The Football Battalions

The poignant story of how a group of elite professional footballers went to war.

In 1914, the year the war breaks out, football is on the rise. Attendances are steadily increasing, and the players are beginning to become household names. Underlining how football has surpassed cricket as the national sport, George V becomes the first monarch to attend the FA Cup Final in May.

In this masterful work of history, Christopher Evans explores how footballers were put under immense pressure to sign up once the war began, resulting in the formation of the Football Battalion in England. He tells the story of World War I through the eyes of seven leading footballers of the day. Some would never make it back; some would fade into obscurity; some would leave an indelible mark on the game.

Among them are Vivian Woodward, an Olympic Gold medallist who becomes football’s first superstar; Major Frank Buckley, who would come out of the war a hero and redefine the role of a football manager; and Walter Tull, Tottenham and Northampton hero, who faced racism both on the football and battlefield before becoming the first Black man to win a commission and command a unit in the British Army.

Deeply researched and drawing on new archival material, this is the first major exploration of this remarkable army battalion.