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Football Against The Enemy
by
Simon Kuper
Soccer is much more than just the most popular game in the world. It is a matter of life and death for millions around the world, an international lingua franca.
Simon Kuper traveled to twenty-two countries to discover the sometimes bizarre effect soccer can have on politics and culture. At the same time he tried to discover what makes different countries play a simple game
...more
Simon Kuper traveled to twenty-two countries to discover the sometimes bizarre effect soccer can have on politics and culture. At the same time he tried to discover what makes different countries play a simple game
Published
(first published December 28th 1994)
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A tagline na capa deste livro diz "If you like football read it. If you don't like football read it", e é bem verdade. Sempre fui um bocado desconfiado em relação à mistura entre estes dois mundos (o futebol e a literatura), mas este livro é muito, muito bom.
O autor, Simon Kuper, é um jornalista desportivo que percorreu 22 países no início da década de 90 tentando perceber de que modo o futebol influenciou os aspectos políticos e culturais de cada país (e vice-versa). Foi uma altura boa para faz...more
O autor, Simon Kuper, é um jornalista desportivo que percorreu 22 países no início da década de 90 tentando perceber de que modo o futebol influenciou os aspectos políticos e culturais de cada país (e vice-versa). Foi uma altura boa para faz...more
At one point in the narrative, when Simon Kuper is describing the book he ultimately wrote to an interviewee in Argentina, he says that he's working on a book about "soccer and politics." (Note: The use of soccer in that context is likely a publisher's edit for the American market; this happens throughout, occasionally to the point of altering meaning in the words. Find and replace is maybe not the best method of book editing.)
In any case, the Argentine being interviewed responds to Kuper's decl...more
In any case, the Argentine being interviewed responds to Kuper's decl...more
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. I wasn't very impressed by the initial chapter but after that the stories are excellent. The stories include a look at corruption at clubs in the former states of Russia and how East Germans would try and watch West German teams when the two countries were divided. In fact corruption is a theme that reappears in different c...more
کتابی بود که به خواندنش میارزید ولی به خریدنش نه. و فکر میکنم علاقه داشتن یا نداشتن به فوتبال چندان تأثیری در خوشایند بودن کتاب نداشته باشد.
بینظیرترین و خواندنیترین فصل کتاب برای من فصل سوم با عنوان «مخالف فوتبال» بود که به زندگی یک عشق فوتبال بهنام کلابفلایش در برلین شرقی تا زمان سقوط دیوار میپرداخت. حکایت زندگی او در چنان جامعهی بستهای، و بلاهایی که صرفن بهخاطر علاقه به تیم آلمان غربی از سوی دستگاه اطلاعاتی مخوف آلمان شرقی بر سرش آمده بود فوقالعاده تکاندهنده -و البته برای ما تاحدود...more
بینظیرترین و خواندنیترین فصل کتاب برای من فصل سوم با عنوان «مخالف فوتبال» بود که به زندگی یک عشق فوتبال بهنام کلابفلایش در برلین شرقی تا زمان سقوط دیوار میپرداخت. حکایت زندگی او در چنان جامعهی بستهای، و بلاهایی که صرفن بهخاطر علاقه به تیم آلمان غربی از سوی دستگاه اطلاعاتی مخوف آلمان شرقی بر سرش آمده بود فوقالعاده تکاندهنده -و البته برای ما تاحدود...more
In Football Against the Enemy, Simon Kuper writes about the effects of soccer on the politics and culture of many different countries. I was particularly interested in the chapters on Brazil (they are truly a soccer powerhouse) and on the former Soviet Bloc countries, including Russia, where the soccer stadium was the one place that people could express their discontent with the state without being taken away or killed. (Incidentally, there used to be a lot of teams in Eastern Europe that had th...more
Reading this one was a weird experience for me. First off Kuper is an excellent writer and the stories he tells are very compelling. I enjoyed his writing here every bit as much as I enjoyed it in Soccernomics.
