The story of Clapton Orient's major contribution to the Footballers' Battalion in the Great War.

They Took The Lead is a story that, without hyperbole, can be described as one that truly has been waiting to be told.

And what a long wait it has been - some 91 years, since Clapton Orient Football Club (now Leyton Orient) decided to volunteer en masse to fight in the First World War - and help silence the critics who felt professional football should be banned for good.

While the book may have particular resonance for O's fans it will also strike a poignant chord with other football supporters - and students of the First World War.

Many hidden stories have come to light after being tucked away for nigh on 90 years, including the tale of a modest footballer - yes, a modest one! - who saved several lives, and, in these days of a 'twisted sock' putting players out of action for a month, relates the tale of a player who was incapacitated not once but twice in the war, only to resume playing after it.

The Orient can claim fame for being the first English Football League club to have a member of the royal family attend a League fixture, when the Prince of Wales (the future Edward Vlll) came to Millfields Road to see the O's beat Notts County 3-0 on April 30 1921. The royal patronage was in recognition of the Club's sterling service to 'King and Country.'

The book also touches on why women's football was officially banned by the FA until 1971 and you even find out how, if history had taken a different course, Brisbane Road might have been a baseball stadium these days.

Above all, though, this is a book that takes us on a journey where football in this country really was in a different world.

Was it more important than life or death?

For the footballers in the front line, football was certainly the Beautiful Game compared to the living hell they had to face on a daily basis.

Steve Jenkins, who spent six years writing and meticulously researching They Took The Lead, has been an O's fan since 1969 and remembers with pride how the Club came so close to regaining its place in the top flight in 1974 and then four years later reached the FA Cup semi final, both achievements now seem a lifetime away.

"I didn't set out to write a book," he insists. "I was simply delving into an area of the Club's history that I found interesting. It really started when my friend and Supporters' Club colleague David Dodd turned to me on our way back from a trip to the O's war graves at the Somme, and said: 'You should write a book about this.'

"In the end, research led me to more research, and the project almost took on a life of its own. As it gathered momentum I could never have imagined, I began to feel almost obliged to carry it to its conclusion in order to honour the memory of those who gave their lives.

"Along the way, it seems a few mysteries have finally been solved as well..."

2006 is the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. Steve and his Leyton Orient colleagues will be 'joining up' (if that is the right phrase!) with the Leyton Branch Royal British Legion on the first ever official trip to the Somme to mark the occasion in July.

They Took The Lead is out now published by DDP One Stop UK Ltd, priced at £9.99 - see Steve in the Supporters Club or pop in to the club's Superstore to buy your copy.