Review of History Of Football, The (Part 1)

Introduction

Football. The beautiful game. The most popular sport in the world. The most talked about sport in the world. A sport which preoccupies millions of people for nine months of the year - and once every four years - during the summer as well.

With the start of the 2002 World Cup only days away, and the papers full of stories of Beckham`s foot, Zidane`s leg and Keane`s mouth, and nowhere enough football related material on the television..."The History of Football" gives you a further excuse to drool over grown men chasing a ball around a field…

The discs are available as a boxset, or individually - and this review looks at the first disc, which contains two programs.

Video

The video comes in 1.33:1 full-frame, and is generally of a good standard. The footage shot for the series is crisp and detailed, with no grain or dirt, and plenty of contrast. The archival footage, particularly during the first disc, isn`t so good due to it`s age, and is at times dirty and grainy.

Visually, the series follows standard documentary format and doesn`t offer any innovation to the genre, instead following the tried and trusted method of compiling endless clips and interviews.

Audio

The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, and adequately reproduces the narration and sound. Being a documentary, there`s no call for sound effects or multi-channel sound, so there`s little more I can say other than that the narration is always clear and understandable.

Features

Each episode contains a number of extras - "Origins" contains interviews and several archive clips of early games which are quite interesting, but the video quality is pretty poor as some of them are over 100 years old. "Football Cultures" contains background information on the failed North American Soccer League along with footage, interviews and background information about Real Madrid`s history.

The menus are well animated and easy to navigate.

Conclusion

Overall, "The History of Football" is a very interesting series, and my only regret about being sent this disc to watch is that I don`t have the rest of the series to enjoy.

The two episodes on this disc are both very interesting and contain a good balance of archival footage and interviews. Fans of football will of course love the subject matter, and a good set of extras back up the content.

The presentation is good, although the quality of some of the archival footage is a little ropey - this is however acceptable due to its age.

My only real gripe with the disc is the £19.99 suggested retail price, which is way too high, and a £12.99 price point is much more realistic.