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Back Home: England and the 1970 World Cup
Back Home recalls the 1970 World Cup finals in Mexico as the zenith of the beautiful game; when the great Brazilian team of all time showed the world how football could and should be played; when Pele, Jairzinho, Rivelino and company produced perhaps the most dazzling football ever played on the world stage. For the English, however, the 1970 finals will always be remembered at least as well as the tournament when England's reign as World champions was brought to an end and when West Germany took their revenge for the events of four years before in the dramatic quarter-final in Leon.
This is why Jeff Dawson's book works. Brazil may have been the eventual champions, but the English provided equally good headlines: Bobby Moore, England's captain and the stolen jewellery in Bogota, the save of the century that keeper Gordon Bank made from Pele, manager Ramsay's fateful decision to substitute the talismanic Bobby Charlton in the quarter-final versus West Germany, and the absence of Banks from that decisive game due to a mysterious stomach bug, leaving Bonetti to falter as English custodian. With such material, Dawson has a real tale to tell, and he does so admirably conveying the feeling that surrounded the tournament; colour TV pictures, a carnival atmosphere and those Brazilians provided something seemingly more exotic than standard football fare. And that's not to mention the final itself, or the Brazil-England game, or the pulsating semi-final between Italy and West Germany. Unlike England in 1970, this blow-by-blow account of the events surrounding the games in Mexico is a winner. --Trevor Crowe
- GenresFootball
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2001
About the author
Jeff Dawson
7 books20 followersJeff Dawson is a journalist, author and scriptwriter. Amongst other things, he pens Real Dictators, the award-winning historical podcast (200m downloads) that goes out on Spotify, Apple, BBC Sounds and elsewhere.
He was, for many years, a feature writer for The Sunday Times' Culture section (interviewees including Robert De Niro, George Clooney, Dustin Hoffman, Hugh Grant, Angelina Jolie, Jerry Seinfeld and Nicole Kidman). Before that he was the US Editor of Empire magazine.
Jeff is the author of three non-fiction books — Tarantino/Quentin Tarantino: The Cinema of Cool (Cassell/Applause, 1995), Back Home: England And The 1970 World Cup (Orion, 2001), which The Times rated "Truly outstanding", and Dead Reckoning: The Dunedin Star Disaster (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005), the latter nominated for the Mountbatten Maritime Prize.
Historical thriller No Ordinary Killing (2017), an Amazon/Kindle bestseller, was his debut novel. The follow-ups, The Cold North Sea (2018) and Hell Gate (2020), continue the adventures of Captain Ingo Finch.
He was, for many years, a feature writer for The Sunday Times' Culture section (interviewees including Robert De Niro, George Clooney, Dustin Hoffman, Hugh Grant, Angelina Jolie, Jerry Seinfeld and Nicole Kidman). Before that he was the US Editor of Empire magazine.
Jeff is the author of three non-fiction books — Tarantino/Quentin Tarantino: The Cinema of Cool (Cassell/Applause, 1995), Back Home: England And The 1970 World Cup (Orion, 2001), which The Times rated "Truly outstanding", and Dead Reckoning: The Dunedin Star Disaster (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005), the latter nominated for the Mountbatten Maritime Prize.
Historical thriller No Ordinary Killing (2017), an Amazon/Kindle bestseller, was his debut novel. The follow-ups, The Cold North Sea (2018) and Hell Gate (2020), continue the adventures of Captain Ingo Finch.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 10, 2014
This review is from my website The Sports Book Review.
Back Home is the revealing the informative story of England’s venture to the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. England were of course the reigning world champions at the time and were widely regarded as one of the favourites for glory in Mexico, retaining their crown. The 1970 tournament was full of glamour and exotic appeal; the location, the headline players, the colour, the crackling commentary, and Back Home does a great job of bringing it all to life.
Beginning with the perennially thorny issues of squad selection, the story builds with revealing insights into the prevailing views at the time. Many in England felt that it was a superior squad to that which triumphed in 1966, though circumstances and conditions would be utterly different from those at a home tournament.
The detail shown of the planning and preparation may seem limited by today’s standards, but was clearly a huge leap forward when compared to what had gone before; employing a team doctor, planning to cope with the heat and humidity, dealing with the altitude. A very early arrival in Mexico City, before travelling to play at similarly lofty venues in Colombia and Ecuador aided the squad’s preparations which in most cases seem to have be planned in detail.
