I'd been told that I'd like this book. In actuality, I'd been told I'd like the 2003 edition of this book. Sadly (or maybe it was fortunate), the only edition I was able to get (from Michigan State University, of all places) was the original 1994 edition. My friend was right, I absolutely loved this book. Kuper's writing is exceptional, the style he uses is exactly what I look for when I read non-fiction. Football Against the Enemy is not just a book about sport. Sure, it's a book about football, but it's also about everything in between. It's a travel book about what football means to the world. There are lots of these books out there who do a decent job explaining football and the world. But what Kuper does best is turn it into a travel book. This is not one of those Fodor's guides, nor is it a third person look at sports through the lens of an outsider. Kuper starts as an outsider almost everywhere he goes and somehow always ends up an insider. He talks with fans (of course), be they politicians or just average citizens of the world. But Kuper doesn't stop there, he talks to players, former players, managers, former managers, owners, and everyone in between. This is the story of football, with more than little history. Eventually I'll read the updated edition, but for me, the 1994 version was a brilliant read. ( )

Two quibbles. First, the book does not live up to it’s lofty subtitle: “How the world’s most popular sport starts and fuels revolutions and keeps dictators in power.” Basically an English sportswriter travels around the world interviewing fans, players, managers, owners, sponsors, journalists, mobsters, and politicians about the game. Second, it’s obvious that in making the US edition of the book someone just ran a computer program to replace the word “football” with “soccer” in the manuscript. This created nonsensical phrases such as “I picked up the soccer and bounced it off my foot” and “similar to the role of a running back in American soccer.”

Despite that, the articles are interesting, insightful and humorous. I particularly like the story of the devoted fan from East Berlin of a team from West Berlin. How Soccer Explains the World was a better, complimentary book on this subject.

“When we say that Americans don’t play soccer, or that they celebrate Thanksgiving or come to Europe in tour groups, we are thinking of big white people who live in American suburbs. Tens of millions of Hispanic Americans do play and watch and read about soccer. Yet even white suburban America plays soccer in its way…Richer Americans tend to. Missionaries are trying to spread the word, but for the moment ghetto kids take the view that soccer is for softies.” (p. 191)

“For the Malandro, the con man on the pitch, it was madness to plan how to play. You simply did what came to you.” (p. 241)

“…the Old Firm rivalry has outlived religious hatred. I suggest that that is the case, and that the Old Firm has survived as a phenomenon because the fans enjoy it so much. They are not about to give up their ancient traditions just because they no longer believe in God.” (p. 264)

“In fact, Iran’s ‘soccer revolution,’ in each of its incarnations, has changed nothing. This illustrates a greater truth about soccer and politics: the game is a good way of studying what is going on in repressed societies, but it rarely changes these societies.” (p. 292) ( )

Beautiful writing. If you hate football, try this nevertheless ( )

http://www.theglobalgame.com/kuper.ht... ( )

Excellent read. I loved the story of the East German fan who told the Stasi he was a personal friend of Franz Beckenbauer. ( )