The Best of Football Writing in 2012
The Best of Football Writing in 2012
Before we move forward, let’s take a step back.
2013 will bring new stories, and writers will continue to unveil value in the context of our day-to-day lives. But before we jump ahead, we really should take a step back. The internet is a wonderful place, but our constant consumption of content allows us to forget which stories were truly compelling, creative, well-researched, and told with conviction. For the second year in a row, I have compiled what I consider to be a list of the best writing in football. This year, I called upon some of the game’s most influential voices to reflect on how writing best interpreted, dissected, and brought meaning to the beautiful game.
Consider this project to be a sort of anthology. The games will be remembered in history, but our reactions and our stories could have been forgotten. Instead, they’re here.
View some of the best football writing that 2012 had to offer:
(Note: Titles in the PDF link to their respective URLs. For the sake of continuity and accessibility, we did not feature pieces that were only available offline or behind paywalls)
Thanks to the list’s contributors: Laurent Dubois, Richard Whittall, James Tyler, Gwendolyn Oxenham, Chris Mann, Tom Dunmore, Robert Langham, Musa Okwonga, Jeff Livingstone, Ed Malyon, George Quraishi, Maxi Rodriguez, Kevin McCauley, Elliot Turner, Dominic Vieira, and Stefan Bienkowski
Design by the amazing Dan Gribbon, of 3nil
Compiled by Eric Beard
Finally, thanks for your support throughout 2012. Here’s to another year full of vibrant conversation.
Most Compelling
January 8 – Speaking Out on the Internet: Present Status and Future Prospects – Robert Langham
January 17 - Soccer’s Heavy Boredom - Brian Philips
February 2 – What constitutes being good in the air? – Michael Cox
February 21 – The internet has killed football fanatisists – Ian Plenderleith
February 21 – Follow the money - third party investment in the Brazilian game - Jack Lang
March 14 - The Soccer Mom - Jason Davis
March 19 – The Muamba Message – Fredorrarci
March 22 – A (Seemingly) Impossible Fall – Brian Phillips
April 1- Can Andrea Stramaccioni save Inter? - James Horncastle
April 11 - Pelé and the Cult of Celebrity - Brian Phillips
May 3 – Homage to Guardiola – Brian Phillips
June 3 - Farewell, Dirk Kuyt - James Tyler
June 22 - Moutinho shines in the shadows - Andy Brassell
June 22 - James Milner, England’s king of continual peripheral motion - Barney Ronay
June 24 - Creatures of Habit - Miguel Delaney
June 26 – Mario Balotelli and the New Europe – Laurent Dubois
July 12 – Out of Love - On finding it hard to follow your club – Glen Wilson
July 17 – Off-record but on-field: Veil, Burka, Babushka, or Bedsheet? - Shireen Ahmed
August 7 - Thinking through Megan Rapinoe’s overshadowed breakout - Richard Farley
August 7 – All In, All Out: a note on the amazing Megan Rapinoe – Jennifer Doyle
August 10 – Destiny Is Ruthless – Brian Phillips
August 15 – The 2012 Olympic Games: Football’s Legacy – Mark Murphy
August 23 – The Trouble with Football Analytics – 11tegen11
August 30 - The Curious Case of Peter Wilt - Graham Parker
August 30 – Follow the money – David Conn
September 9 – Juan Román Riquelme: A Quixotic Enigma – Rupert Fryer
October 12 – What exactly does the FA intend to coach at its £105m Snazzadrome? – Barney Ronay
November 3 - Luis Suarez is the villain Liverpool needed - Akarsh Sharma
November 6 – Back to Basics: Normal Football and Skewed Distributions – Chris Anderson
November 9 – Andrés Iniesta: Football Isn’t A Science. We play this way because it suits us – Sid Lowe
November 20 - An obsolete football cliché: The best strikers hunt in pairs – Michael Moruzzi
November 26 – Antisemetic chants are sickening – and West Ham fans must show they care – Jacob Steinberg
December 12 - The evolution of Frank de Boer – Mohamed Moallim
