Football Travel by Outside Write

My guest is journalist Joey D'Urso, whose new book, More Than a Shirt, explores the politics around 22 football shirts from across the world.   Visit Outside Write for more football history. Follow Outside Write on social media, on Bluesky , YouTube , Instagram , Substack and X Check out Chris Lee's three books: ·      Origin Stories: The Pioneers Who Took Football to the World ·      The Defiant:...

My guest is Jay Mwamba, author of Crash of the Buffalo , which explores the tragic story of the 1993 air crash that killed many of the promising Zambian national side. We look at the players involved, the incident itself, and how the nation recovered in the aftermath of the disaster.   Visit Outside Write for more football history. Follow Outside Write on social media, on  Bluesky , YouTube , Inst...

I am joined by Seán McCabe, climate justice officer at Bohemian FC, and club historian Gerry Farrell to discuss the history and culture of Dublin's oldest surviving football club. We look at the club's long history of progressive social activism, discuss its fan-ownership model, and - of course - talk about the marketing power of its shirts. Visit Outside Write for more football history. Follow Ou...

My guest is Rodrigo Barneschi from São Paulo, Brazil. His book, Outsiders: A Football Fanatic's South American Odyssey, has been translated into English and explores the experience of an away fan in South America.  Rodrigo and I discuss fan culture across the continent, from the 'torcidas' of Brazil to the 'barra brava' of Argentina and Uruguay.

My guest is Will Huddleston, a PhD student of Latin American studies at the University of Cambridge. Will studied the relationship between national identity and football in Uruguay while in Montevideo. It's a fascinating conversation...

My guest is Argentinian football writer Luciano Wernicke, whose latest book 'The Dark Side of the Copa Libertadores' explores the murkier side of South American club football's premier tournament.

My guest is Ronny Blaschke, whose latest book 'Football and Racism' explores the relationship between football and colonialism. We look at football's role in the European colonial past, including the British, French, and German empires. What is their legacy today?

My guest is Matt Coughlan , author of  Groundhopper: Tales from Football's Equivalent of Trainspotting . Matt's new book explores the experience of visiting 100 football grounds, focusing on non-league and less mainstream clubs, sparked by his disillusionment with Arsenal and the Premier League.

My guest is Matt Oldroyd from the Nottingham Forest fan group, Forza Garibaldi . Matt's new book, Trailblazers , explores the history of one of the world's oldest and most historically significant football clubs, two-times European champions Nottingham Forest. We look at what the club - and the city of Nottingham - has contributed to the game in England and worldwide.

My guest is Richard Hough, author of Verona Campione, a new book about Hellas Verona's surprise 1985 Scudetto win. We also discuss the ultrà scene in Verona, and the city's other clubs, Chievo and Virtus.  After my chat with Richard, I've tagged on a talk I gave recently on football against fascism in Italy before and during World War II, recorded at Manchester's Festa della Liberazione. 

I welcome Miguel Lourenço Pereira back onto the podcast to discuss his new book, Pasión: A Journey to the Soul of Spanish Football . Following the success of his first book in English, Bring Me That Horizon , a deep-dive into football in his native Portugal, Miguel pops next door to explore the diverse and deeply rooted cultural identities that make up Spanish football. In Pasión , Miguel demonstr...

In this podcast, I speak to four people involved in the telling of the story of Argentinian club Newell's Old Boys. Founded in 1903, the Rosario-based club was inspired to play by the influence of Isaac Newell, born in Kent, England, who moved to Argentina and set up a school where football and physical education complemented academic studies.  In this podcast, we hear from (in order): Adrian Pope...

I am joined by Dr Pete Watson from the University of Leeds, and Karen Ariza Carranza , journalist, founder of Tribuna Krizol - a platform to promote social change in sports and the participation of Colombian women in sports - and she's also an International Olympic Committee young leader. We're looking at the role of women's football within Colombia as an agent for change. In this episode, we cove...

On St Patrick's Day - 17 March 2025 - I gave a talk about my new book, 'Shades of Green: A Journey into Irish Football' at Dulwich Hamlet FC, co-hosted by the Football and War Network with the support of Stanchion Books. Have a listen!

My new book, Shades of Green: A Journey into Irish Football, is out NOW! It's part-groundhop, part-history discovery of football on the island of Ireland as an outsider. My thanks to author and journalist James Hendicott for standing in as host in this episode to interview me (!) 

My guest is Joseph O'Sullivan, better known as 'Football Travel Man' on Instagram. You can also find him on YouTube and writing about football for Forbes. Joseph discusses his experiences following the South American club tournaments for Copa90, plus his other experiences groundhopping in lower league Buenos Aires football clubs, such as Nueva Chicago or Defensa y Justicia.

My guest is Will Wardrop, otherwise known as 'Will in Brazil' over on Instagram. He's based in the capita, Brasilia, and we're discussing groundhopping in Brazil *outside* of the two main cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. We discuss matches in Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Goiânia, and Bahia in the north of the country. Will gives us his groundhopping tips for foreign visitors to Brazil, plus a...

I am joined for a third time by Dr Pete Watson from the University of Leeds to discuss the ultimate grudge match in World Cup history, certainly from one side, at least. We're discussing Argentina versus England at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on 22 June 1986.  It was the first time the two countries had met since the acrimonious Malvinas/Falklands Conflict four years earlier. Argentina famou...

I welcome Christopher Hylland, author of 'Tears at the Bombonera', back onto the podcast to discuss his new book, 'Dame Bola: A Journey Through the Language of Argentinian Football'. We look at the origins of some of the key words in the Argentine game and explore the wider culture of the matchday ritual.

My guests are Sam Kelly and Daniel Edwards from the Hand of Pod podcast, which focusses on Argentine football. I met up with Sam and Daniel while I was down in Buenos Aires and asked them about their experiences as foreigners getting to know the Argentine game and what foreign visitors - especially those who don't speak any/much Spanish - need to know.

In this podcast, I speak to Fernando Romero Nuñez, a sports journalist with the Buenos Aires Herald, about the evolution of Argentinian national identity and where football fits into that. We look at the emergence of the sense of an 'Argentine identity' in the 19th century, the growth of football and local-founded clubs.   We also discuss the 'sibling rivalry' with Uruguay and how that differs fro...

I was in Buenos Aires recently and visited a number of places that I had already written about in my first book, Origin Stories: The Pioneers Who Took Football to the World. In this episode, I was priveleged to have access to the British Cemetery in Buenos Aires, the Buenos Aires English High School, where football was pioneered, and spoke to a historian at Quilmes Atlético Club, the oldest club i...

I'm joined by Niamh O'Mahoney from Football Supporters Europe (FSE) and JulieAnn Thomas from Fulham Lillies. We look at fan cultures within women's football and the challenges in attracting fans. We also look at women fans within the men's game. What can be done to attract more women to the men's game and more men to women's football?

I welcome Alex Ireland back onto the podcast to discuss his new book on Manchester sports manufacturer, Umbro, which celebrated its centenary in 2024.    

My guest is Dave Proudlove, whose new book 'Work and Play' looks at the relationship between the workplace and English football. How pivotal were factories in the foundation and maintenance of clubs within communities and how did that relationship get lost over time?