137. The Corinthian Spirit, soccer and amateurism, with Dil Porter

You often hear talk about the ‘Corinthian Spirit’ in sport. But who were the Corinthians? And why has the club’s name passed into the folklore of almost all the football codes? This week’s ‘Rugby Reloaded’ talks to Professor Dil Porter about his book ‘English Gentlemen and World Soccer: Corinthians, Amateurism and the Global Game’ (co-written with Dr Chris Bolsmann) which looks at the history of Corinthian FC and examines the myths which surround the club. Could they really defeat professional soccer clubs very easily? Did they always refuse to take penalty kicks because they considered it ‘ungentlemanly’? Dil digs deep into Corinthian history to separate fact from fiction.

For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, take a look at www.rugbyreloaded.com (where you can find the links for this episode) and follow me on Twitter at @collinstony