What kept throwing me was that I read this book about 15 years too late. Many of the people, places, and events that Kuper details are very much "of the time". That being the early 90's, the fall of the eastern bloc, the break-up of the Soviet Union, the recent end of apartheid in South Af...more
What kept throwing me was that I read this book about 15 years too late. Many of the people, places, and events that Kuper details are very much "of the time". That being the early 90's, the fall of the eastern bloc, the break-up of the Soviet Union, the recent end of apartheid in South Af...more
I'd picked up a copy of this awhile ago - amazon.com reviews of How Soccer Explains the World
said this was a far better book, so I bought it instead. Then, what with World Cup frenzy, it seemed like a good time to finally read it. In a sense, the book is exactly what you expect - a series of essays about the links between soccer, politics, local culture, etc. There's not really much surprising in it (to me at least), honestly, but there's plenty of interesting stuff there. However, I found mysel...more
said this was a far better book, so I bought it instead. Then, what with World Cup frenzy, it seemed like a good time to finally read it. In a sense, the book is exactly what you expect - a series of essays about the links between soccer, politics, local culture, etc. There's not really much surprising in it (to me at least), honestly, but there's plenty of interesting stuff there. However, I found mysel...more
Ways to capitalize on the World Cup - Take a book you wrote 14 years ago, write an introductory essay, a postscript, slap on a new cover, and wallah, you have a book you can get on the shelves around the time of the recent World Cup and make money with a limited amount of effort.
I enjoyed Kuper's "Soccernomics" and I did enjoy the new introductory essay but the bulk of the book seemed dated and much of the "analysis" seemed rather obvious. As Kuper himself points out in his postscript he was a...more
I enjoyed Kuper's "Soccernomics" and I did enjoy the new introductory essay but the bulk of the book seemed dated and much of the "analysis" seemed rather obvious. As Kuper himself points out in his postscript he was a...more
A question I'm often asked from friends and acquaintances, specially with my other interests, is why I like football that much. One side is because it's involved with many things around us; in addition to strategies, chess-like tactics, and drama, it involves economy, specially nowadays, and more interestingly, politics; which is what the book discusses. The writer takes us for a journey from Eastern Europe to USA, from Latin America to Africa, to witness the interaction between football and pol...more
Enjoyable read, though you get the impression it could have used a little more attention from an editor. There are a couple instances where the word football was carelessly replaced with soccer, which is fine, as it is an American edition. However, football can refer to the sport or to the ball used in the sport, and in those instances, the word "ball" is missing. Careless. One other editorial qualm - as a book written in the early 90s, the references to football are a bit static, and very much...more
I wish I could give this book a higher rating, as I like the premise and I enjoy Kuper's style and often witty insight. But there are two major reasons I can't.
First, the US edition could have stood for some better editing. It seems someone went through a document and did a find and replace for the word "football." The problem is, "football" refers to both the sport and the actual ball, and the editor didn't go through the tedium of re-reading to add the word ball where necessary. This results i...more
First, the US edition could have stood for some better editing. It seems someone went through a document and did a find and replace for the word "football." The problem is, "football" refers to both the sport and the actual ball, and the editor didn't go through the tedium of re-reading to add the word ball where necessary. This results i...more
Key book in the eminently readable soccer-as-socio/national-exegesis genre (see Among The Thugs and How Soccer Explains the World). Came out in the 90s so a lot of the articles herein are not as current as they could be, but as I know soccer about as well as I know astrophysics it didn't really matter. Cool book to read if you want to know more about soccer's international culture of fans and get the flavors of the national infrastructures that have grown up around them. I think the idea is that...more
The book itself is marvellous, but this edition in particular is sub-standard. Upon its release in the US, the editors decided to replace all the 'football' for 'soccer', hence the change in the title too. The only problem is that they seem to have used the Microsoft Word tool for that purpose, and you suddenly read about someone 'juggling the soccer around', or 'passing the soccer to his teammate', or new sports, such as 'American soccer' and 'Gaelic rules soccer'. I don't think Simon Kuper wou...more
Liked it, though I was a little bit disappointed that the there was no general thread between the stories of the book.
Articles like this are better read once/week from a magazine. The ones I liked the most were Dutch/German rivalry, Celtic/Rangers thing and the articles on Cameroon and Dynamo Kiev.
