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Going to the Match: The Passion for Football
A massive audience in sitting-rooms, parks and pubs watched England in the 2018 World Cup. Yet as Duncan Hamilton demonstrates with style, insight and wit in Going to the Match, watching on TV is no substitute for being there. Hamilton embarks on a richly entertaining, exquisitely crafted journey through football. Glory game or grass roots, England v Slovenia or Guiseley v Hartlepool, he delves beneath the action to illuminate the stories which make the sport endlessly compelling.Along the way he marvels at present-day titans Harry Kane, Mo Salah, Kevin De Bruyne and Paul Pogba, reflects on sepia-tinted magicians Stanley Matthews, Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Charlton and Pele, and assesses managerial giants from Brian Clough and Jose Mourinho to Arsene Wenger and Gareth Southgate.The odyssey takes Hamilton from Fleetwood to Berlin, via Glasgow and a Manchester derby, making detours into art, cinema, literature and politics as he explores the game's ever-changing culture and character.The result, like the L.S. Lowry painting that inspired the book, is a football masterpiece.
467 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 20, 2018
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October 3, 2018
Every once in awhile – and it is a extremely rare occurrence and treat – you pick up a book and it takes you over completely and transports you to a different world or tugs at your heartstrings and emotions reminding you of what once was and is forever lost. There are not many authors who possess the skill and imagination to do so and even fewer who predominantly write about football.
Duncan Hamilton spent his early years as local journalist chronicling the achievements of the European Cup winning Nottingham Forest team and becoming a trusted observer and confidant of the immortal Brian Clough. This provided him with the material for his wonderful memoir of those heady days entitled “Provided you Don’t Kiss Me: 20 Years with Brian Clough.” In 2012 he bettered that with “The Footballer Who Could Fly,” a marvellously evocative, nostalgic and sentimental tribute to his father and an account of his difficult relationship with him and how football alone gave them a touchpoint and something to share and talk about. Now with “Going To The Match” Hamilton has yet again proved to be a marvellously gifted observer quick to pick up the nuances of football and what it means to supporters, and he is able to describe his thoughts in beautiful and luscious prose.
Hamilton kicks of by revisiting LS Lowry’s famous painting of “Going To The Match” and illustrating how the painter’s passion for the sport is so beautifully and accurately expressed and depicted in this glorious and ageless piece of artwork. This viewing re-energised and inspired him to take a journey throughout the entire 2017/18 season to watch football at all levels of the game, from Sunday kick abouts to International matches and describe not only what happened on the pitch but how the on-field action made him and ideally the other spectators feel. His Odyssey took him to such diverse venues as Newcastle, Fleetwood, Nottingham, Glasgow, Manchester, Wolverhampton and Berlin and like all the best authors he makes fascinating detours into the worlds of art, cinema, literature and politics in order to highlight the crucial part that football plays in everyday life.
His attention wanders from describing the games that he is watching to bringing up half forgotten memories and he brings into sharp focus some of his footballing heroes from the past such as Stanley Matthews, Billy Wright, Bobby Robson and Brian Clough. Hamilton spent much of his childhood in Newcastle and is particularly scathing about the Mike Ashley regime and how he has failed to grasp what Newcastle United means to the Geordie Nation: “He doesn’t get it. he owns the flesh and the body of Newcastle – but not the soul; and he never will because he seems unable to recognise what it is, or what it is worth to those who do.” I have never read such an accurate and cutting description of a misfit owner.
Hamilton is no mere nostalgic, endlessly harking back to the old days and claiming how much better they were, as he rejoices in the talent, brio and sheet athleticism of modern day heroes such as Harry Kane, Mo Salah, Dele Alli and Kevin De Bruyne but with his broad perspective of watching the game at all levels for so many decades, Hamilton can place them all into historical perspective and compare and contrast them to similar icons from the past.
Hamilton is excellent on what it means to be a fan and the dichotomy of how their inherent bias allows them to excuse gamesmanship and foul play executed by their heroes yet decry the same behaviour by the opposition. We rail at the excessive spending of other teams and of massive ticket prices yet still implore our own chairman to bet the ranch on success.
I found myself nodding in agreement at so much that Hamilton wrote and particularly in how we return to football every week because it helps some of us to enjoy life more and others to endure it.
