The English Game has heart, but then don’t all sports stories that make it to the screen have heart? Think Remember the Titans for football, Hoosiers for basketball and A League of Their Own for baseball — women’s baseball that is. This six-part historical drama takes a look at soccer in England. Standardized by the Football Association (FA) in 1863, the game by the late 19th century is on the cusp of becoming popular, country and nationwide.
THE ENGLISH GAME (British, Netflix) ♦♦♦♦
Eleven London-based, upper-crust schools formed the governing body (FA) for a league of English gentlemen to play against one another under agreed upon rules. However, onto the scene come two Scottish players, recruited and paid by a cotton mill owner to take his working class Lancashire team to the FA Cup. So begins soccer’s transformation from an amateur to a professional game.
At its centre the series exposes the class system in England, privilege versus poverty. Representing the establishment is Arthur Kinnaird, the 11th Lord Kinnaird, a star player of the Old Etonians, who’s pitted against Fergus Suter, a stonemason from Glasgow. A satisfying story arc follows these key rivals in their competition, conflicts and romances. Battles ensue on pitches but also in factories and boardrooms as mill workers foment for better wages and working conditions.
Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey) writes an engaging yarn. Perhaps melodrama makes an appearance in a few scenes, particularly in the character of Fergus’s father, a drunken, abusive ne’er-do-well. But the excellent production values in recreating the period plus superb casting and acting compensate for any overblown moments. No spoiler alerts, though the word predictable will occur to many viewers.
The English Game is not a perfect series but it is perfectly entertaining — and an enjoyable way to pick up a bit of history. •
P.S. Today soccer is the biggest global sport and the dominant sport in South America, Europe and Africa. The FIFA World Cup Final, played every four years to culminate a month-long tournament of 32 nations, regularly reaches more than a billion people.
P.P.S. My viewing partner gives The English Game ♦♦♦½.
Tim McPhail says
Glen’s 3.5 stars equals Pam’s 4 stars. Glen was known as the Toughest Marker at Bishop’s University in his day. Tough but fair. We need more like him today.
Pam McPhail says
In the Sciences students can earn 100% but in the Humanities the scale usually tops at 90%. Glen expanded his scale in marking English essays and exams, assigning marks into the 90s for exceptional work. I must revert to the rating system Brandon and I devised years ago for movies: if we wouldn’t change anything about a movie then it’s perfect. Five stars! In this system I would not call The English Game perfect but would go to 4.5. Seems to me, Tim, you should award 5 stars!
Barbara Richardson says
Unrelated to article but Glen might enjoy this essay about grading…
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/04/private-schools-are-indefensible/618078/
Tim says
Very interesting read Barbara. Perhaps worthy of a discussion all of its own, Pam and Glen.
To be more on topic, I loved The English Game. 4 Stars on the Glen System of marking, 4.5 on the Pam System.
Respectfully, Tim
Pam McPhail says
A long, thoughtful article that merits a long, thoughtful discussion on some occasion… Thanks for sharing, Barb.
Linda Watts says
Sounds like another good recommendation Pam. I will definitely check it out.
Ian says
Good review Pam. I hope ‘The English Game’ will be picked up by the CBC, for the poor viewers with no access to Netflix.
Glen Wickens says
The series does not make clear what rules the FA created for soccer in the late 19th century. The dramatized matches appear to have no rules at all with brutal tackles allowed and no offsides. Indeed, the first game we see looks as much like a rugby scrum as soccer, reminding the knowledgeable viewer that in their early years rugby and soccer had not developed into separate sports. At the idealogical level, the series is conservative, ultimately affirming that the class system can work, both on the playing field and in the factory. Set in the Victorian period, The English Game finds solutions to social problems in the way so many Victorian novelists did through the emergence of broad-minded and compassionate leaders on both sides of the class and economic divide. Interesting that Fellowes calls his series The English Game, all the while showing the impact that two Scotsmen from working class Glasgow have on the game.