The Archive

Mike Woitalla explains why the NASL wasn't an elephants' graveyard

The depiction of the North America Soccer League as a circus of geriatric home escapees lives on – especially in the British press, which can’t mention the NASL without ridiculing it. Alas, even WSC has bought into this one. A recent review of the biography of Giorgio Chinaglia, the Welsh-raised Italian World Cup striker who came to New York at 29 and scored 193 goals in eight years, said: “The world’s stars descended on the US to play on astroturf, wear garish strips and generally make fools of themselves while topping up their retirement funds.”

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Ian Plenderleith takes a look at the diverse range of football websites

Welcome in to my exciting life, declares Crystal Palace’s Finn Aki Riihilahti at the start of his official homepage. As player websites go it’s a treat, and you can follow the ups and downs of Aki’s existential mood swings that correspond to his fluctuations in form.

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Photographer Tony Davis was commissioned to take pictures of all 92 League grounds for the new national football museum in Preston. On his travels he found squalor, splendour and some terrific shopping

I’m at Deepdale, home of the national football museum, trying to arrange a trip to Blackpool to photograph Bloomfield Road. But they don’t want me. Could I come back when the ground has been knocked down and redeveloped? With only a few weeks in which to finish the project, I tell them it has to be today. A series of phone calls later, I’m on the road to Blackpool. 

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David Montrose asks the question: are grounds really where they say they are?

Let’s get it straight right now: West Ham do not play at Upton Park. Yes, yes, commentators and journalists may say different; yes, even the players and the manager, going by their public remarks, believe they play there. They don’t. It’s easy, of course, to see how the misconception arose. The team is called West Ham. Obviously, then, West Ham must be where they do their stuff. And this Upton Park you hear about – just has to be the stadium, hasn’t it?

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Despite their confidence earlier this year, frustrated Conference clubs are still waiting for the League to agree more promotion places to the Third Division. Louis Williamson reports

It’s the time of the year when things start to get a little sticky around the action area of the Nationwide League Third Division. Exeter, Carlisle, Torquay and the rest are preparing for the climax of a frantic struggle for survival. If the Conference has its way, though, in future years there will be two or even more League teams giving up their guaranteed place on the pools coupon come the end of the season.

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