ABSTRACT
Why the beautiful game? Football is frequently called the beautiful game. It presents itself as the most aesthetic of all sports. But how much truth is there in the old cliché, the credit for which is claimed by formerBBC commentator Stuart Hall? In this chapter, broad support will be o ered for it. Football is indeed the most beautiful of sports. But we need to rely on more than just the received opinion. Is there a compelling reason to give football an aesthetic status above most if not all other sports? An argument will be o ered to that e ect. The case will be made that football exhibits a complex and multilayered aesthetic that at least in part accounts for its supreme popularity. There are many aesthetic dimensions we should note within football and an account of the basis of one of the most abstract of these – real sporting drama – will be o ered in terms of a so-called tendential theory of sporting prowess.