Then of course there is the famous Bobby Moore Bogota bracelet incident: one that I’d known the gist of but nothing like the full detail as delved into by Dawson here. You can scarcely imagine the outcry if something similar happened today. Dawson expertly reveals how this incident came so close to causing a major team reshuffle for England who were facing the real possibility of losing their influential and inspirational captain. As we know the issue was resolved one way or another in time for England’s unflappable captain to take his place, but the whole saga makes for a compelling tale. That he subsequently performed with such distinction is a true testament to his quality.
Though focused primarily on England, Back Home doesn’t exclusively focus on them at the expense of all others. Many a tale from the other teams, their gripes, their glories, their goals, help bring the whole tournament to life. Indeed with much of the action described in the present tense as though it’s all happening before you now, which helps create a real sense of being in the moment for the reader, bringing events from long ago close to mind. The additional use of the utterings of the English match commentators, primarily David Coleman and Hugh Johns, add to this closeness and the sense of being in the moment.
Player and journalist testimonies throughout, as well as the thoughts of Sir Alf Ramsey, bring the action further into our consciousness, and the detail of the action being described is impressive.
Further highlights are the frequent nostalgic glimpses at the news stories and cultural influences of the day, both serious and comical, which help to place the action into its historical context. Notably the impending general election which is utterly overshadowed by the action in Mexico, along with a raft of strikes and industrial action. A neat ploy by Dawson which brings humour and history into this football work.
It was a tournament where England ultimately fell short, and the key matches with Brazil and West Germany take primary focus. But the magnificent Brazilians are well covered too, as indeed are all the competing teams to a greater or lesser extent.
The Mexico World Cup was full of glamour, exoticism and excitement, and this book does a sterling job of conveying this to the reader. As a work of football history and drama it is up there with All Played Out to my mind. A magnificent hark back to a bygone age and a glorious, era defining tournament.
Back Home is the revealing the informative story of England’s venture to the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. England were of course the reigning world champions at the time and were widely regarded as one of the favourites for glory in Mexico, retaining their crown. The 1970 tournament was full of glamour and exotic appeal; the location, the headline players, the colour, the crackling commentary, and Back Home does a great job of bringing it all to life.
Beginning with the perennially thorny issues of squad selection, the story builds with revealing insights into the prevailing views at the time. Many in England felt that it was a superior squad to that which triumphed in 1966, though circumstances and conditions would be utterly different from those at a home tournament.
The detail shown of the planning and preparation may seem limited by today’s standards, but was clearly a huge leap forward when compared to what had gone before; employing a team doctor, planning to cope with the heat and humidity, dealing with the altitude. A very early arrival in Mexico City, before travelling to play at similarly lofty venues in Colombia and Ecuador aided the squad’s preparations which in most cases seem to have be planned in detail.
Then of course there is the famous Bobby Moore Bogota bracelet incident: one that I’d known the gist of but nothing like the full detail as delved into by Dawson here. You can scarcely imagine the outcry if something similar happened today. Dawson expertly reveals how this incident came so close to causing a major team reshuffle for England who were facing the real possibility of losing their influential and inspirational captain. As we know the issue was resolved one way or another in time for England’s unflappable captain to take his place, but the whole saga makes for a compelling tale. That he subsequently performed with such distinction is a true testament to his quality.
Though focused primarily on England, Back Home doesn’t exclusively focus on them at the expense of all others. Many a tale from the other teams, their gripes, their glories, their goals, help bring the whole tournament to life. Indeed with much of the action described in the present tense as though it’s all happening before you now, which helps create a real sense of being in the moment for the reader, bringing events from long ago close to mind. The additional use of the utterings of the English match commentators, primarily David Coleman and Hugh Johns, add to this closeness and the sense of being in the moment.
Player and journalist testimonies throughout, as well as the thoughts of Sir Alf Ramsey, bring the action further into our consciousness, and the detail of the action being described is impressive.
Further highlights are the frequent nostalgic glimpses at the news stories and cultural influences of the day, both serious and comical, which help to place the action into its historical context. Notably the impending general election which is utterly overshadowed by the action in Mexico, along with a raft of strikes and industrial action. A neat ploy by Dawson which brings humour and history into this football work.