Most Creative
January 25 - Has the transfer market become self-aware? - Andi Thomas
February 24 – On Thomas Müller – Ryan O’Hanlon
February 29 – Captain Scotty Parker’s Mission Report – Graham MacAree
May 13 – 17 Syllables - “The Cicada” – Nathan “The Sleeper’s Sleep”
May 20 – We didn’t start the Poznan – Greg Theoharis
June 6 - The Ten Game Definition of Paul Lambert – Juliet Jacques
June 21 - An Oral History of Spain’s Perfect Goal - Nicol Hay
August 9 - Marek Citko: Confessions of an idol - Bartosz Barnas
August 21 – Arsenal As Gatsby: At War with the Ideal? – Jordan Brown
September 3 - Sócrates: Borne Back Ceaselessly into the Past – James Young
September 29 – The Hemingway Experiment – Will Parchman
October 1 - Riquelme, modern football’s Giant Panda - Ed Malyon
October 16 - Eats, Shoots, And Leaves - Martin Palazzotto
October 26 – Exclusive interview with Gunnersaurus – Andi Thomas
November 9 – The Sir Alex Ferguson Guide to Cutting-Out Club Stalwarts – Ethan Dean-Richards
November 14 – Zlatan Ibrahimovic Explains Extraordinary Overheard Kick Against England – Brooks Peck
December 10 - Lionel Messi’s gift - Graham MacAree
Best Research
January 24 – The Enduring Global Influence of the 1968 Atlanta Chiefs – Chris Nee
February 24 – Argentina 1986 - David Hartrick
February 25 – Unemployment and Football – Dan Mobbs
February 27 – District Ultras: Small Numbers, Big Support in DC - Tom Dunmore
March 9 – The Evolution of Football Formations – Paul Sakkal
April 30 - The truth about debt at Barcelona and Real Madrid - Swiss Ramble
May 8 - Geographies of Football: Will Cornwall ever host a Football League Club? - Lloyd Langman
May 28 – A Cautionary Tale on Post-Goal Celebration Music From Port Vale FC - Chris Dale
July 15 – Another Post about Total Shot Ratio – James W Grayson
July 25 - Italy 3-2 Brazil, 1982: the day naivety, not football itself died - Jonathan Wilson
August 30 – The N.A.S.A. Roundtable (Nerds Attack Soccer Analytics) – Steve Fenn, Rui Xu, Alex Oshansky, and Devin Pleuler
September 10 – What is American Soccer? – Matthew Doyle
September 25 - How video game is changing face of soccer - Roger Bennett
September 29 – Singapore court orders journalist to reveal sources – James M. Dorsey
November 8 – Game Without Rules – Tim Parks
November 13 - Last Champions of the Third Reich - Noah Davis
December 13 – Calculating and Comparing Competitiveness in European Leagues - Sami Faizullah
Best Storytelling
February 1 – Egyptians See Political Overtones in Deadly Riot – Robert Mackey
May 17 – Soccer in the Storm – Wayne Drehs
May 24 - Breaking Vaz: The Gruelling Rise of West Ham’s Ricardo Vaz Te - David Preece
June 22 - Acropolis Now - Max Grieve
July 9 - A Soccer Prodigy, at home in Brazil - Sam Borden
July 10 - Pelada: Pickup, the Essence of a Game – Gwendolyn Oxenham
September 13 - The Truth - Saf Hossain
October 8 – The World’s Team – Grant Wahl
October 9 – The Beautiful Game – Patrick Symmes
June 1 – The Austin Aztex Project - Dan Wiersema and Eric Betts
May 16 – Saying Goodbye to Del Piero - James Horncastle
June 29 - TuRu 1880 Duesseldorf II v SC Duesseldorf West – Kenny Legg
September 10 – The rise and fall of Kerlon – Joe Krishnan
September 28 – Out of Bounds - Leander Schaerlaeckens
October 4 - Here & Gone: The Strange Relationship between Lionel Messi and his Hometown Argentina – Wright Thompson
October 4 - Real Madrid’s Luka Modric: from Balkan warzone to the Bernabéu - Aleksander Holiga
October 8 - Lore-making and Law-breaking in Moscow - James Appell
October 24 – An Ode To Ronaldinho – James Young
November 29 - Real Oviedo – the remarkable story of a club the world united to save - Sid Lowe
December 11 - The story of the legend killers from Ghana’s Berekum - Kwesii Asomadu
While we’re leaving the list as it is, we’re more than open to your recommended reads from 2012. Please leave them in the comments below.
