The best part of this book was the trip down memory lane and reminiscing about similar things I did in my childhood as the author did. It was enjoyable reading about the sporting stuff (bar the cricket, not a fan of it!) from the fan point of view but the book did seem to be very padded out with too much personal chit-chat to truly enjoy it.

I absolutely loved this book! It is a witty feast of sporting nostalgia which is the backdrop to an intelligent, erudite and, to this reader at least, note-perfect examination of what it means to be a sports obsessive. Ben Dobson describes in great detail and with pin-point accuracy how sports obsessives can reach the point where following a sports team or teams becomes so warped that the fear of defeat comes to exceed the anticipation of success and any enjoyment can only be had when the contest is over and victory has been secured.

I gave this book 5 stars but I must add a heavy caveat to my enthusiastic rating : it comes from a fellow sports obsessive. Those who are not sports obsessives, or even regular sports fans, may not enjoy the sporting nostalgia as much as I did; and they may not even begin to understand the mindset that means it is almost too stressful to watch your favourite sports team or teams because the consequences of defeat are too painful to contemplate.

To paraphrase slightly what a great footballing sage once said “Sport is the most important of the unimportant things in life” and Ben Dobson captures this superbly.