James Riordan (writer-sportsman)
James Riordan | |
|---|---|
| Born | 10 October 1936 Portsmouth, England |
| Died | 11 February 2012 (aged 75) Portsmouth, England |
| Education | University of Birmingham |
| Occupations |
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| Height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
James Riordan (10 October 1936 – 11 February 2012) was an English novelist, broadcaster, sports historian, and Russian scholar.
He was well known for his work Sport in Soviet Society, the first academic look at sport in the Soviet Union, and for his children's novels.
He claims to have been the first Briton to play football in the USSR, playing for FC Spartak Moscow in 1963. There are, however, no documents, match reports or eyewitness accounts that support his claim, and many details in the story were inaccurate.