Book Review: From Broxburn to Brazil
The word ‘passionate’ is so overused that its true meaning has become massively devalued. But not in this case. This is a book full to brimming with the joy of football. The author’s passion for the beautiful game comes vividly across on every page, even when (by his own admission) some of the games he chronicles were real stinkers!
The book’s subtitle is “A Year of Global Football Travel with St Johnstone at its Heart.’ And that’s exactly what it is. Jim Eccleston, a lifelong Saints’ fan, describes in the introduction how this adventure, “was not really planned.” However, he also records how his trips to watch St Johnstone play in Europe in the past kindled “an enthusiasm for seeing football in new surroundings,” and “along the way, I acquired the international football-tourism bug.”
The book encompasses 120 matches, spread across the 2025-206 season. In total, Jim visited 14 countries, three continents spread across two hemispheres, taking in matches from the lower levels of Scotland (the East of Scotland King Cup final, played at Carmuirs Park, Camelon, between Edinburgh University and Kinnoull), to the Boca Juniors Bombonera stadium in Buenos Aires and the Maracana in Brazil. The chapters are arranged chronologically, by month, with a brief introduction as to the places, matches, goals and people he met along the way, followed by individual pieces describing matches, stadium tours and travel (and, memorably, the quality of the Bovril on offer).
The idea started with a few “match reports” on Facebook and grew from there. The central theme, for obvious reasons, is St Johnstone’s path to Championship success, sealed in a match against Dunfermline towards the end of last season. For Saints’ fans, even those who might not normally buy or read books, the book offers the opportunity to dip in and out of matches as the season progresses, remembering the ups and downs (mainly ups it must be said) of their club’s return to the Premiership at the first time of asking.
But the book is far more than just a paean to Jim Eccleston’s own prejudices as regards his team (declaration of interest, prejudices which I share). It describes all the little things, the general antipathy towards the Old Firm which unites many (non-Old Firm) fans, the rivalries and feelings that come when your nearest challengers are doing better than you, and the unbelievable release of tension when you realise you are two goals up in the Championship decider with only a few minutes to go.
More especially, From Broxburn to Brazil does not stint on the other countries, clubs and matches that Jim attended in this whirlwind year of football nomadism. It’s this that makes if a book for (almost) all Scottish football fans. Descriptions of stadium tours in foreign climes, of making friends with fans from across the globe and of trains, planes, buses and car dashes to get to a match on time, are spread throughout each chapter. Nor is the Scottish national side and the lower reaches of the Scottish game neglected: there are many tales of games from Tranent to Armadale and Whitburn to Auchinleck, as well as Scottish matches at Hampden and elsewhere.
All the profits (£10 per book) from the book are going to a cause that Jim describes throughout the book – a cause that is close to his heart (and one that should not be necessary in a first-world country like ours), namely, the St Johnstone Community Food Bank, of which Jim is an enthusiastic supporter. This is a genuinely good read, something that can be dipped into as and when you like or, if you prefer, read from cover to cover over a few days. There is something new to learn on many of its 460 pages, especially those dealing with lower league or overseas clubs and their fans. To buy a copy, go to this link:
Alastair Blair, Operations Director, the Scottish Football Union
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