were for boys, these days football is the number one sport for girls. It’s certainly not just for granddads like me, but also eight or nine-year-olds, so I tried to write it as simply and clearly as possible.”

He also includes a football serial about a youngster starting off his career called Wayne Wright, a double coded reference to Hunter’s previous best-selling biographies on Wayne Rooney and Lakeland writer Alfred Wainwright.

“I’m not sure about doing fiction, as I wrote five novels years ago, but gave up because I’m not very good. It seemed necessary, though. Those boys’ annuals carried serial and stand-alone stories of thousands of words in small print, and I wanted to get back to that.”

In Hunter’s defence, I should add that he has written some very successful screenplays for films, including an adaptation of his novel Here We Go, Round the Mulberry Bush.

The book’s genesis was an approach a few years ago from publisher Anthony Cheetham, who asked him to write a World Cup Book, including the likes of best goals and best players.

“I turned it down as I was too busy, but he left an open invitation to call if I ever had a football book idea,” says Hunter.

“In spite of my dedication to the words, this is still an illustrated book and you can’t imagine the amount of effort the picture layouts required to make it work.

“The footballing subjects covered by the book just grew. Should we cover the world? We did this by featuring the world’s greatest players. Should we cover Scotland – which I thought we had to,” says Hunter who, although brought up in Carlisle, was born in Scotland.

To his frustration, he was limited in covering the season prior to publication, but he is very pleased to have included a complete section on the new Wembley Stadium.

There are some old favourites like Hunter’s well-known interview with the “very shy, quiet boy of 19” George Best, in 1965, which includes quotations like: “I don’t drink or smoke.”

Best adds: “Perhaps on a rare occasion, I might have a lager. Then it gets back to the boss, Mr Busby, that you’re drunk.

“I would like to have a flat on my own. But the boss thinks there might be temptation. Perhaps when I’m 21. I’ve no complaints, I like my landlady.”

There is a method to this, as Hunter thinks that overall things don’t really change and the same topics keep reappearing.

“I’m very fond of a lot of the old cartoons, because they’re so witty. For example, from Laughs in Short Pants, we’ve reproduced drawings of how the goal appears to the penalty-taker and the goalkeeper. These humorous insights are all about grappling with the psychology of the game, which never changes.

“Football links all ages, nationalities, men and women. Our opinions and memories are as valid as anybody else’s. It’s a great equaliser.”

* THE Bumper Book of Football, by Hunter Davies, Quercus Sport Books, £19.99.

peter.elson@dailypost.co.uk

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