- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: Orion (9 Jun 1994)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1857975588
- ISBN-13: 978-1857975581
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.2 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 480,259 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Published to coincide with the 1994 World Cup, this book is the record of a journey through Europe, Africa and the Americas looking at the often surprising relations between politics, culture and football. The author describes his meetings with a remarkable variety of football fans, from the East German dissident whose crime was to support a West German team, to an Argentinean general with his own highly personal views of tactics - and throws new light on the political, religious and cultural forces at work in the game, from the bitter sectarian hatred of an old firm game to the emergence of racially integrated football in South Africa, from the mafia-controlled corruption of Dynamo Kiev to the Hollywood-style preparations for the USA World Cup.
About the Author
Simon Kuper is the author of Football Against the Enemy and writes for the Observer and the Financial Times.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I wanted to love reading this book. However, it didn't quite live up to expectations.
It has clearly suffered from being written so long ago, as so many of the political circumstances described have changed hugely in the intervening years. Having read other reviews it's clear that, when it was first released, this was a pioneering attempt at examining the socio-political background of football.
Aside from the outdatedness, the writing style grates a little. So many passages begin with an 'exclusive interview' with a certain character. While it's impressive that the author has these connections, you begin to imagine that you are being told a story by the man in the local pub who claims he's friends with everyone 'off the telly.' As such, the regular "XXXX told me in the strictest confidence that..."-style passages become irritating. Conceited is perhaps the wrong word, but it's certainly getting that way.
Ultimately though, anyone with an interest in international football (club or country) will be able to appreciate and enjoy this book. If you find yourself lagging after the first chapter - stick with it, it gets better.
It has clearly suffered from being written so long ago, as so many of the political circumstances described have changed hugely in the intervening years. Having read other reviews it's clear that, when it was first released, this was a pioneering attempt at examining the socio-political background of football.
Aside from the outdatedness, the writing style grates a little. So many passages begin with an 'exclusive interview' with a certain character. While it's impressive that the author has these connections, you begin to imagine that you are being told a story by the man in the local pub who claims he's friends with everyone 'off the telly.' As such, the regular "XXXX told me in the strictest confidence that..."-style passages become irritating. Conceited is perhaps the wrong word, but it's certainly getting that way.
Ultimately though, anyone with an interest in international football (club or country) will be able to appreciate and enjoy this book. If you find yourself lagging after the first chapter - stick with it, it gets better.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Given that this book won a major award, I had high hopes for a well-crafted exploration of the relationship between football and politics and perhaps a bit of travelogue-type writing thrown in there too. The book certainly covers these bases well but is just a little dull. The author is the only one I have read who has managed to downplay the intensity of a Rangers-Celtic derby. He also failed to expound properly on the relationship between a national team's playing style and the national character. That said, he describes some memorable encounters and writes in a quite enjoyable manner.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Simon Kuper's work shows exactly how football can penetrate any aspect of day to day life in the most unsuspecting and subtle ways. Not just a football book, Simon Kuper illustrates how only one medium in the world could encompass such a wide range of seemingly divergent subjects. From gulags in Russia to Apartheid in South Africa, military corruption in Argentina, religious conflict in Scotland...the list goes on. In chapter after chapter the author makes his point that the world would not be the same place without the boundless reach of the influence of football. Mr. Kuper deftly tells stories of his travels and makes his point as neatly with his pen as a player like Pele did with his feet on the football pitch. This book belongs on the reading list of college political science courses and should be required reading for any American yet convinced that there is no force in the world like the sport of real football, of soccer.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Superb
I first knew Kuper from his columns in FourFourTwo magazine and had heard good things about this book. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Uncle Mike
The essence of football
Simon Kuper manages to write a book that touches the true essence of football: a game that's much more than a game. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Miguel Pereira
The book that started it all
First, this is a groundbreaking work. Before it, literary football books came by once a decade or so. Now, there's a new "quality" title out every week. Read more
Published 19 months ago by DcLonChi
Overated
If you like football read it, if you don't read it. I think not. This book is slow and boring. I wouldn't recomend it at all. Read more
Published on 23 Jun 2008 by Mrs. K. White
How football reflects, filters and shapes a culture's self-image
Football Against the Enemy deserves classic status, even if for no other reason than it was one of the first books to use football as a topic for 'serious' cultural study. Read more
Published on 17 Mar 2008 by A A Catenaccio
Football geography/politics lesson
This is a book about football politics around the globe. It was written in the 92-94 period. It starts with a look at the Dutch national team and their hatred of the Germans. Read more
Published on 14 July 2006 by Tim Roast
Well Rounded
This book's laudability stems from primarily:
1) It's sweeping through the globe with football as the prime theme. Read more
1) It's sweeping through the globe with football as the prime theme. Read more
Published on 5 Oct 2004 by "catenaccio"
From the sublime ... to the average
If the rating system allowed half stars, I would give this book three and a half, because overall I would recommend it (and three stars does not imply recommendation quality). Read more
Published on 25 Aug 2002 by "jezmondinio"
Conspiracies,politics, the underworld....and football.
From football related conspiracies such as how Herrera stole the credit for re-inventing defensive football to how Argentina`s brutal miltary junta stole the game, from the... Read more
Published on 9 Oct 2001
Sociological P**h
Simon Kuper might write well enough with his Oxbridge et al. education and his journalese hack credentials but I doubt that he's much of a footie fan when it boils down to it. Read more
Published on 10 May 2001
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