While continental footballers have flowing skills, England’s are tough and physical. A new book says this has a lot to do with Victorian ideas of manliness writes Catherine Etoe

IT is not uncommon for fans to make a connection between masturbation and football.
They usually do it just after the referee has made a decision they aren’t too impressed with.
Yet according to author David Winner in his new book, Those Feet: A Sensual History of Football, self-love was partly why the game was invented in the first place.
The former New Journal feature and sports writer says the game was founded by puritanical Victorians eager to rid their young men of “this horrible thing done in secrecy”. And following his somewhat tongue in cheek line of thought, that is one of the reasons why the English don’t play sexy football. Baffled? You may well be, but anyone familiar with Winner’s last book, Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football, won’t be surprised by this latest off-the-wall venture.