Football In The Ruins: The World Cup Of 1966

Book : Part of: Timeline 10/27/62

by James Philip

Genres: Sports; Alternative History sci-fi

Synopsis

It is the late summer of 1966.

This is a FOOTBALL book about the World Cup of 1966 set in the altered timeline of 10/27/62 in which the swinging sixties never happened because the Russians and the Americans blew up the world when the Cuban Missiles Crisis went wrong on Saturday 27th October 1962.

When the representatives of sixty-nine national governing bodies of Association Football gathered in Rome a few days ahead of the start of the Football Tournament of the 1960 Summer Olympic Games – the normal governance and regulatory minutiae apart – there was only one real matter which excited more than passing interest within the 32nd Congress of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA); namely, the selection of the host nation for the 1966 World Cup.

In the event the tournament was awarded to England by a margin of 34 votes to 27 against its only rival, West Germany, the only other applicant, Spain, having stood aside prior to the final vote.

The World Cup of 1966 was forever to be remembered in legend as the time when ‘football in the ruins’ triumphed, albeit briefly, over the madness and mendacity of the princes who had wrecked the northern hemisphere that day in October 1962.

Sport is subtext, emotions, highs and lows of delight and despair and football has been so successful because within its cut and thrust, blood and thunder lie tantalising subtlety, courage and possibilities that constantly astonish even the oldest of journalistic hacks, this author included.

So, live again the heady days of July 1966 when a nation finally began to throw off the nightmare of the October War; when after three years and over eight months of grief, hunger and unwanted foreign wars it rediscovered anew its true heart and voice.

This then is the TIMELINE 10/27/62 story of Football in the Ruins – the World Cup of 1966!

Author’s note to readers: since the publication of ‘Operation Anadyr’ in October 2014, the Timeline 10/27/62 series has branched into and explored a number of additional narrative arcs and themes, and in several standalone stories.

For my readers who prefer to read the Timeline 10/27/62 books in the chronological order of the overall narrative arc FOOTBALL IN THE RUINS = 23.

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Release date: June 7, 2018

Print pages: 194