Football is a common language that breaks down barriers and something that often seems to take over our lives. This book did that to me for several days and I recommend it wholeheartedly.
Duncan Hamilton spent his early years as local journalist chronicling the achievements of the European Cup winning Nottingham Forest team and becoming a trusted observer and confidant of the immortal Brian Clough. This provided him with the material for his wonderful memoir of those heady days entitled “Provided you Don’t Kiss Me: 20 Years with Brian Clough.” In 2012 he bettered that with “The Footballer Who Could Fly,” a marvellously evocative, nostalgic and sentimental tribute to his father and an account of his difficult relationship with him and how football alone gave them a touchpoint and something to share and talk about. Now with “Going To The Match” Hamilton has yet again proved to be a marvellously gifted observer quick to pick up the nuances of football and what it means to supporters, and he is able to describe his thoughts in beautiful and luscious prose.
Hamilton kicks of by revisiting LS Lowry’s famous painting of “Going To The Match” and illustrating how the painter’s passion for the sport is so beautifully and accurately expressed and depicted in this glorious and ageless piece of artwork. This viewing re-energised and inspired him to take a journey throughout the entire 2017/18 season to watch football at all levels of the game, from Sunday kick abouts to International matches and describe not only what happened on the pitch but how the on-field action made him and ideally the other spectators feel. His Odyssey took him to such diverse venues as Newcastle, Fleetwood, Nottingham, Glasgow, Manchester, Wolverhampton and Berlin and like all the best authors he makes fascinating detours into the worlds of art, cinema, literature and politics in order to highlight the crucial part that football plays in everyday life.
His attention wanders from describing the games that he is watching to bringing up half forgotten memories and he brings into sharp focus some of his footballing heroes from the past such as Stanley Matthews, Billy Wright, Bobby Robson and Brian Clough. Hamilton spent much of his childhood in Newcastle and is particularly scathing about the Mike Ashley regime and how he has failed to grasp what Newcastle United means to the Geordie Nation: “He doesn’t get it. he owns the flesh and the body of Newcastle – but not the soul; and he never will because he seems unable to recognise what it is, or what it is worth to those who do.” I have never read such an accurate and cutting description of a misfit owner.
Hamilton is no mere nostalgic, endlessly harking back to the old days and claiming how much better they were, as he rejoices in the talent, brio and sheet athleticism of modern day heroes such as Harry Kane, Mo Salah, Dele Alli and Kevin De Bruyne but with his broad perspective of watching the game at all levels for so many decades, Hamilton can place them all into historical perspective and compare and contrast them to similar icons from the past.
Hamilton is excellent on what it means to be a fan and the dichotomy of how their inherent bias allows them to excuse gamesmanship and foul play executed by their heroes yet decry the same behaviour by the opposition. We rail at the excessive spending of other teams and of massive ticket prices yet still implore our own chairman to bet the ranch on success.
I found myself nodding in agreement at so much that Hamilton wrote and particularly in how we return to football every week because it helps some of us to enjoy life more and others to endure it.
Football is a common language that breaks down barriers and something that often seems to take over our lives. This book did that to me for several days and I recommend it wholeheartedly.
April 11, 2019
In the hands of Duncan Hamilton football is elevated to high art and truly becomes the beautiful game. He paints word pictures that will remain etched on the readers brain long after they put down the book. In Going to the Match he takes inspiration from the painting of the same name, chronicling the match day experience across several levels of English football. He reports on the matches of course but also uses them as jumping off points to riff eloquently on the changing landscape of the game.
Warning to audiobook listeners, while David Mountfield is a great narrator in every other respect, he does fail rather spectacularly when pronouncing the names of foreign footballers. Thankfully this doesn't detract in any way from the experience of Going to the Match
Warning to audiobook listeners, while David Mountfield is a great narrator in every other respect, he does fail rather spectacularly when pronouncing the names of foreign footballers. Thankfully this doesn't detract in any way from the experience of Going to the Match
May 24, 2020
Hamilton's love of football football shines through in each chapter. He chose a great array of matches and subjects (though two chapters are grim reading if you support Arsenal), ranging from Sunday League, WSL, Premier League, EFL, and Internationals. A great book that you an read in spurts as each chapter stands alone. I would recommend it to any football fan.
