The English Game

[Amor de Cosmos]

New here on Netflix in a week or so. Anyone know anything about it? It appears to be a drama series about the infancy of football in a social context, gentleman versus players etc. Anyway sounds kinda OTFish.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Began today. Mixed reaction. First off it's a Julian Fellowes gig, and yes it's Downton Abbey with a bit more "Eh oop lad, there's trouble at mill." Meanwhile in London the Old Etonians are trying to resist losing "their game" in an FA Cup tie to a bunch of millworkers from Darwen. It's all a bit obvious, especially as — for some unlikely reason — the toffs' ladies are all on the side of the unwashed. Having said that AFAIK the details are mostly right. As per DA the kits are brilliant, spot on in every sense, as is the equipment right down to the construction of the ball and the boots. The context is right too, no big crowds at the Oval, just the upper-crusties friends and family. Fictional football rarely films well, and The English Game, is no exception. The formation and strategy differences between the two teams are explained by the characters, but not really illustrated well during the match. However, it's as good a representation of the early days of the game as I've seen. Not a particularly high bar it's true, but enough to keep me watching.

[Sits]

I saw that on our Netflix menu yesterday and wondered about it.

Can I guess how beautiful many of the cast are, without looking it up? Not the mill workers, clearly.

[Sean of the Shed]

They'll still be rugged I reckon, and will spend a hugely disproportionate amount of time shirtless.

[Hot Pepsi]

I’ve watched the first two episodes. Eh. I wish it showed more football and more effectively.

[Amor de Cosmos]

They'll still be rugged I reckon, and will spend a hugely disproportionate amount of time shirtless.

Mostly they're a bunch of hobbits. Speedy and smart. The aristos are the big buggers, dirty too, but gents of course.

[imp]

If it's anything like Downton Abbey, the poshos will turn out to be implausibly woke democratic socialists of some sort. Watched the preview, it looks fucking execrable.

[Aitch]

I concur. Watched the first two episodes and I won't be watching the rest. Excreg, Exrable. Ecxbler, What he said .

[Felicity, I guess so]

Will the sequel be The Scottish Game where they get taught how to pass?

[duncanmckenziedoughnuts]

As a native of Darwen i find it abhorrent. Typical Fellowesian shite.The history of the time has been perverted (I know poetic licence, can't make it all true lest it be dull) but it made me feel like Alexei Sayle in The Strike as soon as I heard details. "Can Pacino play right half?"

I'd rather watch Lewis Travis play Macbeth.

[1974ddr]

I thought it was OK, and there's not a lot else on so I watched it. I think you have to bear in mind that its demographic probably isn't WSC readers of a certain age or students of the development of football in the nineteenth century. Or George Orwell. So it's not likely to be all that historically accurate, as indeed it isn't. However I thought they'd done a reasonable job of taking some historical facts, twisting them around a bit to make a 'better' story, then chucking in a lot of guff for dramatic effect in the style of Upstairs Downstairs (which I vaguely remember as a kid) or Downton Abbey (which I've never watched, so I'm making an assumption). Then they bung in a love triangle and a serious injury to the lovable sidekick (sorry- spoiler alert) and shazam! Light entertainment.

Personally I'd sooner have seen the football more accurately portrayed, for example not conflating the two Blackburn clubs, the Old Etonians winning, Suter playing as a back, not the Victorian Pele, but as I said, I'm not the target audience, I'm a middle-aged football obsessed pedant. But I do have a soft spot for a nicely filmed period drama, especially when I'm stuck at home all the time. And it can be quite therapeutic, sitting in your living room shouting at the TV when something glaringly wrong leaps out at you. Those mill workers had some lovely houses, didn't they? Single mother working at the cotton mill owners club? I used to visit Lancashire terraces a hundred years after this series was set that were less spacious than her place. That Cartwright was definitely slipping her something on the quiet to afford that.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Personally I'd sooner have seen the football more accurately portrayed, for example not conflating the two Blackburn clubs,

Yeah, why did they do that? I couldn't think of any reason for it at all. It was forgettable TV pap — but I did like the shirts, especially Darwen's.

[1974ddr]

For the story, of course! Olympic were the first 'working class' club to win the Cup, in 1883, but Suter didn't play for them; he was part of the Rovers side that won the Cup in the following three seasons.
However, as you quite rightly say, the shirts were excellent.

[Amor de Cosmos]

For the story, of course! Olympic were the first 'working class' club to win the Cup, in 1883, but Suter didn't play for them; he was part of the Rovers side that won the Cup in the following three seasons.
However, as you quite rightly say, the shirts were excellent.

Ah right, that makes sense.

Costume design seem to be the only thing that Fellowes is really good at (and I'm not sure if even that is down to him.)