Gorgeous New Book, The Game, by Stuart Roy Clarke
Celebrate the beautiful game this summer with this incredible new book. Stuart Roy Clarke, who has been capturing the culture of soccer with his camera since 1989, shares his images of the ever-evolving game in his new book.
Magical New Soccer Pictorial from Stuart Roy Clarke and John Williams THE GAME published by Relegation Books coming out July 31, 2020. Published for a North American release of only one-thousand copies. $50.00 Pre-order option.
The world of soccer in England’s Premier League, as well as its prized football (soccer) stadiums, is holy ground to many. Unlike America, in England, every stadium is as revered as Fenway and every derby is ferociously contested as (almost) the Super Bowl.
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Britain’s game of football developed in a unique way; between the colliding continents of factory and church, between being owned and not being owned, between sets of rules and something organic.
As the worldwide phenomenon, the English Premier League marks its quarter centenary, this new book “The Game” celebrates its triumphs and that of the greater game.
Stuart Roy Clarke is one of a leading photographer of the ‘beautiful game’, and this is a book for everyone who loves the game of soccer.
Focusing his keen eye not just on the players but also the fans, stadiums, cities, and pubs; Clarke beings the culture of soccer to live as he celebrates the people and places that reveal the significance of soccer in our world, telling intimate stories that we often miss as American fans following the top international clubs from a distance.
“THE GAME” should be Savored.
Once upon a time, fate handed Britain a beautifully round ball. Perfect in every way. The British people embraced the ball and built a game around it that so flawlessly suited the ball that it quickly inspired a nation. The game was fast and physical, athletic, and artistic.
A glorious, unpredictable sport played by kings and commoners alike. That game then evolved and spread rapidly to the far corners of the sporting world and it inspired those nations in kind.
Want to see a few pages of the book., The Game? Download this PDF
But in the United Kingdom, it became more than just a beloved sport or an inspiration. It became an essential part of the culture in all of the cities, towns, villages, and the countryside across the realm, where football fields were established at every turn.
As the worldwide phenomenon the English Premier League cruises past its quarter centenary, Clarke provides a unique, insiders’ view.
In 2017-18, Clarke got together with John Williams, a sociologist at the University of Leicester who writes about soccer and its fans, to try to tell the story of the game they love.
Their lively conversations, along with a feast of Clarke’s exhilarating photos, form The Game, a beautiful book that gets to the bottom and the top of what makes the beautiful game so enduring.
Due to its overwhelming success in 2018, Stuart Roy Clarke, alongside John Williams, has reworked this classic book. The new book features brand new photographs, as well as an extended conversation between Clarke and John Williams.
Game after game, decade after decade, and century after century, football— arguably above all else — became the fundamental face of Britain’s identity, even to its own people.
This elaborate family history puzzle—this ideal of football in Britain—is what Stuart Roy Clarke, John Williams, and Relegation Books are celebrating this summer with the release of their magical new pictorial, “THE GAME”, an introduction to football in Britain for a North American audience.
The classic images and beautiful color photographs within “THE GAME” are spread over the history of the modern game and showcase the intensity, charm, notorious detail and quiet splendor of British life on the pitch. Clarke kicks around ideas about the roots and meaning of the sport while he portrays the entire football landscape as a series of unmovable objects — locations for pilgrimages, spiritual sites and places to call home.
“THE GAME” covers:
- Drawing British football’s map and plotting its football timeline
- Fandom — how fans truly love going to games in the UK
- The quirkiness and diversity of the live football experience
- Difference between “pitch invaders” and “soft intruders”
- The secrets of derbies and stoking long-lasting rivalries
- Rebounding after Hillsborough and other national tragedies
- The epic 2016 season for the unfancied Leicester City Foxes
“Clarke’s exhilarating images exhibit imagination and sensitivity that no other football photographer can match.”
You feel like you’re in the stands—experiencing the game at venues such as Brunton Park, Elland Road, Tynecastle, and the Etihad—or on the street or the pubs celebrating a heart-pounding victory or lamenting a heartrending loss.
“What is it about half-time at a football match?”
STUART ROY CLARKE
“The commentators often say about managers that they can ‘hardly wait’ to get their players in the dressing-room as if something magical can happen there. More importantly, it’s as if half-time can actually stop time in its tracks. A chance to reset the clock, put things right,” said STUART ROY CLARKE – Read Interview
Stuart Roy Clarke, born in Hertfordshire in England, is a photographer, artist, exhibitor, and filmmaker who is best known for his 30-year-long opus “Homes of Football”. The body of work has spawned 10 hardcover books and a record-number of traveling exhibitions. He has a daughter Ava, 14, not yet “a photographer”.
John Williams is an Associate Professor in the sociology of sport at the University of Leicester in the UK. He is widely known for his work on sports culture, especially soccer fandom, and is a season card-holder at Liverpool football club.
