Kicking Off Again

Kicking Off Again tells the powerful, evocative story of the Football League’s return after the Second World War. After seven years of makeshift, regional competitions, almost a million people poured through the turnstiles on 31 August 1946 – a momentous day not just for football, but for a nation taking its first tentative steps towards normality after years of hardship and horror. With a chapter on each of the 44 scheduled matches, the author explores not only the clubs but the communities they anchored. Alongside the joy of football’s revival sit stories of resilience, humour and the everyday struggles of post war Britain, drawn from newspapers and lived experience. A must-read for lovers of football and social history, Kicking Off Again is a tribute to the fortitude of the people who rose to the many challenges of life in late-1940s Britain.