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    #26
    Football Book Review Thread

    The guy who reviewed the book is E10 Rifle (see start of thread). You could just send him something directly, too. I suspect he'll wander by this thread soon enough, though.

    (edit: Gah!)

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      #27
      Football Book Review Thread

      Yeah you can send me a PM if it's easier

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        #28
        Football Book Review Thread

        And, as if by magic...

        Comment


          #29
          Football Book Review Thread

          E10 Rifle,
          As you can see from this thread, basically, Riordan's Spartak claims don't add up. If you have any questions re: my sources of information/reaction to Riordan's claims in Russia, do feel free to ask here/by PM/e-mail.

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            #30
            Football Book Review Thread

            PM sent

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              #31
              Football Book Review Thread

              Welcome, Sash. It would be great if you could stick around to add to our collective knowledge of Russian football.

              And it's a particularly great name for a Spartak supporter given the badge. I've often wondered why they haven't used a sash on their shirts, instead of the broad hoop.

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                #32
                Football Book Review Thread

                Mornin' Urs. How's California?

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                  #33
                  Football Book Review Thread

                  Idyllic, as it usually is.

                  Now if Europe would just go home so that I can stop working (answering emails at 4:30 am is extreme even for me).

                  Comment


                    #34
                    Football Book Review Thread

                    ursus arctos,
                    I see what you've done there. The hoop dates back to 1934, as far as I know. The sash was never under consideration, I don't think.

                    E10 Rifle,
                    Have replied. Can mobilise some irritated Russia-based Spartakovites for further information.

                    Comment


                      #35
                      Football Book Review Thread

                      Great stuff, Sash.

                      Blimey, next they'll be saying that Billy Bragg's uncle never actually appeared for Red Star Belgrade.

                      Comment


                        #36
                        Football Book Review Thread

                        Actually, this is the original Guardian article from 2006 (with comments):
                        http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2006/11/07/introducing_the_first_briton_t.html
                        Never saw an answer from Logofet.

                        Comment


                          #37
                          Football Book Review Thread

                          And another one:

                          African football is an under-covered subject. It's a massive continent, with a passion for football to match. It has outsized personalities, terrific talent, under-capitalied teams, corruption at the highest levels, decades-long rivalries - it's some of the greatest football territory on earth, and it has yet to receive a decent literary treatment. The Great African Football Book is just begging to be written.

                          Unfortunately, Elephants, Lions and Eagles, isn't it.

                          It's not as though Filippo Ricci has written a bad book. He has a feel for the rhythms of the continent, and writes competently about both the culture and the sport. He has had access to a lot of interesting football and even - amusingly - managed to play a game of football against them.

                          But a lot of it feels formulaic, possibly because
                          a lot of it borrows the exact same tropes used by Peter auf der Hyde in his Has Anybody Got a Whistle (the only other decent Enlgish book on African football). Chapter on juju? check. Chapter on the difficulties of African footballers adapting to life in Europe? Check. Nice story about the African Cup of Nations in Burkina Faso? Check.

                          And too much of it, too, is simply recycled from his columns from Guerin Sportivo and La Gazzetta (which, even if you didn't read them in the original is still pretty annoying). The lack of anything approaching a historical perspective is more irritating still: apparently the only event of note in Africa prior to Cameroon's World Cup in 1990 was the founding of the CAF in 1957.

                          But worst of all is the travelogue approach to writing about Africa. Too much of this book is first-person narrative. "I travelled to such and such an airport, and it was incredibly dangerous....". In this respect, Ricci's marginally better that auf der Hyde - Ricci at least avoids the interminable bitching about lost luggage. But it's still more about the Italian's journeys and travelling companions than it is about the football. Unlike Auf der Hyde, he never really gets under the skin of club football in Africa, even a little bit. And even within Africa, he doesn't really get much beyond Nigeria, Cameroon and South Africa. Although he starts the book with an adroit observation about how Northern, Western, Eastern and Southern Africa are all different, in football as in politics. But in this book, the north and the east might as well not exist.

                          In short, it's not up to the very high standards of WSC's previous efforts in geographically-specific football histories. Tor!, Morbo and Soccer in a Football World. These previous works were longer, more comprehensive, and had genuine pretentions to being the defnitive word on football in the countries they covered. This book is simply not in that class.

                          It's not a bad book, and if you really want a quick intro to the world of African football it's probably adequate. But for those expecting another Morbo...well, just don't get your hopes up too high before cracking the spine.

                          Comment


                            #38
                            Football Book Review Thread

                            Thanks for the review. I'll give it a pass, especially considering that it won't be cheap to get it in the US. Shame, I was hoping for something really good.

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                              #39
                              Football Book Review Thread

                              De nada.

                              All right, lurkers, I'm not going to do all these reviews myself. Someone else join in.

