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Hindustan Times
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
HT Kick Off: Why Brian Glanville is football's man of letters
Anyone who has written or read a word on football in English owes a debt of gratitude to Brian Glanville, who died on Friday aged 93. The late Patrick Barclay, an excellent writer on the beautiful game and an even better raconteur, as I found out on a cold, sunny afternoon in Munich in 2011, was speaking for his tribe when he wrote: 'Most football writers fall into two categories: those who have been influenced by Brian Glanville, and those who should have been.' This is in my copy of the 2010 edition of Glanville's opus, 'The Story of the World Cup.' Glanville had been to 13 of those but it was in 1973 that he had decided to chronicle in a book what is now the most watched sporting event on the planet. For technical and tactical insight, background information and summary of each edition, it remains a must-have. You can also read it for its wonderful, if occasionally pungent, prose. Here's a nugget: 'Overall, despite the abominable conditions, the 1970 World Cup had been a marvellous triumph of the positive over the negative, the creative over the destructive. The Final itself took on the dimensions almost of an allegory.' Glanville was a prolific writer whose oeuvre included short stories, novels, plays, musicals and the screenplay for Goal!, the film on the 1966 World Cup that went on to win a Bafta. But it was the world of football writing that Glanville, an Arsenal supporter, straddled for over 50 years. Be it the fiercely opinionated columns in World Soccer, obituaries in The Guardian (it has been compiled as a book), match reports, books or investigative pieces. Brian understood football, Pat Jennings has said. Proof of the respect he had among managers came in an anecdote shared by my colleague N. Ananthanarayanan. Ananth, as the HT sports team calls him, was at the press conference after a Chelsea-Blackburn game when Mark Hughes was explaining to the media how they had shackled Frank Lampard. 'Brian had a long notebook, like the ones used by accountants of yesteryear, and no sooner had Mark said this, we heard the rustling of pages,' he said. 'As per my notes', Glanville began, and immediately Hughes said, 'Brian, I am not saying Lampard had played badly'.' No one loved football like him but Glanville's acerbic wit spared none either. England had beaten Germany in Berlin in 2008, a first in 35 years, but after due tribute to the team and their head coach Fabio Capello, with whom Glanville went back a long way, Glanville wrote that the Italian had gambled on three players (Stewart Downing, Matthew Upson and Scott Carson), 'won his bet on two of them (Downing and Upson) and lost embarrassingly on the other.' In an earlier issue of World Soccer, he wrote: 'Andorra apart, England's form under the wretched Steve McClaren was such that almost any opponent could be a menace.' Gareth Southgate was described as 'a one-paced centre-back' and Vladimir Putin as 'draconian, virtual Tsar of new Russia.' The suits at FIFA Glanville didn't like and he made it known in no uncertain terms. 'Yes, we all know about the corruption of FIFA, inevitable from the moment Joao Havelange unseated Stanley Rous as president in 1974, initiating an appalling 24 years of chicanery. It remined one of the saying from 18th-century English philosopher Edmund Burke that 'for evil to triumph, it is enough for good men to do nothing.' (World Soccer, January 2015). After Andrew Jennings's exposé on corruption in high places in FIFA, Glanville described its executive committee as one that included reprobates. In his mind, there was no doubt that Qatar had 'plainly bought' the 2022 World Cup. It was with 'shameless pomposity,' Glanville said, that an FA chief executive had said that no Englishman met the requirements of the England head coach's job. This was before Capello's appointment. For him, the Premier League was a 'Greed in Good League', one whose ownership rules were so 'fatuously lax' that Hitler or Mao could have owned clubs because neither had a criminal conviction. Equally, there was fulsome praise for players. Bruno Fernandes would be a good investment for Manchester United, Glanville had presciently said. Even at 17, Pele was 'superbly muscled goal scorer par excellence, gymnastically agile and resilient, a tantalising juggler of the ball' with a fine right foot and extraordinary temperament (The Story Of The World Cup). Patrick Vieira, at his 'dynamic, athletic, long-legged best' , Glanville wrote for World Soccer, would be a hard act to follow for Arsenal. Paul Gascoigne had the 'attention span of a gnat' off the pitch, Glanville wrote, but 'was he a great player? I would emphatically say yes.' My first World Cup assignment was also his last. It was Ratul Ghosh, the former sports editor of the Bangla daily Bartaman, who did the introductions in the cafeteria at the media centre in Gelsenkirchen. Portugal-Mexico was about to kick-off so Glanville, then a sprightly 76, did the several flights of stairs to the media tribune with us. He paused, not to catch his breath, but to state that accuracy of his deliveries and free-kicks notwithstanding, David Beckham was a one-trick pony.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Brian Glanville, journalist lauded as ‘the greatest football writer', dies aged 93
