Book
review
Images of Sport - Burnley Football Club, 1882-1968
Compiled by Ray Simpson
Tempus Publishing Ltd, Stroud, Gloucestershire
price £9.99
Up North over Christmas, I decided that, as the
world was about to end, or at least all the computers were going to blow up, it was a good
time to do some serious credit card abuse down the club shop. Of course, the millennium
bug turned out to be one giant hoax and I ending up being stuck with a bill as long as my
arm to pay off, but such is life. However, one of the things I picked up in my haul is a
splendid new book of photographs. As part of the ‘Images in Sport’ series, club
historian Ray Simpson has selected archive photographs covering the club from 1882 to
1968. What an excellent selection it is too. From our faltering first steps out of the
chrysalis of the Burnley Rovers Rugby Club to our part in the early days of the Football
League and the 1914 FA Cup triumph, it’s here. Of course, if you want the 1921 title
winners, the 1947 Cup finalists, the 1960 champions and the European sides, you’ve
got those too. Bert Freeman, George Beel, Harry Potts and Jimmy McIlroy all take their
place in the sun here. Photos are accompanied by a brief text, and although most of the
recent history is well known, a lot of the earlier stuff was news to me.
Those who bought the Rhapsody in Claret and Blue
video – which should be all of you – will find some of these photos familiar
from the rostrum camera sequences therein, as will those lucky enough to have got hold of
this year’s calendar. By a happy coincidence, the club has been able to sell some of
these images to us three times over in those various formats (I assume they get a cut from
this book). This is not a complaint. At long last the club has realised that our heritage
is an important part of why we are Clarets, and is also a means of making the money to
give us the opportunity to make a bit more history in the future. Hats off to them, I say.
This is a book no self-respecting Claret coffee
table should be without. You should be able to buy it from the three club shops in
Burnley, or call 01282 700016 for more information. One small gripe is that the book stops
dead at 1968, on the grounds that the best of times had come to an end by then. Perhaps
so, but there’s been a fair amount that’s happened in the last thirty-odd years,
with extraordinary moments of triumph and despair along the way. I suggest Volume Two is
required at the earliest opportunity.
Firmo
February 2000
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