Come On You Reds

By: Juliet Jacques

A new book on the beginnings of football in the Soviet Union reveals how the Bolsheviks first regarded it as an opium of the people — and then tried to build a game of their own.

For Mass Football, Soviet Poster, 1960s.

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Carles Viñas’ latest book is not a history of football in the Soviet Union. It’s the story of how the sport gained a foothold in the Russian Empire and how the Bolsheviks decided it could be useful to them. As Viñas puts it in the introduction: ‘There were members of the Tsarist court who rejected […]

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Carles Viñas’ latest book is not a history of football in the Soviet Union. It’s the story of how the sport gained a foothold in the Russian Empire and how the Bolsheviks decided it could be useful to them. As Viñas puts it in the introduction: ‘There were members of the Tsarist court who rejected […]

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Carles Viñas’ latest book is not a history of football in the Soviet Union. It’s the story of how the sport gained a foothold in the Russian Empire and how the Bolsheviks decided it could be useful to them. As Viñas puts it in the introduction: ‘There were members of the Tsarist court who rejected […]

Carles Viñas’ latest book is not a history of football in the Soviet Union. It’s the story of how the sport gained a foothold in the Russian Empire and how the Bolsheviks decided it could be useful to them. As Viñas puts it in the introduction: ‘There were members of the Tsarist court who rejected […]

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