Drink and the Professional Footballer in 1890s England and Ireland

Alcohol played many roles in the life of the late Victorian footballer. While the licensed trade and the brewing industry provided much of the initial financial backing for the professional game, the direct relationship between players and drink was more problematic. The early professional was regularly cast as a drunkard in the press, and sometimes with good reason. However this may be the result of class prejudice and the failure of the middle-class men who ran and reported on the sport to reconcile themselves to the part alcohol played in working class culture, rather than to the genuine excesses of individuals.