Customer Reviews

Way It Was

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a wonderful memoir.
Stanley Matthews was one of the greatest footballers ever, and in this book tells his story with humour, but without the bravado of our era.
He gives us lovely images of the players of his time, and the games they played.
Makes one wish that one could go back in time.

Stanley Matthews memoir is filled with meticulous details of a bygone era. I'm under the impression that Matthews in British sport must hold a place similar to the way we see some of our baseball legends, something like that. The breadth of detail is in fact a bit cumbersome and at times, maybe dry, I really think the book should be read alongside Matthews' contemporaryTom Finney Autobiography which has a nice easygoing flow to it and is highly readable compared to this one. Still, it easily merits a top rating.

Matthews accounts are of the utmost intimate matters, as an example: playing a Match against Nazi Germany in May, 1938 before a crowd of over 100,000 people in Berlin. The English players actually gave a Nazi salute before the game and there is a famous photograph of this. In this book, you will find out what was going on behind the scenes and I will say here, it was for diplomatic reasons, maybe a bit in the "peace in our time" vein.

You will find out in those early days of International soccer, these fixtures were regarded comparable to the World Cup or Olympic games, whereas some tournaments were boycotted back then or not even attended at all with the ominous signs of war growing in Europe and around the world (One source, Wangerin's "Soccer in a football world" states that the latter is precisely why the USA did not go to the 1938 World Cup). Qualifying for these tournaments must not have been fully developed at this time.

The summer of 1939 saw a similar incident, as the English team went into Milan to play the Italian team, the streets were filled with thousands of well-wishers. In the hotel lobby was a contingent of Maltese fans expressing their support for the 3 Lions buoyed it seems by an uneasy feeling of vulnerability to the Axis powers, Germany and Italy. In this famous game at the San Siro stadium, just like in the 1934 World Cup where referees were suspended for aiding Italy in its wins, this game again, saw farcical refereeing by a German to aid the host team (expounded on brilliantly in articles by the BBC). In reference, the movie Victorywith Pele and Stallone is not really far from the truth in that game it portrays. The game ended 2-2 and the Crown Prince of Italy even sent the English FA a letter offering to reverse the result, there was some sort of controversial goal but the FA accepted the original result without further actions.

Matthews playing in the service during World War II, Matthews receiving a bit more than a pick me up from a doctor during his career when the flu bug bit (sounded like he was describing an amphetamine like product which he claims was done only one time or so) and in fact, even Matthews playing until he was seventy years old and yes, retiring due to injury are all covered in this book along with apparently Matthews being a bit of a health nut way back in the day, maintaining a healthy diet and not drinking. One will also read of other major sports figures of the day, Dixie Dean the scoring-machine and of course, one reads of Matthews professional career mainly with Stoke City and Blackpool

The editorial reviews above reads: "'A gracefully crafted autobiography filled with entertaining anecdotes reflecting an age when the game was uncorrupted by greed and hooliganism' -- Birmingham Post

Okay, basically right but it was not uncorrupted as before a players' union was set up in England, the owners were the benefactors of much of the revenue and players were largely chattel

An extraordinary memoir found in these pages is the account of the Burnden (fire) stadium tragedy which demonstrates that events like Hillborough were not the first time events like this that had marred the sports scene though it seems to largely be the last time an event of that magnitude happened. A need for change was seen necessary for the general safety of the public.

I upped this to 5 stars because though, it is long and detailed, it really serves also as a very valuable reference in addition to being the autobiography of a man who Pele says "showed us how to do it."