“That kind of put soccer on my radar as a sport. I saw how deeply it meant to people, in a way I didn’t appreciate prior to that. And then I was in London when the World Cup began, and I saw the opening match — Argentina and Cameroon, with Cameroon winning in an upset. Just the whole spectacle of it gave me an appreciation for the game.” — Brian Bunk, on Ireland, Italia ’90, and the moment everything changed
Not long now. Only seven days until the World Cup begins. Just enough time to read Brian D. Bunk’s new The Shortest History of Soccer: From Ancient Kicking Games to the World’s Most Popular Sport. History isn’t Bunk with Brian. He looks a bit like Elton John, which is appropriate given that old Rocket Man was chairman of Watford and bankrolled the tiny English club to almost winning the league. Pop stars like Ed Sheeran (Ipswich) and Robert Plant (Wolves) love football, Bunk notes. Probably because it reminds them of where they came from.
Bunk’s thesis is that soccer’s global dominance is not accidental. Born in the industrial communities of nineteenth-century England, the game gave workers a new identity, new evidence of their collective power, proof they’ll never walk alone. That same logic explains why middle-aged men all over America religiously gather at their local bars to watch English teams with strange names like Ipswich Town and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Such is religion in our globalised post-industrial age.
“Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don’t like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that,” the great Liverpool manager Bill Shankly quipped. That’s the shortest of short histories of football. What the working-class Shankly meant was that it gives us social meaning — which is, indeed, more historically significant than the life or death of a single individual. Or even God. Football saves our souls, Brian Bunk concurs with Bill Shankly. Enjoy the World Cup.
Five Takeaways
• Soccer Was Born in Industrial Communities for a Reason. Industrialisation shattered traditional community life. Soccer filled the gap — a new identity, a new anchor, a new collective. This community function is baked into the game, which is why it replicates across every culture it touches.
• Why Americans Love the Premier League. The 1990s were the pivot: 1994 World Cup, MLS, FIFA video game, ESPN and Fox broadcasting deals. Add celebrity ownership, Ted Lasso, Welcome to Wrexham. A generation of Americans for whom following the Premier League is a primary source of community.
• Maradona: All the Contradictions of Football. Mexico City, June 1986. Not the Hand of God — the other goal. Turning like a little eel. Bryon Butler’s BBC commentary. If any single figure captures the genius, joy, turbulence, and tragedy of football, it is Maradona.
• The World Cup Returns to North America. Seven days. The most popular sport in the world returns to North America for the first time since 1994. Soccer’s US footprint is bigger than it has ever been.
• Andrew’s Game: Spurs vs Benfica, April 1962. Two clear penalties not given. A German referee. Jimmy Greaves on the pitch. Andrew concludes: he should have called his son Jimmy.
About the Guest
Brian D. Bunk is Senior Lecturer in History at UMass Amherst and the author of The Shortest History of Soccer (The Experiment, June 2026) and Beyond the Field. He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.
References
The Shortest History of Soccer by Brian D. Bunk (The Experiment, June 2026): theexperimentpublishing.com
Argentina vs England, Mexico City, June 22, 1986 — the Hand of God game
About Keen On America
Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen.
Website: https://keenon.tv/ Substack: https://keenon.substack.com/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@KeenOnShow
Chapters:
00:00:31 Seven days until the World Cup
00:01:26 Brian’s origin story: Ireland 1990
00:02:03 Brian looks like Elton John
00:04:21 What do you teach at UMass?
00:05:30 Why has the Premier League taken off in the US?
00:07:18 Soccer and community
00:08:48 Soccer born in industrial communities
00:43:15 The one game you’d want to attend
00:44:53 Maradona and the beautiful game
00:46:15 Andrew’s game: Spurs vs Benfica 1962