Abstract des Autors

For generations the folk of Tyneside and Wearside have fervently and passionately supported their respective football clubs. What are their origins? How did this hotbed develop in the far north? Historians Paul Joannou and Alan Candlish look at the trail from the 1870s which takes us through the social spectrum of the North East; creation by the upper-classes and ex-public-school boys with amateur principles to the enthusiastic middle and working-classes of the industrial heartland who cemented the game for longevity. By 1882 the move from the gentleman footballers to the man-in-the-street was complete. Development escalated and within a decade the hotbed was smouldering ready to see two major clubs, Newcastle United and Sunderland make a mark on the game.