Double Book Review (Ahead of Print): The Special Relationship (2022) by Andrew Gamble, and The American Football Revolution (2023) by Ben Isaacs.

“According to Ben Isaacs, although the “story of the year was a massive players’ strike […] the biggest thing that happened for the NFL in 1982 was happening in the UK” (p. 9). Referring to the launch of a new television channel that included a weekly National Football League (NFL) highlights show, this is one of many overstatements found throughout Isaacs’ The American Football Revolution: How Britain Fell in Love with the NFL and Andrew Gamble’s The Special Relationship: The History of American Football in the United Kingdom. The 1982 players’ strike, as Isaacs observes, “wiped out nearly half a season and forced the league to temporarily restructure the standings and playoffs” (p. 9). While the strike was substantially more impactful for the NFL than a one-hour weekly highlights show on British television, the latter was significant for American football fans in the United Kingdom. The volumes complement one another and, when read together, they offer numerous insights into modern NFL fandom in Britain, particularly after the advent of regular television broadcasting of the sport. Gamble’s title further contributes an outline of the history of American football in the United Kingdom, though more focused on the arrival of the NFL than the rise of the domestic game…“

Read the review on Sports History Review (2026).