Tuesday 27 September 2011

Book Review : 'She Stood There Laughing' - Stephen Foster

 This is a review taken from the website Ciao in which I wrote quite a while ago and just thought I would post it here. The book is written by a man called Stephen Foster who also was an avid stoke fan, however he passed away recently this year and I just thought I would post it on here again.
R.I.P



A book about the love of football between a man, his son and THEIR football club, written by Stephen Forster. I first read this book as a young boy, given to me by my Dad as we are both Stoke fans, It was a very entertaining read back than but after re-reading it recently I realised just how good this book is! The main plot of the book is about Stephen himself and the repercussions of following such a lowly second division team like Stoke City FC, paying sometimes hundreds of pounds to visit dingy parts of the country on foul rainy days to watch your team lose 5-0 to second off bottom in the league (you're team is bottom of course).
Hilarious throughout, as a football fan of any team you can really appreciate the thoughts and feelings that Stephens shares with us. I'm sure anyone who enjoys sports of any kind would enjoy the different views, ups and downs that are portrayed in the book. It tells of past trips he has had to endure, some that would make you want to cry with laughter - at the authors expense for following such as rubbish club! And others that will remind you of just how good it is to go and support you're team, no matter how good or bad the day goes.
Stephen Foster talks alot about his son, who he takes to as many games as he can. Both of them (at the time of writing) lived in Norwich, which is a good while away from Stoke making home games very hard for them to follow; but worse than that, his son has to go to school with the local Norwich fans (and man ure fans of course).
The book also opened my eyes to not only how much I miss going to the Stoke matches (or any football matches for that matter) but gives me a close insight to how my father would feel when taking me to games. Throughout the book Stephen expresses his dismay in making his son follow the dark, lonely and sad path that is supporting Stoke City, however he states how it would not be the same without having someone to moan, grumble and discuss the matches with. I was the son that my father would turn to, to talk about Stoke with - someone to go through the pain with him!
Although it sounds as though both me and Stephen are making it seem like nobody would ever want to support this club, it is merely an overexageration that I'm sure football fans worldwide would be able to relate to. Overall the book is very interesting to read, including views from another fans point of view; gives information about the club Stoke City and is generally funny with dry humour throughout. I would definately suggest purchasing the book no matter what football club you support.
  

3 comments:

  1. Too bad football culture really is lost in many ways. Especially in the Premier League. I enjoy when the fans sing etc and my hometown club just made it into the 3rd bundesliga ! Preußen Münster.

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  2. good point, the culture of all sports is draining into the hole of pop culture BS

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  3. i dont watch sports anymore because it makes me sad. I dont know, its like having sex with a hooker, it's like "the real thing" only that its done without HEART.. fuck...

    Heart used to mean something.

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