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The Bromley Boys: The True Story of Supporting the Worst Football Team in Britain
 
 

The Bromley Boys: The True Story of Supporting the Worst Football Team in Britain (Paperback)

by Dave Roberts (Author)
4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
RRP: £12.99
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Customers buy this book with Anoraknophobia: The Life and Times of a Football Obsessive by Rob Grillo

The Bromley Boys: The True Story of Supporting the Worst Football Team in Britain + Anoraknophobia: The Life and Times of a Football Obsessive
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Product details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Portico (18 Aug 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1906032246
  • ISBN-13: 978-1906032241
  • Product Dimensions: 21 x 13.8 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 46,502 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Product Description

Review

"Hilarious and heart-warming...a great read." --Coventry Telegraph, September 15, 2008

'Funny, wise and extremely charming' --The Guardian

'This marvelous memoir is a must-read...exceedlingly funny...among the very best books with a sporting theme.' --Yorkshire Evening Post

'Genuinely funny...thoroughly recommended' --When Saturday Comes

'Nothing has been as good as Fever Pitch. Until now. Laugh out loud funny...The Bromley Boys is a real treat..a must read for any football supporter.' --TheBookbag.co.uk

'With laugh aloud moments as young Dave Roberts reveals his love for Bromley, sheepskin coats, skinheads and his best mate's big sister, The Bromley Boys is well worth a read.' --Kent On Sunday


Review

"Genuinely funny...thoroughly recommended"

Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
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 (12)
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Average Customer Review
4.9 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars More than just a book about football., 30 Aug 2008
The Bromley Boys plots the 1969/70 season for Bromley Football Club, a season that by any one's standards was a disaster for the club. Dave Roberts meticulously recollects each game, conjuring up the names of players who have come and gone, giving us brief glimpses of teams practically unknown, teams such as Corinthian Casuals,Wealdstone and Hitchin Town.

The despair at Bromley's persistently poor performance provides the backdrop for another emotionally engaging story. Dave Roberts takes the reader on a charming and delicate journey through a year in his teenage life. In 1969 Roberts was just 14 and in this book he reconstructs the events that occurred in his life, during that year.

These events, sometimes trivial, sometimes moving and sometimes a bit bizarre, spill into the narrative. As a female reader I often found myself almost glossing past the football, looking for these gems about the teenage boy whose awkward and sometimes strange behaviour is truly endearing.

I guess that the possible irony [?] of The Bromley Boys is that it is not only for fans of Bromley Football Club. The author's beloved Bromley could easily be replaced by any one of the many lower division clubs that dot the country. This is a book about what it means to follow a club, what it means to be obsessed, and perhaps most importantly, what it means to belong. It will appeal to any and to all true football fans. Anyone who has sat on a winter's night, shaking with cold as they watch their team hopelessly trudge about the wet pitch, should read his book.

But to call this merely a football book would be an injustice. The delicate and honest portrayal of a year in Roberts' life makes The Bromley Boys a worthy read for any fan of heartfelt, amusing, honest writing. One moment you get flashes of Nick Hornby, as Dave Roberts explains with uncanny accuracy the manner in which football weaves its way into his daily existence, then the next he becomes an intelligent version of Adrian Mole, as Roberts struggles to come to terms with his latest teenage mishap.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars a must for any true footy fan, 26 Aug 2008
By John Ashenden (u.k) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This book is an absolute must read for anyone who has stood behind a goal at their favourite teams ground in the pouring rain cursing and muttering "never again"..only to turn up promptly and full of hope the next game of course!! Expertly written, Mr Roberts puts the reader in that exact place week after week as his beloved team and his sunday league team suffer the same fate as the season unfolds. An absolute joy to read, it had me in stitches. You really dont have to be a Bromley fan to relate to this, anyone who has followed a not so great non league team...especially in the 60's, 70's and 80's before football lost its soul...can relate to this. Buy it, you wont be dissappointed.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars My favourite book of the year, 30 April 2009
By C. PASCOE (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
It's rare for me to read a book that really makes me laugh. The Bromley Boys achieved it - I was laughing out loud, and regularly, right the way through. There were passages I'd still be thinking about (and snorting in public over) a week or so later...

'...when they went 7-0 up with only a couple of minutes left, I looked longingly towards the exit. When they went 8-0 up, the Barking fans started singing 'seven nil, seven nil, seven nil, seven nil'. It was the final humiliation. They'd actually lost count of the score.'

That's the sort of thing you have to tell everybody down the pub!

It's a funny and moving book, written in a disarmingly self-effacing style. I really loved it and would recommend it to anyone.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Took me back...
Bromley Boys. A tale of idolation. A tale of plenty of agony and the occasional ecstacy. A wonderful book. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mr. S. J. Fairway

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant book, well written and having grown up in the area know a few of the places myself!
Brilliant book, well written and having grown up in the area know a few of the places myself!
Published 2 months ago by S. Fuller

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sporting Great
There's no Hollywood ending & I'm not ruining it by telling you for one 14 year old boy it was a season to remember for all the wrong reasons. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Greg Matthews

5.0 out of 5 stars A VERY CLEVER BOOK
If you've ever known the feeling that nothing else on earth matters more than your football club, whether it's the players, the manager, the ground or even the tea hut... Read more
Published 3 months ago by D. Brayley

5.0 out of 5 stars My sports book of the year
Found this book by accident but then could not put it down.

I was around the same age as the writer and lo and behold I used to go an watch Barking in the Isthmian... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mr. G. Bridgeman-clarke

5.0 out of 5 stars Remember being 14 and football crazy?
Me too. I've just read The Bromley Boys, by Dave Roberts. It brought back all the passion, misery and desperation only a true obsessive can understand. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Ripley Snell

5.0 out of 5 stars Laughing at the misery of a 14 year old boy
Somewhere in The Bromley Boys is at least one memory we can all relate to. If you are a football fan most of the book will remind you of the pleasures and pains of following your... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Ian

4.0 out of 5 stars A real footie fans...
...laughter and tears read. I bought this book for my dad after my husband read it cover to cover in just a couple of days (he isn't known for getting past page 1 of any books)... Read more
Published 8 months ago by pip_pin

5.0 out of 5 stars Not from Bromley?
You do not have to come from Bromley to buy & enjoy this book! It is a tale that every supporter of lower league & so called 'non league'teams can relate to. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Mr. H. J. Jenkins

5.0 out of 5 stars When a 1-0 loss is a great result
This is a really enjoyable book in which Dave Roberts intertwines his memories of a spectacularly unsuccessful Bromley season with the growing pains of a teenage boy, first... Read more
Published 10 months ago by G. Page

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