BOOK REVIEW

We Are Sunday League by Ewan Flynn (Sportsbookofthemonth. com price £9.99)

Statistics and sport go hand-in glove, but one set of numbers the folks who run the Premier League should be concerned about were published in the FT last month.

They showed that Sky TV suffered its largest ever fall in viewing figures (down 14 per cent) last season, despite the company paying almost £10m per match; BT’s already tiny football audience also fell, by 2 per cent.

For a couple of seasons, there has been a steady flow of anecdotal evidence regarding the public’s growing disdain for a sport that treats them as consumers, but the FT’s figures offer a clear indication that our love affair with Premier League football might be coming to an end.

Once the recent multi-million transfer fees for a handful of decent, but by no means exceptional, footballers are taken into account, it’s easier to understand why the game appears increasingly remote to its core supporters. Premier League officials should be concerned as the sums of money TV companies are prepared to pay to screen the ‘world’s most exciting league’ have almost certainly plateaued.

None of this concerns those hardy types who turn out to play Sunday league football across the land every week. They’re often a little the worse for wear, perform on muddy, bobbly or sloping pitches.

If this description strikes a chord and you’re increasingly disillusioned with Premier League superstars and their agents, then We Are Sunday League, “a bittersweet, real-life story from football’s grass roots” is a must.

Flynn captains Wizards FC in a London league where they lock horns with sides such as Southgate Rovers and the ridiculouslynamed Outsidaz FC; where one referee, urged to not book a player because it was his birthday, flourished yellow anyway, telling him it was a birthday card.

It’s a world where players confirm their availability for Sunday’s game with a one-word text message (“In”); where proposed victory drinks involve some pre-celebration diplomacy, ie persuading wives and girlfriends to come along, and where the ‘professional foul’ is re-interpreted to take account of the fact that a player clean through on goal who is clattered probably wouldn’t have scored anyway.

We’ve teamed up with www. sportsbookofthemonth.com and have a copy of We Are Sunday League to give away. To win, visit www.sportsbookofthemonth.com and answer the following question: