Street Football: The Real Grassroots of the Beautiful Game - **PREORDER, SIGNED COPIES AVAILABLE**

By David Proudlove, acclaimed author of When the Circus Leaves Town and Work and Play: The Industrial Roots of English Football, this gripping book:

• Dives into the raw culture of the informal game, with its improvised rules and boundless creativity, which shape players long before the stadium lights and TV cameras appear
• Offers a rich blend of history, global stories and personal experience, showing how street culture has shaped football’s style, spirit and identity worldwide
• Looks beyond the glitz and glamour of big sponsorships, vast stadiums and giant salaries to reveal what really lies at the heart of the sport
• Travels from the working-class streets of northern England to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and the housing projects of Marseille to uncover a grassroots game fuelled by freedom, local rivalry and a sense of community

Street Football is a tribute to the kids and the spaces that keep football honest and authentic, reminding us that its truest form lives far from VAR, academies and contracts. The book lays bare how the culture of the street has shaped the sport as we know it.