‘Whether the historians like it or not, football cannot be taken out of the history of the modern world and the history of the modern world is unevenly, but indisputably etched into the history of football.’
David Goldblatt, The Ball is Round

This is in a nutshell the purpose of this blog: The history of the game and its surrounding circumstances. Readers of a certain age will certainly be aware of the name An Old International. This was the byline of a sports and football writer in the North-East of England, Lancashire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester who started writing for the Manchester Guardian in the 1930s. His name was Harry Donald ‘Don’ Davies. He was also one of the first journalists to become aware of the importance of international football. Don Davies perished in the Munich Air Disaster on 6 February 1958, alongside eight of the so-called Busby babies and several of his colleagues. At the memorial service for the victims of the disaster, Donny Davies was described by Neville Cardus, the distinguished cricket writer as:

‘the first writer on Soccer to rise above the immediate and quickly perishable levels of his theme and give us something to preserve. Old International was not only the best of soccer reporters; he was also something of a poet.’

This blog however, is certainly not aiming at being a reincarnation of the ‘Old International’, Don Davies, far from it. However, having lived in Germany, England and now France and after watching and having played football in these three countries, the name does have some sense of reality to it.

Update: Blogging in 2026: an anachronism?

The world has become a very different place when compared to 2010, the year An Old International has been set up. The word “blogging” was a still a bit of a buzz word nd to have one set one apart from the friends and colleagues. They looked very different back then, more static for sure. By the mid-2010s a blog has been completed by a podcast and later a vlog, a video log, before blogging became outdated. Today it feels as though blogging has become an anachronism, they have become an annexe to many websites to offer regular updates. However, blogs in their own right hardly exist any more.

This blog is the opposite of current trends where content is created almost exclusively as reels or stories – as if the written word has lost some of its appeal or the public the capacity to read more than five words without the need to place an emoji to loosen things up a bit. No, An Old International stays true to its origins: talking more or less sense about the most popular sport: football or soccer in some spheres and doing so randomly, i.e. without a fixed schedule but with an often biased view on developments within the sport. This may sometimes end up in a short, growling rant of a few words, or a couple of paragraphs. It is also a place to vent som anger and perhaps some form of resistance. Resistance to a world that has become a cold place and where it has become somewhat normal to declare anyone who diverges or disagrees as an outcast, an enemy even.

Football is not the most important thing in life, despite reassurance to the opposite from important figures within the game. As soon as more people understand that there are other things in life, the balance may be tipped within the sport and perhaps even in favour of other sports. This however, mayjust be wishful thinking.

Update 2024

Ever since starting this enterprise in 2010, I wanted nothing but to write, not knowing how difficult this would prove to be: to write every day or on a weekly basis even – about football, a topic on which everyone or almost everyone has an opinion and to find and hone my writing voice is not just work, it’s damn hard work. Thankfully, I figured that out quickly and adapted accordingly: when there was inspiration, time and motivation to write, I did so and continue to do so. This has become less frequent over the years and at times I was close to shutting this blog down – only to keep it going as it is my distinct thing: this is me how I feel about football, how I write about it. And this has changed over the years.

Here we are in 2024: 14 years of An Old International and still going. Officially, this blog is now older than the famous football magazine The Blizzard, which saw life in 2011. So, this may not be the best-known football blog but one of the longest-running, bucking trends (everybody has a podcast nowadays, and there are surely many good ones among them; many writers focus on writing elsewhere – I am mine and I will keep writing here AND elsewhere.)

The game has changed almost beyond recognition – on and off the pitch. There are more shows and more marketing than there are sports, which is a shame. The governing bodies are racing to the bottom and competing in shamelessness: money matters more than morals.

The game of football itself has become very fast and very technical and often remains a spectacle to watch.

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