Brillant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football [Paperback]

David Winner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2001

The Netherlands has been one of the world's most distinctive and sophisticated football cultures. From the birth of Total Football in the sixties, through two decades of World Cup near misses to the exiles who remade clubs like AC Milan, Barcelona, Arsenal and Chelsea in their own image, the Dutch have often been dazzlingly original and influential. The elements of their style (exquisite skills, adventurous attacking tactics, a unique blend of individual creativity and teamwork, weird patterns of self-destruction) reflect and embody the country's culture and history. This book lays bare the elegant, fractured soul of the Dutch Masters and the culture that spawned them by exploring and analysing its key ideas, institutions, personalities and history in the context of wider Dutch society.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Original and conventional ... Fascinating and individualistic, Brilliant Orange beguiles you like a Cruyff turn' The Times

About the Author

David Winner is a freelance journalist and has written two previous books, Those Feet and Brilliant Orange. He lives in Rome.

Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Paperbacks (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747553106
• ISBN-13: 978-0747553106
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #799,336 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A feast for "Total Football" lovers, September 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football (Hardcover)

I will tell you right off that I've been waiting for this book for 26 years. I, like the author, fell for the "total football" of Ajax Amsterdam (a Dutch soccer club which won three consecutive European Cups-'71,'72,'73) and the Dutch national soccer team, which impressed the world during the 1974 and 1978 World Cups. Being an American, I was starved for information about this generation of players who brought a revolution in tactical thinking to world soccer. I'm sure a lot was written about them at the time (some still is), but most of it was not in English or not easily availble in the States. I was convinced at the time that the progressive thinking of these teams must be, in some part, a function of the Dutch mentality. This book is an attempt to show that connection. The chapters essentially alternate between factual information and interviews with some former players and coaches and factual information and interviews with people unrelated to soccer but involved in other creative areas, i.e. architecture, art, etc. The book is not all about the positive side, either. The Dutch national soccer team has had a history of self-destructing at important tournaments and this too is linked with certain aspects of Dutch thinking.

The book also covers some of the more recent vintages of Ajax and the Dutch national team in the same way. This shows not only a continuity of cultural thought, but also helps to deal with situations that occurred after the early '70's, such as the influx of other ethnicities into the soccer teams, and the accompanying problems this brought.

"Brilliant Orange" is essential reading for all those who love Dutch soccer. But it will also be entertaining and insightful for anyone interested in the way cultural thought manifests itself in specific areas of life.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Priceless insights into the Dutch and their soccer, March 6, 2001

By 

Mr. Stuart Robert Harris "Vivir Con Arte" (Bradford-on-Avon, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football (Hardcover)

Pele famously called soccer "the beautiful game" and at last here is a book that does justice to that thought. It charts the Dutch soccer renaissance that flowered from the late 60s, how Dutch culture shaped it and the way that historical events in soccer have themselves influenced Dutch culture and recent history. It's a touching, intelligent and insightful masterpiece.

Just as the Beatles and the Swinging 60s marked a turning point in Britain, so the new spirit in soccer marked a cultural watershed in the Netherlands. A key figure of those heady days was the prodigiously gifted and outspoken Johann Cruyff, cited by the author as probably the most important and best-known Dutch person alive. Here was a player of such intelligence and physical skill that even ballet superstar Rudolph Nureyev watched him in fascination.

David Winner has doggedly researched his subject, meeting and interviewing many of the key figures. They speak with a distinctive voice and overall the writing evokes a strong sense of place, people and events - not least the (self) defeat of the Dutch in the 1974 World Cup final against Germany. "How come you understand our country so well?" a Dutchman asked me after I shared some of the book's insights with him.

This is an outstanding read for anyone interested in soccer, anyone who has Dutch friends or has ever been to the Netherlands or ever intends to go there. Not to mention anyone who is interested in the importance of sport in the life of societies and nations.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for football fans, December 27, 2000

By 

keithjohnson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football (Hardcover)

This is not just a book for football (soccer) fanatics, although it helps. As Mr. Winner explains, it's his attempt to get to the bottom of Dutch football, albeit in a multidisciplinary sort of way. The creation of space on offense and the destruction of space on defense both have historical and geographical roots; likewise, the Dutch refusal to win the big one can be traced to socio-cultural factors. You can read it again and again -- the beauty of its organization (squad numbers, not chapters) makes it ideal for idle flipping, for lunch-time readings, for chapter-hopping and quick dips. A sheer joy -- you learn a lot, you'll press it on friends, you'd lend it out more if it weren't so good.