WILL STONE fact-checks the colourful life of Ozzy Osbourne
Soccer vs the State: Tackling Football and Radical Politics by Gabriel Kuhn
A timely and entertaining read on the history and development of the ‘beautiful game’

THERE is a widely accepted idea that football emerged from working-class culture, went through a golden age as the people’s game and then sold its soul to Sky, Adidas and Coca Cola.
But Soccer vs the State, Gabriel Kuhn's lively and painstaking examination of the sport’s hidden history and competing cultures, reveals a more complex narrative.
More from this author

ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes an exuberant blend of emotion and analysis that captures the politics and contrarian nature of the French composer

ANDY HEDGECOCK admires a critique of the penetration of our lives by digital media, but is disappointed that the underlying cause is avoided

ANDREW HEDGECOCK relishes visual storytelling with no respect for genres, movements or styles

ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes two exhibitions that blur the boundaries between art and community engagement