Blinded by the Lights: A History of Night Football in England

What links the studio-set for BBCs Match of the Day and the titlesequence of the comedy quiz-show They Think Its All Over? And whatconnects JK Rowlings Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and DavidBeckhams biography, My Side? In every case, football floodlights (or inRowlings case a magical Quidditch illumination) are used to dramatisethe image of the game. Blinded by the Lights, a history of night football in England, shows howthe lights have become one of the most recurring and distinctive ways inwhich people talk about the sport. They are part of the way thatfootball has been celebrated through songs at the ground, on television,in painting and photography, and above all in football writing. But the story of floodlights is about more than words and pictures. Thelights have played a critical part in changing when, where and how thegame is played, allowing people to watch the game at home as well as atthe ground. Floodlights are an element of the entertainment and a partof the atmosphere. Football looks different at night, faster and morevivid. Night games create a different balance in the crowd, between homeand away supporters, between men and women, and in the mood of the fans. Blinded by the Lights tells the story of football floodlighting from thefirst night-time contest in 1878, a friendly fixture between twoSheffield elevens at Bramall Lane, to the commercial European clubcontests of today. It celebrates the contribution of the engineers, theentrepreneurs and the innovators who promoted the evening fixtures, thegreat players who enthused about the night game, and the reflections ofthe reporters, the novelists and the poets.

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