A few weeks ago, I reviewed A Woman’s Game by Suzanne Wrack. It was one of two books about women’s football received from When Saturday Comes at the same time; the other was Football, She Wrote, an anthology of writing from a mixture of new and experienced female football writers.
Football, She Wrote isn’t a women’s football book, as such. It’s a book about football, written by women. It contains 20 individual pieces, many of which are intensely personal and pretty much every level of the game finds its way into the text. There aren’t many books where global behemoth Real Madrid and Mums United FC – a wonderful grassroots club – rub shoulders, but they do here and Football, She Wrote is all the better for it.
One of my favourite stories from the book was Two Black Rookies and a Microphone by Kehinde Adeogun. Having managed to persuade the BBC World Service to let them report on the African teams at a Women’s World Cup, Adeogun writes with warmth and humour about how she and her sister zigzagged from match to match, learning how to be broadcast journalists as they went along.
On top of being a joyous, freewheeling tale of blagging and adventure, it left me with a persistent earworm which, in this case, was a bonus:
Some of the modern greats of the women’s game are profiled, including Emma Hayes and Rachel Yankey, while Louise Taylor – the doyenne of football writing in the North-East of England – writes powerfully about how she had to overcome sexism while covering Newcastle United. Space is also given to new writers, who cover not just the sport, but how it impacts on people’s lives.
Football, She Wrote includes memoirs, interviews and history and addresses several talking points, diversity, inclusion and sexuality among them. As a reader, the risk you take with anthologies is that they can be a bit ‘hit-and-miss’ but that isn’t the case here. Every chapter is entertaining, illuminating and exceptionally written. The storytelling is well paced and sometimes surprising, but never in a way that feels forced or trite.
I genuinely loved Football, She Wrote. As well as being a consistent page-turner, this was a collection of writing that resonated me on an emotional level. There were times when this book made me laugh and others tinged with sadness or anger.
Football, She Wrote is a unique, special collection and would make an excellent addition to any football fan’s bookshelf. It will absolutely be staying on mine! It is published by Floodlit Dreams who, at the time of writing have a half-price offer on copies ordered direct from them. However, I bought my copy from the When Saturday Comes shop as part of a special bundle of products. You can also find copies at Stanchion. I got a lot of joy from this book and I hope that others will too.