Football City, event on London's football past and present featuring @joshbland13.bsky.social @oritgat.bsky.social and Simon Inglis @playedinbritain.bsky.social, hosted @ltmuseumfriends.bsky.social on 10 Sept: thehttps://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/talks/football-city-london-and-beautiful-game

Football city: London and the beautiful game | London Transport Museum

Join us for a panel discussion on how London shapes and is shaped by football.

ltmuseum.co.uk

What is football heritage? ⚽ As @fairgameuk.bsky.social Director of Research, I’m exploring how football heritage should be understood and protected under the new regulatory system. But we need supporters to tell us what matters. Take our 5-minute survey: cambridge.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Sincerely hope that this is the end of Gianni Infantino. If it is, I've written a cathartic obituary to his disgraceful ten years at the helm of FIFA. Goodbye Gianni. You really were the worst of us. READ: joshbland.substack.com/p/gianni-inf...

Gianni Infantino: A Premature Obituary

On hubris, heritage and the apparent death of Gianni Infantino’s FIFA presidency.

joshbland.substack.com

Some words in @theconversation.com on Infantino and FIFA's so-called "democratisation" of football. As the World Cup hangs by a thread, this craven powerplay must be met by Super League levels of fury from supporters, UEFA and anyone who cares about football. theconversation.com/gianni-infan...

Gianni Infantino wants to sell the World Cup – but it’s not his to sell

The game belongs to the fans. Fifa would do well to remember that.

theconversation.com

Very excited about my first ever piece for @museumsassociation.org! Football’s heritage doesn’t belong to FIFA, sponsors or corporate storytellers. It is created by supporters - and museums must resist reducing it to a sanitised spectacle. Read here 👇 www.museumsassociation.org/museums-jour...

Museums must avoid reducing football into a sanitised corporate spectacle - Museums Association

How should museums engage with the beautiful game, asks football fandom expert Josh Bland

museumsassociation.org

As the World Cup came to an end last night, so too the tournament produced it's defining image. A cultural review of this flawed tournament and how the depressing realities of modern football and MAGA America kept straying into frame despite the beauty. joshbland.substack.com/p/breaking-t...

Breaking the Immersion

How this World Cup's crowning moment is a perfect metaphor for a flawed tournament.

joshbland.substack.com

Some words on last night's England heartbreak. It's not about tactics, but narrative. Specifically, I discuss the central continuity that defines English football: pain. theconversation.com/england-defe...

England defeat: maybe football’s never ‘coming home’

The English are bonded over an ever growing list of football disappointments.

theconversation.com

I've (rightfully) spent a lot of time being critical of this World Cup and its politics. But having just returned from the US, I wanted to write a more hopeful piece on the resilient joy of a World Cup. I think it's the best thing I've written. READ: joshbland.substack.com/p/the-world-...

The World Cup Was Never Theirs

Hopeful reflections on a three-week footballing odyssey through the United States

joshbland.substack.com

England face Norway for a World Cup semi-final place tonight. Our FootPol archive with @joshbland13.bsky.social last year explored English football's working-class roots, the idea of "authentic" football and what the Premier League has changed. Worth a listen! 🎧 www.buzzsprout.com/2253650/epis...

A rant for @theconversation.com examining the Balogun red card debacle through the lens of my football heritage research. I show how FIFA’s impunity is distorting three crucial tenets underpinning football culture: fairness, trust and sporting integrity. theconversation.com/world-cups-c...

World Cup’s credibility in question after Fifa volte face following call from Donald Trump

The decision to change the rules because of pressure from the White House will destroy all trust in football’s governing body.

theconversation.com

Some light reading for this lunchtime, direct from across the pond. It’s my take on hydration breaks. What do they mean for the game, and why should the outpouring of anger they have precipitated be cause for hope? READ: open.substack.com/pub/joshblan...

The Tyranny of "Hydration Breaks"

Finding optimism in brazen commercialisation at the World Cup

open.substack.com

Ahead of England’s opening game, I’ve written a piece that dares to dream. I believe football is about the stories that bind us together as supporters. If thats the case, how would a World Cup win change what it is to be an England fan? READ: open.substack.com/pub/joshblan...

What if football came home?

After sixty years of hurt, how would a World Cup win transform the meaning of English football culture?

open.substack.com

In the wake of being told to "chill" and "relax" by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, I re-attach my piece on how FIFA and MAGA are squeezing the joy from this summer's World Cup. joshbland.substack.com/p/searching-...

Searching for World Cup Fever

Is it possible to discover any romance on the eve of this dystopian World Cup?

joshbland.substack.com

Starting my World Cup coverage on Substack with a piece discussing my unease about heading Stateside this summer. Is it possible to experience unproblematic World Cup fever as a supporter? Or is it the tournament itself that is sickly this time around? open.substack.com/pub/joshblan...

Searching for World Cup Fever

Is it possible to discover any romance on the eve of this dystopian World Cup?

open.substack.com

What's this? A hastily thrown together article waxing lyrical about Southampton meeting their commuppence? Go on then. As the governing logic of modern football becomes ever more cynical, surely this moment of justice is one to savour? #spygate READ: joshbland.substack.com/p/saints-to-...