Brian Glanville, whose insightful football writing had a profound influence on generations of reporters and readers alike, has died aged 93. A novelist and respected columnist, Glanville was a prolific commentator on his beloved game, a passionate chronicler of Italian football and author of some of football's most influential books. He spent 30 years as a football correspondent for the Sunday Times, contributed to World Soccer magazine for more than five decades, and wrote compelling obituaries for the Guardian. His most recently published tributes considered the careers of Northern Ireland and Aston Villa winger Peter McParland and the Manchester United legend Denis Law. A lifelong Arsenal fan, his first book – with the Gunners winger Cliff Bastin – was published in 1950 and he was still writing about the north London club decades later, his final work a history of Highbury published in 2006. Glanville's The Story of the World Cup is considered a seminal work on the global tournament, and other books, such as The Puffin Book of Football, fostered a lifelong devotion to the sport for many young readers. He won admirers in the US long before the game enjoyed a wider following there, and Sports Illustrated's Paul Zimmerman called him 'the greatest football writer of all time'. As well as numerous novels and short stories, two plays and a musical, he produced the screenplay for the 1967 documentary Goal! World Cup 1966, and saw Sir John Gielgud play the lead in a BBC radio production of his A Visit to the Villa. His eye for the global game in the 1960s and 70s especially earned Glanville a place on the jury for the annual Ballon d'Or. Glanville had a good relationship with England's World Cup winning captain, Bobby Moore, but was acerbically critical of the national team's managers, and pulled no punches when it came to Sir Alf Ramsey, the victor in 1966 but whose reputation was tarnished by the team's failure in the heat of the Mexico tournament four years later. 'I have all sorts of amusing memories of Alf Ramsey, but he was a very strange man,' Glanville once recalled. 'He should have gone two years before he did. He'd blown it. He'd gone. He'd shot his bolt. I got on very well with Walter Winterbottom, but he was a rotten manager. Bobby Robson was grotesquely overrated. I thought he was a very inadequate manager and he failed so badly in Europe. He made a shocking job of it. He had a lot of luck. We nearly reached the World Cup final in 1990, but that was luck more than judgment.' Andrew Neil, among Glanville's editors at the Sunday Times, posted on X: 'Brian Glanville was indeed a true great. One of the brightest assets during my 11 years editing The Sunday Times. One of the greatest ever football writers.' The Guardian's former chief sports writer Richard Williams also paid tribute on social media, saying: 'RIP Brian Glanville, 93, maestro of the football stadium press box (and purveyor of truly awful jokes).' Tim Vickery, the BBC's South American football correspondent, added on X: 'I owe a huge debt to this man. A True giant of our trade, a mighty source of internacionalist inspiration. RIP Brian Glanville.' Brian Glanville, football writer and author. Born 24 September, 1931. Died 16 May, 2025
Irish Independent
17-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Brian Glanville, the ‘doyen of football writers' dies, aged 93
Glanville was the football correspondent for the Sunday Times for 30 years and contributed to World Soccer magazine for five decades. His first book, with Arsenal winger Cliff Bastin, was published in 1950, while his most recently published works included obituaries of Manchester United forward Denis Law and Northern Ireland winger Peter McParland earlier this year. Glanville was perhaps best known for his book 'The Story of the World Cup', first published in 1993 and regularly updated since. He was also a novelist, and in all wrote 31 books. News of his death was announced by his son Mark late on Friday evening. The Sports Journalists Association said in a statement: "The SJA sends its deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Brian Glanville, the 'doyen of football writers' whose many books - including the essential 'The Story of the World Cup' - continue to bring so much insight, knowledge and joy to fans everywhere. RIP Brian."
Toronto Sun
08-05-2025
- Health
- Toronto Sun
Ontario reports 197 new measles cases as virus spreads across Canada
The province's tally of probable and confirmed cases is now 1,440 since an outbreak began in October Published May 08, 2025 • Last updated 5 minutes ago • 1 minute read The rash-like symptom from the measles virus. File Health officials say measles infected 197 more people in Ontario over the last week as the highly contagious disease emerged in new parts of the country. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account That brings the province's tally of probable and confirmed cases to 1,440 since an outbreak began in October. Public Health Ontario's measles report says there have been 101 hospitalizations, including 75 children. Eight patients have been in intensive care. Nova Scotia and Northwest Territories each reported measles cases earlier this week, marking their first since this outbreak began. Alberta reported yesterday that its overall case count had reached nearly 300 since mid-March, including three patients under the age of 18 in intensive care. Saskatchewan updated its cumulative count to 27 cases today, a day after Manitoba reported it had reached 24 cases. Measles has mostly infected unvaccinated children, infants and teenagers, with almost 500 cases in Ontario's southwestern public health unit. World Soccer Toronto Maple Leafs Columnists Canada
