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Italia 90 was, in a sense, the first and the last World Cup. It was also the best and worst World Cup. It was football stood at a junction. In this book Simon Hart explores the full global impact of the 1990 World Cup, speaking to players from far and wide to retell the tale of a tournament that drew double the worldwide TV audience of its predecessor, and which left those 26bn viewers enthralled and appalled in equal measure - enthralled by the joyous contributions of scoring heroes like Cameroon's hip-wriggling veteran, Roger Milla, and Italy's wide-eyed boy from nowhere, Toto Schillaci, yet appalled by the cynicism of an Argentina side who somehow dragged themselves, kicking and screaming, to the final. It was not just Gazza crying - there were tears of joy at breakthrough triumphs in Cameroon and Costa Rica, in the Republic of Ireland and United Arab Emirates. For Europe's Eastern Bloc participants it was the end of an era. For the United States it was the beginning of one. Italians were left wondering where it went wrong - on the pitch and, in time, off it too. 'World In Motion' remembers the good, the bad and the ugly of Italia 90 - the final World Cup before the advent of the Premier League and Champions League, when wall-to-wall televised football was still a treat, and when the global game was still full of novelties ... but not for much longer.
Simon Hart
Simon Hart was MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire between 2010 and 2024. Previously a chartered surveyor, Simon cut his political teeth as the former chief executive officer of the Countryside Alliance, the UK’s largest rural lobbying group, between 2003 and 2010. He has served on four select committees and then, following Theresa May’s election as prime minister in 2016, became her representative on the Committee for Standards in Public Life. He was appointed as Minister for Implementation in the Cabinet Office under Boris Johnson, and then joined the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Wales. He later resigned from his government the day before Johnson himself surrendered. In October 2022, Rishi Sunak invited him to become Chief Whip, where he became one of the few chief whips to last an entire premiership. He is married with two adult childrenHe lives in Pembrokeshire.
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