Turning a passion for the beautiful game into a book about the joy - and heartbreak - of being a football fan

Football can be an all consuming passion - for fans as well as players. And football clubs are beginning to realise the power of using that passion in other areas.

These days the big football clubs all have their own education and charity sections. They play a part in local communities, from encouraging kids to learn languages (the Arsenal Double Club) to encouraging children to eat healthily and pursue a healthy lifestyle (Manchester United's, Fitness, Food & Football programme). There are also a number of schemes based around literacy and encouraging reading, and particularly an aim to persuade more boys that reading, as well as kicking around a ball, is for them.

Last week I went to my own club, Spurs, for the launch of a fabulous book of football passion! Tottenham 'Til I Die is a book of fans' stories and feelings about the club they love. It includes tales from an Edinburgh-born fan (who smuggled in a Spurs kit to wear on school photograph day) and a 90 year old who had a heart attack after a game (he survived to tell the tale). He says that as he was lying on the concrete, he thought "This is it - but at least we won!".

True, the book won't really appeal to anyone except a Spurs fan, but it is one of a number of 'Til I Die books. Others include Portsmouth, Brentford, Bristol City and Ipswich.

The book is a love letter about being a football fan. But it is also more than that. Published in partnership with the National Literacy Trust, it has given young fans and old the opportunity to write and be published (the club ran writing workshops for those who wanted to take part). Around 600 copies of the book are also to be sent to local libraries and schools to be used for literacy purposes.

"It's producing a resource for schools, but it's also bringing kids and parents together around reading and writing," Steve Cowan from the Institute of Education (who originally came up with the idea) explained to me. Jim Sells, from the National Literacy Trust added, "Some think that books, reading and writing are not for them, but it''s what enables us to communicate. It's what makes us human."

And Anna Rimington, who works for the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation was also keen to point out the book's benefits.

"We want to encourage reading and challenge the stereotypes of who is a reader and who is a writer," she said. "Just because you like football doesn't mean you shouldn't read." 

The launch was a great success, not only because it was attended by many of those whose stories are in the book. Four Tottenham "legends" - Les Ferdinand, Clive Allen (whom you can see in the clip), Pat Jennings and Cliff Jones - were also present, although I'm afraid that all the players lived up to the stereotype of only reading non-fiction (lots of mentions of autobiographies and newspapers when I asked them what they read!). However, Les Ferdinand (who added that he also reads "spiritual" books) was evangelical about the importance of education and how it's wrong that boys see reading as un-macho. Hopefully, he added, this book will help change that.

Other clubs are interested in putting together their own 'Til I Die books, so keep an eye out. Parents often tell me that they're worried that their children (often boys) don't read. I point out that they should try not to be too prescriptive about it. Reading about football, comics, magazines or superheroes is fine too...

Read School Gate:

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The books which boys should read - even if they don't like reading.

Comments

[Cathy]

Thanks for a really positive and uplifting post, Sarah (and I hate football - it's personal!). I had a great time once taking a group of truculent year 5s to the local club's education centre to do some IT. The young players were fantastic with the children. The fact that an 'old boy' of the school had recently signed for a first division club didn't hurt (although his subsequent jail spell was less than helpful, oops). Even the fact that quite a few of the children ran away on the way back didn't altogether dim my ardour ...

[Steve Cowan]

Hi Sarah.

Thanks for taking part in what was a wonderful evening at the Club.I think all of us who were there were touched by a little of the sparkling gold-dust that comes from the magical history of Tottenham Hotspur.

As for me, meeting Cliff Jones was a lifetimes dream - worth waiting fifty years for!

Steve

[Arthur Van Der Lae]

This is great idea

Anything that encourages both reading and a sense of identity amongst children can only be a good thing.

I look forward to reading the stories about my team.