Is football really a game?

January 22, 1989: The San Francisco 49ers edge out the Cincinnati Bengals 20-16 to become the National Football League champions at Super Bowl XXIII at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, Florida. read more

Football, and I take it as Association Football is a game but at it highest echelons it is fundamentally entertainment, and part of the entertainment industry. read more

Or rather, perhaps that many people can be wrong – a lot of people voted twice for George W Bush – but they can't all be imagining the power of football. A game it may be, but like it or not, its traditions, eccentricities and caprices have made it the most successful game ever devised by humans: and I include Hungry Hungry Hippos in that. read more

There is a story that Charles Wreford-Brown, an official in the Football Association, was once asked by some university friends to play a game of “rugger” with them. Making a play on that word, he told them that he’d rather play “soccer” instead. read more