Weekend Football

12 June 2009

by Jerrad Peters

An open letter to readers:

Readers of this space—and I have been heartened to learn that there are quite a few of you—are going to notice a significant reduction in the amount of postings between now and September. This is down to a very simple reason, and one I hope you can get excited about.

I am writing a book. It has yet to be officially titled, but I'm anticipating something along the lines of The Savvy Soccer Fan: 50 things you need to know. As the name suggests, I'll be tackling 50 topics that fledgling football fans should be aware of, especially with the World Cup just under a year away.

Basically, I'm making the assumption that North American sportsfans would like to follow football more than they currently do. There's simply too much information that European television commentators and media outlets take for granted as second nature.

For example, what is a transfer, and how does it differ from a trade? Aren't players drafted? Or, why do football leagues employ a system of promotion and relegation? And how can a club participate in multiple leagues and competitions at the same time?

These are questions that many of you already know the answer to. But I'm trying to infuse as many interesting anecdotes and bits of story-telling as possible in order to make the book palatable to seasoned football fanatics.

The book is scheduled for an April release, roughly two months ahead of South Africa 2010. I'll be promoting it extensively between now and then, and will do some follow-up work while at the big event from my outpost in Cape Town.

In the meantime, you'll still find my articles every Monday in the Winnipeg Sun and online at Winnipegsun.com/sports. My pieces also appear randomly throughout the week, such as today with my analysis of Cristiano Ronaldo's world record-breaking transfer to Real Madrid (http://www.winnipegsun.com/sports/othersports/2009/06/12/9773536-sun.html).

I'll also continue writing feature articles for Soccer 360 magazine, maintaining my blog at ESPN (http://blogs.soccernet.com/astonvilla/) and answering your questions—however challenging—at Soccer365.com.

I'd also encourage you to subscribe to my Twitter feeds at twitter.com/petersjerrad. In lieu of regular postings on this site, I'll be providing brief analysis and opinion on a wide range of football-related topics throughout the summer.

Finally, thanks so much for reading. All of you know that football, despite its popularity, is mostly ignored by the folks who run the daily newspapers and television networks in this country. They don't do it out of disdain. Most of them are wonderful people. But they're woefully ignorant when it comes to football, and I'm hopeful that my book can help address that.

Cheers,

Jerrad

Twitter.com/peterssoccer

jerradpeters@gmail.com