'Grand Little Ambassadors': Schoolboy Football in Mid-Twentieth Century England and Wales

This article examines the history and experiences of schools’ football for boys in England and Wales from around the 1920s to the 1960s. It argues that its significance has been marginalized in previous accounts, with little research undertaken beyond small sections in general studies of the grassroots and non-professional game. The article explores three facets of the schoolboy game: its link to community and local identity; its problematic relations with professional soccer; and the experiences of those who played. It argues not only that schools’ football occupied a hitherto underappreciated position in the administration, politics and culture of the game but that playing football for school and representative school teams also became a source of deep satisfaction and meaning for those involved. As such, it contends that the significance of schoolboy football extends beyond the history of sport, incorporating elements of the interconnected histories of childhood, youth and emotions.