The Run of Play is a blog about
the wonder and terror of soccer.

We left the window open during a match in October 2007 and a strange wind blew into the room.

Now we walk the forgotten byways of football with a lonely tread, searching for the beautiful, the bewildering, the haunting, and the absurd.

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More Wonderful Soccer Postcards

A lot of people asked to see more of these, so here’s a second batch, extending a bit later into the twentieth century.


Little boy with football, c. 1910s

Little boy with football


Wembley Stadium, 1925

Wembley, 1925


Little boy with footballer toy, 1930s. Do they still make toys like this?

Little boy with footballer toy


Football Illustrated, “A Throw-In,” c. 1940

A Throw-In


Football Illustrated, “A Touch Line,” c. 1940

A Touch Line


Football Illustrated, “Centre Forward,” c. 1940

Centre Forward


Football Illustrated, “Ball Control,” c. 1940

Ball Control


Illustration of a soccer game played at Iowa’s Camp Algona, which held 10,000 German prisoners of war during WWII.

Football in the stockades


Molly Brett, “Fairy Games: Football.” Over to you, Jim Rome.

Fairy Games: Football


“Thanksgiving.” Okay, this is probably American football, but I’d like to believe that the turkey seemed like a hard tackler and the kid shrieked and picked up the ball.

Thanksgiving


Either this goalkeeper is way out of his net, or this volleyball game is being played on the wrong surface.

Volleyball?


Bob Marley juggling

Bob Marley juggling


Buckingham Palace guards defend a free kick.

The Wall


German football cows. Can you find the ball?

Cows


U.S. Women’s National Team photographed by Annie Leibovitz, 1996

US Women's Team


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More Wonderful Soccer Postcards

by Brian Phillips · October 28, 2010

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