The British isolation from world football in the middle decades of the twentieth century – a myth?

The popular impression of British soccer’s relationship with the rest of the world until the late 1950s was one of selfish, arrogant, isolation. The reality, however, was quite different with frequent and multi-dimensional contact between the ‘Home Nations’ and the rest of the soccer world. This paper acknowledges their self-imposed absence from the FIFA and as a consequent their non-participation in the first three World Cups. However, it demonstrates that at almost every other level, Britain remained at the centre of world soccer, as regards the laws, playing international matches, club tours and the migration of players and referees. It reflects on the circumstances that helped substantiate the myth, focusing on an attitude of superiority, the ban on foreign professionals being ‘employed’ in British soccer and the alleged inferior style of foreign soccer and refereeing standards. This is in contrast to the globalized product that is today’s English Premier League.