On Penalties

by Andrew Anthony

'Score and few will remember; miss and no one will forget'Talking to some of the game's most successful players and managers, the question the book seeks to address is can England overcome their fear of the penalty?The penalty shoot-out is the greatest set piece of sporting drama ever conceived.Cruel, arbitrary, tortuous and unfair, it has also presented the England football team with a new and infinitely more punishing manner in which to lose. Three times in the past decade the nation has sat on the edge of its collective sofa and watched the seemingly inevitable unfold as Stuart Pearce, Chris Waddle, Gareth Southgate, Paul Ince and David Batty have selected the wrong shots in the lottery of international championship shoot-outs.Except it's not a lottery. There is an art to scoring penalties, which calls upon a unique combination of physical prowess and psychological strength. In the corridor of truth that leads from the penalty spot to the goal-line, a succession of English footballers have had to confront not only the opposing goalkeeper but the hopes and dreams of fans and fellow countrymen and, of course, themselves.'A tour de force of narrative journalism' Observer

Genres: Football

128 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2000

About the author

Andrew Anthony is a journalist who has written for The Guardian since 1990, and The Observer. He is also the author of On Penalties (2000) and The Fall-Out (2007).

Reviews

[Keen Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthony is a highly gifted writer and here he pulls off the nice balance between football and philosophy, without losing his point or punch. He manages to bring out the best in both fields (sorry about that pun) and the laughs are as plentiful as the wisdom. This a thoroughly enjoyable short little read that has the feel of something from "The School of Life" series.