Morbo: The Story of Spanish Football [Paperback]

English writer Phil Ball has put the history of Spanish football into the context of the epomymous Morbo. Hard to pin down in translation (though the author manfully spends a chapter trying to explain the term in its fullest sense), "morbo" encapsulates the fierce rivalry across a club scene fragmented by history, language and politics. The bitter feeling between Barcelona and Real Madrid has, of course, been well-documented elsewhere. Here that famous rivalry is only one component of a landscape of antagonism. In particular, the Basque country in the north-west and Seville in the south both provide breeding grounds for a healthy portion of "morbo", and receive Ball's attention accordingly. The narrative captures the essence of that feeling perfectly, without failing to inform on a historical basis. A splendid chapter traces the ancestry of football in Spain back to the labourers in the English-owned copper mines in Huelva, Andalucia. While Spanish club football has always had its stars, from Di Stefano to Cruyff and Butragueno through to Raul and Luis Figo today, Ball shows that there is a greater force running in its lifeblood. Yet still there remains a paradox; he analyses the historical under-achievement of the Spanish national side in major international tournaments.

The new millennium has seen excellent books focusing on football culture in Holland and France--namely Brilliant Orange and Le Foot. At a time when the stock of Spanish club football has perhaps not been higher since the heyday of Real Madrid in the late 50s and early 60s, Morbo, a triumph in the same vein, thankfully allows us to add Spain to the list. --Trevor Crowe --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Excellent... Phil Ball has written nothing less than a guide to Spanish life

Fascinating... full of politics and culture as well as football

Lively, entertaining, perceptive and well informed

His eye for the thrilling moment is matched only by his succinct manner in telling the tale

Excellent and well-written account... essential reading for every football aficionado visiting Spain

A revised and updated paperback edition of Phil Ball's highly acclaimed history of Spanish football, which was first published in 2001.

Morbo is the unique element that gives Spanish football its special flavour. More than mere rivalry, it is the expression in a thousand provocative ways of the feeling between clubs divided by history, language and politics.

At its most bitter between Barcelona and Real Madrid, the same spirit courses through the uncompromising politics of the Basque Country, hangs over the divided city of Seville and marks Spain's attitude towards its national team.

In this revised and updated version of his acclaimed history, Phil Ball also examines the emerging power centres of Valencia and La Coruña, and weighs up the impact of David Beckham on the morbo in Madrid

Phil Ball began life in Vancouver, was brought up in Cleethorpes and ended up in the Basque Country, after spells in Peru and Oman. He has written for top independent football magazine When Saturday Comes since 1987, and is the author of White Storm: 100 Years of Real Madrid