March 12, 2020
4.5. My favourite football author proves, once again, why he's my favourite. I can't even begin to describe - you'll have to read it for yourself. Hamilton has a knack for bringing out all the deepest, grandest, most wonderful, and most painful emotions that football conjures; he gets right to the heart of what football is, in fact. Football, he writes, is something you feel and something you need, like water. It is a game of and for the heart. He's got a way of talking about football that I've never seen anyone else come close to (perhaps Hornby but everyone's read Hornby).
There are a lot of matches packed into this book, the idea being that a thought about football can be framed within a match, and for the most part it works. As a United fan I strongly disliked that City had so much representation, but it's a small quibble. My favourites were the Manchester derby (of course) and also his walk through Newcastle. I'd buy an entire book of Hamilton writing about Newcastle, just because his attachment to the place elevates the feelings that he captures to an entirely greater level.
I do think it got a bit meandering at times - he's read a lot of books, watched a lot of films, and although his attempts to bring in quotes or film snippets is always relevant, the way that he introduces them ([football football football] A poem by Robert Frost once went - ) can be a bit jarring. But he always brings you back to the simple joy of football, which is at the heart of this book and should be at the heart of all football writing.
Props to him too for not being one of those old spoilsports who're always 'oh the modern game suuucks let's go back to the Good Old Days'.
Only docked it half a star because, as good as it is, it isn't The Footballer Who Could Fly. And rounded down because VAR is not as good as he thinks it is.
There are a lot of matches packed into this book, the idea being that a thought about football can be framed within a match, and for the most part it works. As a United fan I strongly disliked that City had so much representation, but it's a small quibble. My favourites were the Manchester derby (of course) and also his walk through Newcastle. I'd buy an entire book of Hamilton writing about Newcastle, just because his attachment to the place elevates the feelings that he captures to an entirely greater level.
I do think it got a bit meandering at times - he's read a lot of books, watched a lot of films, and although his attempts to bring in quotes or film snippets is always relevant, the way that he introduces them ([football football football] A poem by Robert Frost once went - ) can be a bit jarring. But he always brings you back to the simple joy of football, which is at the heart of this book and should be at the heart of all football writing.
Props to him too for not being one of those old spoilsports who're always 'oh the modern game suuucks let's go back to the Good Old Days'.
Only docked it half a star because, as good as it is, it isn't The Footballer Who Could Fly. And rounded down because VAR is not as good as he thinks it is.
June 6, 2025
This book probably shouldn’t be as compelling as it is. In “Going to the Match”, the veteran sports journalist Duncan Hamilton criss-crosses England, taking in games from the heights of the Premier League down to the depths of non-league and Sunday league, in a quest to work out why so many of us find going to football matches to be such a transfixing experience. This journey takes Hamilton from the most glamorous of Premier League fixtures, to lower league venues like Fleetwood in West Lancashire, on to the Olympic stadium in Berlin to see Germany take on Brazil, and then back to immerse himself in Sunday league football in the North-East of England.
Seeing as this is essentially a collection of match reports from the 2017-2018 English football season, you might have thought that “Going to the Match” would be of limited interest in 2020. But, what elevates this book well above those humdrum concerns is Duncan Hamilton’s ability to encapsulate the magic of the matchday experience, no matter what level the game is being played at. Whether it is from the tension-filled anticipation of the walk to the ground, or evocative smells wafting from the chip vans, or the hugely satisfying sound of a powerful shot rebounding off a crossbar, Hamilton has gift for capturing the little things and fleeting moments that make attending a football game so bewitching an experience for so many supporters.
Duncan Hamilton has a turn-of-phrase as elegant and deceptive as a Cruyff Turn. The gruff, no-nonsense Burnley manager Sean Dyche is described as having a voice like “a half-tonne of grave sliding out of a plastic bag”. Hamilton sees the hyperactive touchline antics of Jurgen Klopp as those of “a man who wears his central nervous system externally”. And he describes the mechanics of the on-field action beautifully, with his paean to Kevin De Bruyne’s passing ability (“even in the Oxford Street Boxing Day Sales he could find you in space”) being just one highlight.