I got the idea to read this book from reading a number of his articles in the Swedish magazine "Offside".
Articles like this are better read once/week from a magazine. The ones I liked the most were Dutch/German rivalry, Celtic/Rangers thing and the articles on Cameroon and Dynamo Kiev.
I got the idea to read this book from reading a number of his articles in the Swedish magazine "Offside".
Enjoyed it. Some of the British and/or longtime football fan references were over my head, but it was engaging & interesting. I cracked up when I realized that the American edition's search-and-replace of "football" with "soccer" didn't always come off quite right, namely in instances where "football" was a noun, rather than the name of the sport. For example: reading about how the author "picked up a soccer and rolled it under his foot".
I thought the book was profoundly interesting, but would have probably found it more interesting if a) I was older b) had a longer history of following soccer and c) had a longer history of following world politics. Thus, because of my personal shortcomings, I probably couldn't appreciate the book to the extent of others.
This book is essential for students of the game, particularly as a history lesson or nostalgia. Originally published in the mid-nineties, we find the author in several countries in Africa, the newly independent Croatia, and in sectarian Ireland, among many other locales Kuper's ability to ingratiate himself with fans and politicians shines through and truly makes the book.
This book is okay. While Kupper may have done it first (use soccer to explain geopolitical forces/events) Hirsley does it better in "How Soccer Explains the World." I enjoyed reading it, learned a few things, but was never entralled. There is not a coherent narrative throughout. The book is written like a newspaper article, simply telling stories rather than attempting to interpert them. Final Review: Its interesting, but you can find better books on the same subject.
I've really delved in to this one of late. It has grabbed me and I can see why it was voted one of the top 25 sports books of all time. It really is an excellent read. You can follow the author's 9 month journey by reading from beginning to end or jump easily from chapter to chapter. Just pick a chapter title that interests you and go, although I recommend reading the whole thing through.
Between 3 and 4 stars. It's not so spectacular that I would highly recommend it, but it wasn't entirely mediocre. There are some good tales about soccer around the world after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the opening of the Eastern Bloc, and the travel tales are entertaining (and adventurous). Readable and solid.
برزیلی ها می گویند حتی کوچک ترین دهکده شان هم یک کلیسا و یک زمین فوتبال دارد . البته تمام شان کلیسا ندارند ، اما قطعا زمین فوتبال دارند
Jul 23, 2007
Hind
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
someone who knows soccer history
Shelves:
nonfiction
It took me forever to read this book, and ultimately, I didn't even finish it - a sign of sure boredom and irritation with the book. I simply didn't have the will to carry further. He writes with a dry British "wit" that fails to amuse and is quite tedious to slug through. He's writing for an audience that already knows the subject; to a novice like myself - knowing nothing of who's who, much less the intricacies of European and Latin American soccer in the 80s and 90s - this book was really tou...more
Really good book and I would rate any of his football books as excellent......Goes into great detail depciting the different teams and supporters he describes
no a bit reader of sport, but i do like reading about football and the power it has to bring people together, its a joy to see..
Seemed Really outdated but still provided good examples of how politics and Soccer interact in different ways. Also providing interesting back ground on some of the clubs around the world.
Written in the early '90's with an update for a post 9/11 world. The second best soccer book about the world.
Mar 22, 2009
Brian Sison
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction,
sports
Good book for a soccer fan; not for a layman at all. This book goes into detail on the political implications of soccer throughout the world. It goes back much further in history than I do, so I was clueless for the first few chapters. Once it began discussing modern players (70's onwards) it picked up a lot for me.
This was originally published as "Football Against the Enemy," and this american edition could have used some more editing. (A global find "football" and replace with "Soccer" didn't...more
This was originally published as "Football Against the Enemy," and this american edition could have used some more editing. (A global find "football" and replace with "Soccer" didn't...more
a good time, quick. a little dated now but was a nice aperitif to get fired up for Euro 2012.
The English version is called "Football against the enemy" still a fantastic footy book
It might have been written almost 20 years ago, but still provides interesting anecdotes.
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25. August, 13:51 Uhr