It was a tournament where England ultimately fell short, and the key matches with Brazil and West Germany take primary focus. But the magnificent Brazilians are well covered too, as indeed are all the competing teams to a greater or lesser extent.
The Mexico World Cup was full of glamour, exoticism and excitement, and this book does a sterling job of conveying this to the reader. As a work of football history and drama it is up there with All Played Out to my mind. A magnificent hark back to a bygone age and a glorious, era defining tournament.
September 19, 2020
1970 World Cup
This was a excellent read I did not know much about the 1970 World cup as I was very young when it was on and seeing what else was going on while the tournament was in progress . Alf Ramsey said in the book he had a far better squad then 66 and when your reading it you can see why it was just a shame it ended in the Quarter finals . If you are a football fan you will definitely appreciate it more ,The way the Author builds up the games it seems like your listening to a running commentary on the matches superb even all the way up to the final I offer my congratulations on a superb book
This was a excellent read I did not know much about the 1970 World cup as I was very young when it was on and seeing what else was going on while the tournament was in progress . Alf Ramsey said in the book he had a far better squad then 66 and when your reading it you can see why it was just a shame it ended in the Quarter finals . If you are a football fan you will definitely appreciate it more ,The way the Author builds up the games it seems like your listening to a running commentary on the matches superb even all the way up to the final I offer my congratulations on a superb book
June 22, 2022
Reminder off similar times
Reminder off similar times when football was not just a
business and the world cup a football tournament with only 16 teams and all the better for it ,also Phil reminds us off the 70s and what was happening outside football,many off the stories have been told before but here with a different perceptive
Reminder off similar times when football was not just a
business and the world cup a football tournament with only 16 teams and all the better for it ,also Phil reminds us off the 70s and what was happening outside football,many off the stories have been told before but here with a different perceptive
January 13, 2011
Can you be nostalgic for a time five years before your birth? Well I was, great read
August 26, 2012
A good and interesting book about England in the 1970 World Cup
October 16, 2021
An excellent book. Great lively descriptions of the best world cup ever.
April 27, 2020
Aidan Williams' review pretty much says it all, but I'll add a little here.
Quite simply, this is the best book of sports writing I've yet read. It is crackling with wit throughout, but has enough insight too to give the reader a full flavour of Mexico '70, by some accounts the best World Cup there's ever been.
Although the emphasis is on England, other nations are covered too: not just the obvious competitors for England's crown (Brazil and West Germany) but also Peru, a surpise package and a nation which suffered a devastating earthquake just as the tournament was getting underway. That incident, and the effect on Peru's squad, is fully described here.
Another interesting feauture - for me at any rate - is Dawson's use of the historical present: as though he's describing all the action in real time. A nice touch.
The author must have spent may hours going through footage and trawling through contemporary papers to get the level of detail he's managed here - and for that he's to be commended.
All in all this work has just the right balance of humour and insight - and, going by the low number of reviews thus far, it's vastly under-read, a real hidden gem.
My only disappointment is that Dawson did not keep up the sports writing - this book is so good that it should have been merely his opening salvo. I know he's turned his hand to fiction writing, and good luck to him with that.
Quite simply, this is the best book of sports writing I've yet read. It is crackling with wit throughout, but has enough insight too to give the reader a full flavour of Mexico '70, by some accounts the best World Cup there's ever been.
Although the emphasis is on England, other nations are covered too: not just the obvious competitors for England's crown (Brazil and West Germany) but also Peru, a surpise package and a nation which suffered a devastating earthquake just as the tournament was getting underway. That incident, and the effect on Peru's squad, is fully described here.
Another interesting feauture - for me at any rate - is Dawson's use of the historical present: as though he's describing all the action in real time. A nice touch.
The author must have spent may hours going through footage and trawling through contemporary papers to get the level of detail he's managed here - and for that he's to be commended.
All in all this work has just the right balance of humour and insight - and, going by the low number of reviews thus far, it's vastly under-read, a real hidden gem.
My only disappointment is that Dawson did not keep up the sports writing - this book is so good that it should have been merely his opening salvo. I know he's turned his hand to fiction writing, and good luck to him with that.
October 5, 2021
Thoroughly enjoyable book , It read to me like a book length version of a When Saturday Comes article ( a good thing ) …Well researched , interesting & apart from the disappointing end ( the SCORE : Not the book 🥲) it was of interest to England football fans of any age
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews