Football Books and Church
Keith Hartrick writes about church, football books and his sons book 50 Teams that Mattered.
East Leeds Magazine, January 2012

At first glance they might not seem the most natural pairing but the link between the two is a man – Keith Hartrick, co-pastor of the Grace Communion Church in Leeds. As well as being active in Leeds’ Christian community Keith is also Chairman of Ockley Books Limited, a new and niche sports publishing company launched in 2011 with his son, David.

Their first book ‘50 Teams that Mattered’ is published this February and will be followed by their second in the spring. David spent two and a half years researching and writing ’50 Teams that Mattered’, each chapter focusing on a football team that has left an indelible mark on the game, for the very best and sometimes the very worst reasons.

Beginning with Sheffield FC, the world’s first ‘football club’, the book takes a journey through the history of the game, taking in the birth of professionalism, tactical innovation, football’s popularity, and even the changing face of football’s finances – a subject that now seems to get almost as many column inches as the matches themselves.

As well as looking at the domestic game through stories like Blackburn Olympic taking the FA Cup north for the first time, or Brian Clough’s masterminding of Nottingham Forest’s rise to the top of European football, the book takes a global view of the beautiful game. Brazil’s two greatest sides (1970 and 1982) have chapters devoted to their triumph and artistry, Barcelona’s ‘Dream Teams’ of the 90s and 00s and Real Madrid’s all-conquering side of the 50s are also covered. Besides these obvious examples, expect to see teams from Chile, Colombia, Italy, Uruguay, Germany, Cameroon and the U.S.A. also covered, and many more besides. As well as success stories there are also teams that have made a bigger impact culturally, such as West Bromwich Albion’s bold move to celebrate their three black players Cyrille Regis, Brendon Batson, and Laurie Cunningham in 1978 against a tide of racism on the terraces, or Nigeria’s Olympic Gold in 1996 showing that African football was no longer as naive as had once been assumed.

As well as writing the book David is also one of the editors of the award-winning blog ‘In Bed With Maradona’ and one of the minds behind the hugely popular ‘500 Reasons to Love Football’. He has written for several football websites and magazines including a piece for European Football Weekends’ which was number one on the Guardian’s ‘Favourite Things’ the week of publishing. Having spent twelve years in the motor-trade he made the move to a full-time writing career in 2009 and as football had always been his first love, it was a natural progression that his first book would be about the game. With several more projects in the way and a passion project on England’s performance at Italia’90 taking up much of his spare time, David is hoping ’50 Teams That Mattered’ is the beginning of a long and successful career ahead.

by Keith Hartrick

’50 Teams that Mattered’ is available now from www.ockleybooks.co.uk at the special launch price of £12.99 plus p&p, a £5 discount on the normal retail price of £17.99. Both David and Ockley Books are on Twitter at @DavidHartrick and @OckleyBooksLtd respectively.