                              Comment


                                #40
                                Football Book Review Thread

                                It sounds great even though you've slagged it AG. A football book combined with travelogue, sounds right up my street. Whereas the Wilson book, though I love his writing, sounds tedious.

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                                  #41
                                  Football Book Review Thread

                                  Inca wrote:
                                  Thanks for the review. I'll give it a pass, especially considering that it won't be cheap to get it in the US. Shame, I was hoping for something really good.
                                  Most of what AG has said is true - and the book is quite thin to boot - yet I would still recommend it. Found it quite enjoyable myself.

                                  Comment


                                    #42
                                    Football Book Review Thread

                                    I admit I'm probably harder on this book than I should be because its WSC and I expected more. As for the travelogue, well...I dunno, I don't think anyone would really take that approach to a book about football in England, or Canada or Germany - so why in Africa? It just seems so self-consciously Kapuscinski-ish...or possibly just wanky, I'm not sure. Arguably, Goldblatt's still the only source that treats African football with the seriousness that European football has been treated.

                                    The Wilson book can be tedious, ad hoc, becuase it's a tough topic to sustain over 350-odd pages. But he does it as well as could be imagined.

                                    Comment


                                      #43
                                      Football Book Review Thread

                                      But Africa is an entire continet and thus has something more to offer than germany, say.

                                      "How Football Explains the World' is kind of a travelogue/football combo book. For me it didn't work because it didn't really add anything to what I already knew(and also because the title was so fucking stupid, and because the stupidity was repeated at the opening of every chapter), but I have travelled very little in Africa and know very little about African football - so a travelogue of Africa with football as the hook on which to hang it? Sounds great.

                                      I mean I'm not trying to tell you to like it, obviously you didn't - but the reasons you give for not liking it sound to me like reasons why i might.

                                      Comment


                                        #44
                                        Football Book Review Thread

                                        Yeah, in that case I think you probably would enjoy it.

                                        Also, I think I might have liked it more had it not so obviously tread over the same ground as auf der Hyde, which I read last year. If you haven't read that, it's probably much more enjoyable.

                                        Comment


                                          #45
                                          Football Book Review Thread

                                          Thanks AG for the reviews. At some point I will add my own but right now I am working through some "classics" and assume members of this board are less interested in another review of All Played Out. But with that in mind, I don't think the travel writing approach is unique to Africa. All Played Out, which I just mentioned, is narrated through a criss-crossing across Italy (and beyond when the qualifiers are discussed). And I just finished Tim Parks' excellent Season with Verona (I told you I wasn't reading new releases at this point) which also gains its suspenseful dimensions from Parks' travels.

                                          With all of that said, I appreciate the criticism that lies beneath your concern, or what I think is bubbling in the review. That is, there is a subtle colonialist discourse at work here that we won't find in books exploring Western Europe (i.e., look at the exotic other with me as I travel this crazy continent). I haven't read the book yet, but I will trust that the intent is the exact opposite of this discourse--praising passionate football that is normally overlooked in the heavy critical focus on European football (with Brazil and Argentina providing an alternative from time to time).

                                          As ad hoc wrote, though, the combination of good travel writing and good football writing, fits my own interests. I just hope it appears in the US sooner rather than later because the shipping charges from the UK are often as high as the cost of books. Take care.

                                          Comment


                                            #46
                                            Football Book Review Thread

                                            That is, there is a subtle colonialist discourse at work here that we won't find in books exploring Western Europe (i.e., look at the exotic other with me as I travel this crazy continent).
                                            is this necessarily such a bad thing? half the fun of reading about other places is pretending they're different from where you are now.

                                            i can see the logic of the travelogue approach in a book of this type, as the vast majority of the people buying the book will never have been to africa.

                                            for those disappointed by lions, eagles etc, ian hawkey of the sunday times is working on a book about african football.

                                            Comment


                                              #47
                                              Football Book Review Thread

                                              Halfway through Bamboo Goalposts, and thought I would share this gem from p. 122 when he describes tryuing to cover the first women's World Cup in China.

                                              "We were duly accredited as foreign journalists for the English title When Saturday Comes. As I found it impossible to lace my piece with the same level of ironic wit shown by many of the other contributors, my story was never filed."

                                              Comment


                                                #48
                                                Football Book Review Thread

                                                Sash - thanks for some interesting posts. Just to flag that there is a small thread on Russian club football over on, er, Football, which you might not have noticed. It would be great if you were able to contribute there.

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                                                  #49
                                                  Football Book Review Thread

                                                  Danielmak--are you in the US?

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                                                    #50
                                                    Football Book Review Thread

                                                    Inca wrote:
                                                    Danielmak--are you in the US?
                                                    I'm in Chicago. What about you, Inca?

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