What has given “Going to the Match” an added poignancy is that, post the pandemic lockdown, this book now paints a picture of a world that suddenly feels tantalisingly out-of-reach to football supporters. During a time when football fans are being forced to accept a ‘new normal’ of behind-closed-doors games, “Going to the Match” is a vividly-written reminder as to why the match-going experience is such an enchanting – and necessary – activity for so many of us.
Seeing as this is essentially a collection of match reports from the 2017-2018 English football season, you might have thought that “Going to the Match” would be of limited interest in 2020. But, what elevates this book well above those humdrum concerns is Duncan Hamilton’s ability to encapsulate the magic of the matchday experience, no matter what level the game is being played at. Whether it is from the tension-filled anticipation of the walk to the ground, or evocative smells wafting from the chip vans, or the hugely satisfying sound of a powerful shot rebounding off a crossbar, Hamilton has gift for capturing the little things and fleeting moments that make attending a football game so bewitching an experience for so many supporters.
Duncan Hamilton has a turn-of-phrase as elegant and deceptive as a Cruyff Turn. The gruff, no-nonsense Burnley manager Sean Dyche is described as having a voice like “a half-tonne of grave sliding out of a plastic bag”. Hamilton sees the hyperactive touchline antics of Jurgen Klopp as those of “a man who wears his central nervous system externally”. And he describes the mechanics of the on-field action beautifully, with his paean to Kevin De Bruyne’s passing ability (“even in the Oxford Street Boxing Day Sales he could find you in space”) being just one highlight.
What has given “Going to the Match” an added poignancy is that, post the pandemic lockdown, this book now paints a picture of a world that suddenly feels tantalisingly out-of-reach to football supporters. During a time when football fans are being forced to accept a ‘new normal’ of behind-closed-doors games, “Going to the Match” is a vividly-written reminder as to why the match-going experience is such an enchanting – and necessary – activity for so many of us.
August 18, 2020
Due to my own laziness, I was surprised to learn that this was all set in one modern season as Hamilton travelled around the country to watch different games - I had expected a history of attending games, based on the title, the subheading and the historic nod to Lowry. 330 pages of match reporting was a tough ask, and Hamilton did his best to include colour and tangents, but I found there was a bit too much of him in the story.
The background is that Hamilton fell out of love with the game, before realising that actually, he missed it, and wants to capture the matchgoing experience for fans, from the elite to the non-league (the Sunday League team weren't really Sunday league at all). Along the way, he visits Lowry's painting of Burnden Park, the Scottish football museum and seemingly any instance of football in a film set in working class Britain. Some of these (the Lowry and a 1928 cartoon) worked better, some (the museum) were quite dull, but they did at least broaden the scope of the book.
The difficulty was how to stop reports of matches getting boring, when that was the book's focus. Hamilton did not get bogged down in tactical descriptions, nor blow-by-blow accounts of what happened to the ball. Given his career, he understandably knew how to get a narrative out of the match, and stuck to telling a good story, but sometimes this felt off, the level of wonder directed to Zappacosta's goal creating an entirely different impression of the goal in comparison with my Youtube viewing afterwards. He didn't appear to be too lazy or hackneyed, but at the same time, he did venture into cliche territory when talking about the money in the game or the real experience of fandom at lower levels. It's not that he was wrong, but it wasn't particularly novel.
There were also a few too many times where Hamilton purported to speak for all fans, or presented his own opinion as fact. The overall impression was of more impartial match reporting and personal opinion on football, but the latter didn't integrate that well with the former. I very much realise endless match reports could get a bit dry, but it didn't have the variety or other personailities of Calvin's tours, and as a neutral fan, the games didn't have the same genuine emotional pull. It was readable, but give me a compilation of WSC Match of the Months any day.
The background is that Hamilton fell out of love with the game, before realising that actually, he missed it, and wants to capture the matchgoing experience for fans, from the elite to the non-league (the Sunday League team weren't really Sunday league at all). Along the way, he visits Lowry's painting of Burnden Park, the Scottish football museum and seemingly any instance of football in a film set in working class Britain. Some of these (the Lowry and a 1928 cartoon) worked better, some (the museum) were quite dull, but they did at least broaden the scope of the book.
