The Blizzard - The Football Quarterly: Issue 7

by Jonathan Wilson, Philippe Auclair, Anthony Clavane

The Blizzard is a quarterly football publication, put together by a cooperative of journalists and authors, its main aim to provide a platform for top-class writers from across the globe to enjoy the space and the freedom to write what they like about the football stories that matter to them.

Issue Seven contains 20 articles in 9 different sections:
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El Dorado
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* The Ball and the Gun, by Carl Worswick—After a political rival was murdered, the Colombian government set up the world's richest league
* The Blond Giant, by Stany Sirutis—Among the influx of foreign players to El Dorado was the Lithuanian goalkeeper Vytausas Krisciunas
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Interview
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* Ivica Osim — The great Bosnian coach reflects on the war, Japan and Alan Mullery's lack of fair play
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The Victorian Age
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* The First Columnist, by Paul Brown—How an early journalist for the Northern Echo helped shape the modern game
* Stiffy the Goalkeeper, by John Harding—Lazy, drunken and corruptible, the first footballing hero of the stage could hardly have been less heroic
* Out with a League Team, by Henry Leach—A journalist, writing in 1900, describes his experiences travelling the country reporting on Notts County
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Theory
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* Don Leo's Odyssey, by Joachim Barbier—From Amsterdam to Madrid to Gaudalajara to Budapest, Leo Beenhakker has never stopped learning
* The English Spaniard, by Philippe Auclair—Roberto Martínez discusses his conception of football and the difficulties of addapting to the dark nights of Lancashire
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The Vanishing
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* The Strange Disappearing of Leslie Goldberg, by Anthony Clavane—How the right back who became Les Gaunt encapsulated the experiences of many 1930s Jewish footballers
* Ten Past Ten and Ten Pastis, by Gunnar Persson—Gunnar Andersson's journey from Marseille legend to homeless alcoholic
* End of the Road, by Richard Winton—Gretna's rise was a romantic fairy tale, their collapse provides grimly real lessons for all of Scottish football
* Safe as Houses, by Paolo Bandini—Espen Baardsen was a Norway international but at 25 he gave up football to work in finance
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Polemics
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* Breaking the Mould, by Zac Lee Rigg—Last year Johnny Saelua became the first transgender person to play in World Cup qualifying
* In Arsene We Trust, by Zach Slaton—However frustrating this season, the numbers suggest Arsenal would be worse off without Arsene Wenger
* Dictionary of Received Ideas, by Brian Phillips—A guide to what pundits really mean when they use certain terms
* Follow the Money, by Elliot Turner—How Nicaragua's national stadium highlights the problems with Fifa's Goal project
* The Third Party, by Sergio Levinsky—A tax avoidance scandal in Argentina could have ramifications across the globe
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Fiction
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* The Limping God, part 2, by David Ashton—His football career ended by injury, John Brodie's life is going nowhere until he is sucked into the world of crime
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Greatest Games
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* Lazio 4-2 Ipswich Town", by Dominic Bliss—Uefa Cup, second round, second leg, Stadio Olimpico, Rome, 7 November 1973
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Seven Bells
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* Fouls and Fisticuffs, by Scott Murray—A selection of unsavo

Genres: Football

254 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2012

About the author

Jonathan Wilson is a British sports journalist and author who writes for a number of publications including the Guardian, the Independent and Sports Illustrated. He also appears on the Guardian football podcast, Football Weekly.

Reviews

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great outing for The Blizzard with a quite brilliant article about Colombia's rogue football league from the 1940s and 1950s the highlight. Bogota based writer Carl Worswick is the author of that piece - my dad had told me about some of the background to this former day version of Kerry Packer's rebel cricket tours and this marvellous article replete with evocative photos plundered from the archives filled in the gaps.

The best written article for me was Scott Murray's account of 8 horror tackles from history - rightly pointing out that we are supposed to condemn them but never really do - Graeme Souness's assault on Iosif Rotariu in a European Cup quarter final stands out, as does a potted history of the darker side of Brazilian football.

I've also been mildly critical of interviews in the publication before - but here they are mainly winners - most notably Espen Baardsen on abandoning goalkeeping for the world of finance and the grizzled Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker on managing in Trinidad, Mexico and Spain.

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fine issue of superb football writing. The best articles are those which you just want to research more and desire to know even more about.

In this issue highlights include;

The attempts in the 1950's to have the richest league in the world in Colombia

An excerpt from a journalist writing in 1900 travelling with Notts County

Good interview with Roberto Martinez

A very funny guide to what pundits really mean

Articles about the rise and fall of Gretna, the first transgender person to play in World Cup qualifying, the building of Nicaragua's national stadium and the tax system in Argentinian transfers are all very good and would benefit from longer pieces of work.

[Steven Pilling · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent as always

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely sublime football writing.