ABSTRACT
During September 1919, The Times, prompted by the post-war commencement of the league programme, praised the wartime contribution of football, whose status as the favourite sport of the armed forces meant that it had done ‘more than anything else to revive tired limbs and weary minds’. 1 Such praise contrasted with the hostility directed at the game by this newspaper, among others, during 1914–15. Within this context, the SFA, like its fellow associations, welcomed the war’s successful conclusion and the prospect of a ‘just and lasting peace’, while taking the opportunity to remind the general public about football’s contribution to the war effort. 2 In this vein, throughout the inter-war years, the football associations continued to press their game’s prominent place in British society alongside its contribution to harmonious international relationships; for example, in 1926, the FAW used its 50th anniversary to claim that ‘the Association game has become firmly cemented as part of the National Life of our great Empire – health-giving in its effects – peace-making in its whole heartedness’. 3 Looking back towards the close of the decade, The Times, reiterating its more supportive view of the game, reminded readers that international football matches ‘did much to foster a friendlier outlook on either side’. 4 Whether or not such attitudes were shared by British governments remains to be seen, particularly given the relatively sceptical official position taken prior to 1914 about sport’s ‘peace-making’ capacities.