Saints to Sinners

Why Southampton's comeuppance is a moment to savour

joshbland.substack.com

What a night!

Steve Sharman@liberoacademica.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Oldham Athletic 3 Notts County 0 Confession time. I've never tried Bovril. That is until last night when @joshbland13.bsky.social made @sashaclicks.bsky.social and I try it. I will no longer be drinking anything else. Ever. Decent game and atmosphere too. #groundhopping #EFL #Oldham #Latics

Some words on the AFCON debacle from a heritage perspective. My argument is simple: the more footballing outcomes are decided in boardrooms, the more the cultural power of the game is diminished. Read: open.substack.com/pub/joshblan...

A Friday read on a pet passion of mine: RC Lens. I visited Lens in January and discovered that their title charge is so much more than a footballing story. This piece is about deindustrialisation, football and resilience in Northern France. joshbland.substack.com/p/blood-and-...

Blood and Gold: Football and Cultural Resilience in Lens

Why RC Lens' remarkable title charge is so much more than a footballing story.

joshbland.substack.com

A rant from close to the heart. It's in a bruising season to support #wba, I wanted to get something off my chest. Some words on our revolting squad and how their apathy not only threatens our connection to the club we love, but what it means to be Albion. joshbland.substack.com/p/the-hawtho...

The Hawthorns: Where love goes to die

A season of hating to hate the club I love.

joshbland.substack.com

🚨PUBLICATION ALERT: My new piece through @illinoispress.bsky.social , drawing on my PhD research to my vision for the potential and utility of critical academic research on sports heritage. Follow the link below to access! scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jsh/arti...

The “Critical” Need for a Critical Heritage Studies of Sports

Abstract. This article highlights the potential of critical heritage studies (CHS) as a useful tool for sports historians to develop their research at the intersection of contemporary sporting culture...

scholarlypublishingcollective.org

Super piece on #footballtourism from the ever-excellent @joshbland13.bsky.social. I think about this a lot. And will think about it more on the plane as I fly to #Naples next weekend... 👀🏟🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹 #groundhopping #Italy #SerieA joshbland.substack.com/p/the-footba...

The Football Tourism Paradox

Is it possible to authentically experience another football culture?

joshbland.substack.com

A few words on the cultural significance of Macclesfield's remarkable victory yesterday. Reflections on the Cup, continuity and the importance of narrative to the tapestry of English football. Read here: joshbland.substack.com/p/conquering...

Conquering the Palace: Macclesfield’s Perfect Giantkilling

Josh breaks down the meaning of the greatest FA Cup shock of all time

joshbland.substack.com

@fanseurope.org "call on FIFA to immediately halt PMA ticket sales, engage in a consultation with all impacted parties, and review ticket prices and category distribution" 👏 www.fanseurope.org/news/stateme...

Last night I watched the World Cup draw as a prisoner of curiosity. I was served up a spectacle that was sickening even by FIFA's standards. Some furious words on Infantino, Trump and FIFA's continued defilement of the world's purest cultural moment. Here: joshbland.substack.com/p/a-world-cu...

A World Cup Draw Hate-Watch

Some off-the-cuff reactions to FIFA's feature-length extravaganza of slime

joshbland.substack.com

Ahead of Albion’s visit to Coventry at the weekend, I’ve put together a cantankerous old rant about one of the biggest threats to football culture as we know it: rising ticket prices. It’s a story of short sighted exploitation vs. collective responsibility. open.substack.com/pub/joshblan...

Why I'm boycotting Coventry City (a)

A rambling rant on ticket prices, corporate greed and exploitation

open.substack.com

I've taken some time out of the gruelling process of writing up my PhD to put together a silly article about the place of Bovril in my heart and in football culture. Please feel free to enjoy: joshbland.substack.com/p/an-ode-to-...

An Ode to Bovril

Paying tribute to a constant meaty companion to my footballing life

joshbland.substack.com

A bit of light reading as you head to a game today! A few weeks ago I visited Hereford FC's Edgar Street for the first time. I absolutely loved it. A few words on hodge-podge homes, authenticity and the dying charm of "proper grounds"... joshbland.substack.com/p/field-note...

An Unexpected Love Letter to Edgar Street

Josh has an unforgettably authentic experience on a last-minute trip to Hereford

joshbland.substack.com

On the same day in the Telegraph:

Melvyn Bragg has been one of the last standard-bearers for a really important, and unfashionable, idea: that good conversation, between people who really know their stuff, on complex or difficult subjects, can be fantastic radio - and that the national broadcaster should do this. I hope it endures.

Scott Bryan@scottygb.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Melvyn Bragg has decided to stand down as host of In Our Time, the BBC says.

Today The Hawthorns turns 125. It's tough to summarise what my footballing home means to me, but I've tried. This is a tribute to a veritable cathedral of English football, and an examination of how grounds are defined by continuity and the memories within. joshbland.substack.com/p/a-century-...

A Century and a Quarter of Home

As The Hawthorns celebrates its 125th anniversary, I reflect on what makes my home ground such a special place...

joshbland.substack.com