Yorkshire Turf Wars
In the fourth book in the acclaimed Turf Wars series, veteran journalist and broadcaster Steve Tongue chronicles the competitive history of football in Yorkshire.
Sports-mad Yorkshire is proud to be the home of football, the birthplace of the world's oldest independent club as long ago as 1857. So the turf wars began earlier than anywhere else, often with bad blood spilt when Sheffield FC took on neighbouring Hallam. Fierce rivalries that remain to this day emerged among two new Sheffield clubs, Wednesday and United, plus Doncaster Rovers, Rotherham United and early FA Cup winners Barnsley; then in West Riding's Bradford, Leeds and Huddersfield.
After a national Football League was founded, the county had at least one team in the top division from 1892 for the next 90 years, capable of winning the English game's biggest honours.
This book charts the ever-changing fortunes of one of the great football regions, with a colourful cast of famous players and managers, plus some infamous owners.
Journalist and broadcaster Steve Tongue watched his first Midlands match at Highfield Road, Coventry, in 1957 and has followed the game avidly ever since. He was the founder of FOUL, the first football fanzine, and as the football correspondent of LBC and the Independent on Sunday and football producer of BBC Radio, he covered nine World Cups and nine European Championships, plus two Olympic Games.