I know more about science than either football or cricket. For my dad it’s the other way round. This means that our conversations about sport often lapse into arguments in which he’ll say something like, “Tom Finney would be a class above if he were playing today.” And I’ll say something like, “Do you know how much the cardiovascular fitness alone of the average footballer has increased since Preston North End was a serious football team?” [Coming from a Villa supporter, that’s a deadly put-down, I can tell you.]
This is all a prelude to my linking to another fabulously anoraky post by Chris Dillow that scientifically confirms one of my father’s cherished grumbles about the England cricket selectors: that they are biased towards cricketers playing for Home Counties clubs. (Of course, these days, now Test players are employed as such, my dad’s grumble is that Lancashire are chronically deprived of their best.)
It’s only a matter of time before Norm retires to his metaphorical shed with a few years of Wisden and responds to Chris by showing that the apparent geographical bias of the selectors is in fact class based.
Your father’s right about Finney.
In all seriousness, what’s the answer to that cardiovascular fitness question? Did he really tell you? I’m putting together a book proposal for something on changing football coaching in England c. 1890-2002, and that kind of information is extremely hard to come by. (Largely because too many “coaches” were self-satisfied xenophobes it has to be said)
Your dad’s in good company. Back in the early 70s, Bill Shankly was asked how Tom Finney compared to Rod Marsh. Shankly replied: “There’s not much in it, but I reckon Tom’s a bit better.”
“Why do you say that” asked the interviewer?
“Well”, said Shanks, “Tom is almost 60.”
Don’t encourage him.
(What with you two, my dad’s two writerly female fans amongst the regulars here, and the reality TV producer who wanted to put us in a BBC documentary I’m going to have to give the grumpy old man his own blog.)
No idea. I remember reading somewhere in some sports physiology article that the general physical capacity of sportsmen had increased steadily over time and (pace Zidane) hardly any footballers smoke now, whereas most of them would have done in Finney’s heyday. I’m sure he was a superb ball-player, but he simply wouldn’t have the pace of a modern striker. (It’s not a direct parallel, I know, but most sprinters of his time would be pushed to compete with contemporary athletes.)