Well Frogged Out: Fans' True Story of France '98 - Softcover

Ward, Colin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1840182482 ISBN 13: 9781840182484

Publisher: Mainstream Publishing, 1999

Synopsis

This account of the 1998 World Cup in France is written by a football fan rather than a hack, describing a side of the tournament that most writers did not experience.

About this title

Review

When England competed in the World Cup finals in Italy in 1990, novelist Pete Davies recorded the highs and lows of the tournament in what was rightly hailed as a classic book, All Played Out.

It was almost inevitable, therefore, that when England next reached the finals, in France in 1998, someone would try to repeat Davies' successful formula. Fan-turned-author Colin Ward was the ambitious man.

His All Frogged Outshares the ambition of All Played Out--to bring the World Cup alive for those who got no nearer to the finals than watching Des Lynam introduce the highlights.

But, unfortunately for Ward, it suffers in comparison--although often through no fault of his own. The access to the players, the assistance of the Football Association and the co-operation of the media which his predecessor enjoyed were all denied him.

Part of the reason, as Ward explains, was that Davies' book was seen by many who appeared in it as a "stitch-up". But the other reason is that Ward is an ordinary fan, not a respected novelist.

His breakthrough book, Steaming In, was one of the first written by a supporter about being a supporter. And basically All Frogged Out is derived from the same idea.

Ward recounts tales from the frontline of the England fans as the team first qualifies for and then competes in the finals. And, as that includes games in Rome and Marseilles, the fighting which often mars England games features prominently.

Like many others "fan" writers, Ward is far more keen to blame the media and unfair foreign police than the supporters for such outbreaks--even though he occasionally adopts the same tone of weary condemnation at some the fans' excesses as the reporters do.

With a number of unfortunate factual errors in the text too, some might therefore see Ward as an unreliable witness. His argument, no doubt, would be that he was no more inaccurate than many in the media.

Indeed, with several flashes of insight, especially on those who fought in Marseilles, Ward does offer something to those who didn't make it to France and instead relied on the newspapers and television for coverage. --Nick Varley

Edition details

• Publisher: Mainstream Publishing
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1840182482
• ISBN 13: 9781840182484
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 224