Football is, of course, staggeringly popular. Even at a time when there is vocal discontent over ticket
prices, the commoditisation of the game, the financial issues which increasingly take clubs away
from the influence of fans and into the hands of investors, or the ugliness of racism or violence,
football is voraciously consumed. In light of this, it is no surprise that football writing is also
voraciously consumed. A brief survey of a number of national newspapers on one day shows the
following:
Title
The Times
The Guardian
The Independent
The Daily Mail
The Daily Mirror
The Sun
The Daily Star
Total pages
76
46
72
104
68
68
64
Pages of Football
7
5
6
10
7
9
8
Percentage
9.2%
10.9%
8.3%
9.6%
10.3%
13.2%
12.5%
On average, then, the main daily newspapers in England devote 10.6% of their entire physical
volume to football. This is arguably a greater proportion than any single section except ‘home news’
or, if you get the Evening Standard, property! Now obviously, this is slightly imprecise given adverts
and, in the instance of The Guardian, the presence of a cycling story on their back page; back pages
otherwise are the exclusive preserve of football. However, it is clear that football accounts for a lot
of the time and space according by national newspapers to divergent subjects. Now consider this:
Title
The Times
The Guardian
The Independent
The Daily Mail
The Daily Mirror
The Sun
The Daily Star
% Football of
writing
9.2
10.9
8.3
9.6
10.3
13.2
12.5
Cost of paper/£
1.00
1.40
1.40
0.60
0.50
0.40
0.35
‘Value’ of football
writing
9.2
7.8
5.9
16
20.6
33
35.7