More Than a Game

A History of How Sport Made Britain

By: David Horspool

Narrated by: Ben Deery, David Horspool

Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

The story of how the British shaped sport, and sport shaped the British.

Sport is an enduring element of British life and culture. Few other strands of Britain's history touch on so many significant aspects of past and present: national identity, class, gender, the relationship between country and town, the rise of commerce, the evolution of ethical debate. And that's apart from the on-field action - the triumphs and heartbreaks that have become part of the national narrative.

For a country so obsessed with the invention, playing and watching of sport, the story of how it has come to reflect us remains untold. More Than a Game tracks each game as a driver of social change, a vibrant expression of Britain's identity: horse-racing's obsession with blood and money turned an aristocratic pastime into a national sport; boxing promoted opportunity for ethnic minorities, while simultaneously enforcing a regime of discrimination; golf rehearsed a perennial battle over Britain's landscape; the football fan created a unique, exuberant, often troubled culture at the centre of British life; and the Empire and Commonwealth Games emerged as an unexpected response to the end of the imperial story.

The history of Britain in sport is a history of popular heroes and pantomime villains, of shared and contested passions and loyalties, of winning and losing. More Than a Game captures these iconic stories, revealing how sport has infiltrated every part of British life, from top to bottom, cementing its place as the ultimate theatre of Britain's past, and its present.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 David Horspool (P)2023 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Critic reviews

A superb historical overview of the eternally close and often symbiotic relationship between British sport and British society. Capacious, full of telling detail, unfailingly readable and, perhaps above all, imbued with rock-solid judgment, it deserves to become a classic of sporting literature (David Kynaston)

Absolutely fascinating and completely eye-opening - every page contains a gem. I loved it (Marina Hyde, author of WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!)

A fascinating insight into how sport is both driven by and a driver of societal change (Jonathan Wilson, author of INVERTING THE PYRAMID)