The difficulty was how to stop reports of matches getting boring, when that was the book's focus. Hamilton did not get bogged down in tactical descriptions, nor blow-by-blow accounts of what happened to the ball. Given his career, he understandably knew how to get a narrative out of the match, and stuck to telling a good story, but sometimes this felt off, the level of wonder directed to Zappacosta's goal creating an entirely different impression of the goal in comparison with my Youtube viewing afterwards. He didn't appear to be too lazy or hackneyed, but at the same time, he did venture into cliche territory when talking about the money in the game or the real experience of fandom at lower levels. It's not that he was wrong, but it wasn't particularly novel.
There were also a few too many times where Hamilton purported to speak for all fans, or presented his own opinion as fact. The overall impression was of more impartial match reporting and personal opinion on football, but the latter didn't integrate that well with the former. I very much realise endless match reports could get a bit dry, but it didn't have the variety or other personailities of Calvin's tours, and as a neutral fan, the games didn't have the same genuine emotional pull. It was readable, but give me a compilation of WSC Match of the Months any day.
October 3, 2022
A book for those that live the game, not just consume it.
Duncan Hamilton is one of the preeminent football writers around and his prose wallows in nostalgia, yet it doesn't fall into the trap of wistfully harking for bygone days.
He strikes a nice balance assessing today's game with that of a few decades ago without rose tinted glasses. Given the nature of the book, it was always going to date quickly maybe if done over a few years rather than a snapshot over a season it would have aged better, but apart from that small quibble it was a good reminder of why we love the game.
Duncan Hamilton is one of the preeminent football writers around and his prose wallows in nostalgia, yet it doesn't fall into the trap of wistfully harking for bygone days.
He strikes a nice balance assessing today's game with that of a few decades ago without rose tinted glasses. Given the nature of the book, it was always going to date quickly maybe if done over a few years rather than a snapshot over a season it would have aged better, but apart from that small quibble it was a good reminder of why we love the game.
January 26, 2020
Hamilton describes a number of games in the 2017/18 season. The descriptions of the games are not really the point - although they are well done. The point is for Hamilton to explore different aspects of football history and football present. For example, he attends a women’s match to consider the FA’s historic mistreatment of women’s football, and he attends a Scottish game to discuss the fall of Scottish football. Hamilton is a talented writer with interesting things to say. A good read.
April 3, 2025
Duncan Hamilton is one of the best sports writers around and this is a great book. Two interesting points, when he wrote this book VAR was in its infancy and Duncan was a big fan, I wonder what his view is now. Also he talks about all the books written about the 1966 World Cup and last year he added to this pile with arguably the best book I have ever read about the subject
November 29, 2018
Beautifully written account of a season taking in various matches across the whole football spectrum. Duncan's passion shines through and this is essential reading for hardcore fans and the curious alike.
December 21, 2018
I don't think this was a bad book, the writing was pretty good and there were things that would interest big football fans, but I felt like it was a bit of slog to get through. Maybe I read it at the wrong time.
December 13, 2020
Framed by the Lowry painting, this is as much about Britain in the 2010s as it is about football at all levels. One of the best in the business.
October 24, 2021
Interesting journey through a (primarily) English football season. A nostalgia-fest for the perceived good old days.
June 7, 2022
Great read, elegantly written as always. Some really good insights into football, it’s current state in the UK and the historical context of the game’s development in England.
January 14, 2023
Interesting overview of range of football in England (in 2018)
August 8, 2025
Not his best books.
Too many mentions of F****t and praise for Southgate - not sure they are ever needed in any book! 🙄
Too many mentions of F****t and praise for Southgate - not sure they are ever needed in any book! 🙄
September 10, 2020
Hamilton takes a series of matches he attended and describes them, but also uses each one as a lead-in to taking on specific themes in the football world, such as club ownership, the effect of TV, and even football memorabilia. It is a sort of social history of the game, and as usual with Hamilton it is very well written, and I read it in a pretty short time. Weirdly I had a thought about writing about my life, and the different phases of it, through a series of vignettes of matches I have seen over the years - but for no particular reason dropped it.
June 4, 2023
Not bad . Subject has been done to death though
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews