When the Whistle Blows

Now available in paperback, this timely history tells the full story of the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, the ‘Footballers’ Battalion’. Based on extensive original research, Andrew Riddoch and John Kemp draw on many previously unpublished letters, personal accounts and photographs to paint a vivid portrait of this legendary British Army battalion that fought in three of the fiercest battles of the Great War – the Somme, Arras and Cambrai. The authors show how this remarkable battalion helped shape football, as well as military history.