Football and Fascism: The National Game under Mussolini [Paperback]

Simon Martin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 18, 2004

This is a cultural history of Italian Fascism viewed through the lens of soccer. The 1930s were the zenith of achievement for Italian football--Italy hosted and won the 1934 World Cup and retained the trophy in 1938. At club level, Calcio was reorganized into a national league, after which the first Italian club teams emerged to dominate European competition. It was at this time that Mussolini's party institutionalized soccer as a fascist game. Italian Fascism fully exploited the opportunities football provided to shape public opinion, penetrate daily life, and reinforce conformity. By politicizing the game, Fascism also sought to enhance the regime's international prestige and inculcate nationalist values. Football and Fascism is an original look at the appropriation of sport to serve political ends during a dark period of Italian history.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'This serious and very detailed analysis elevates football to an important consideration in pre-war politics, and reminds us that the sport does not sit in isolation from society's influences'Programme Monthly 'Simon Martin's interesting and original study...tries to unpack the complicated relationship between Italian fascism and football.'John Foot, The Guardian Review'An intriguing, diligent work'WSC (When Saturday Comes) Magazine

About the Author

Simon Martin is an independent scholar.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Berg Publishers; First Edition edition (November 18, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1859737056
• ISBN-13: 978-1859737057
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #817,412 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

"Simon Martin's thesis on football and fascism in Mussolini's Italy was published in 2004 and won the British Society for Sport's History's Lord Aberdare Prize for literary history. In 2006, it was published as Calcio e Fascismo by the prestigious Mondadori publishing house, in Italy. He appeared in the BBC2 documentary, 'World Cup Stories'. His most recent publication is 'Sport Italia. The Italian love affair with sport' (IB Tauris, 2010). He teaches in the UK and Italy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not about football, November 17, 2010

By 

Sir Eyeball - See all my reviews

This review is from: Football and Fascism: The National Game under Mussolini (Paperback)

I hold a MA in history (military) and this is my first review ever. Reason why. Because this book really deserves to get one - its that bad.
I'll start with the positive. It's really well researched, the notes are great and thorough and it holds an extensive bibliography, which is always good for those who want to go deeper into the subject.
That's the good part - now for the bad and where to start?.
What the author set out to write about was how the fascist party after its seizure of power wanted to use sport in general and football in particular as a showpiece to the world of how orderly Italy had become. How the Party wanted to generate a national feeling - something that was lacking and didn't appear until after the end of WW2 by the use of football as a collective gathering force. During this drive the Party reorganized football in Italy by making a better tournament, organizing the game into leagues and divisions - something that had been missing up until then - all of this is told by the author with a cultural viewpoint.
HOWEVER - It seems like the author did so much research that he somewhere along the line lost his focus and falls so very far from the above. In the end one wonders - what is it he really wants to tell the readers?? I for one have a blurred idea after reading it. The book is or rather should have been about football and fascism or football under the reign of fascism but is sourly lacking in this part. In fact there is almost nothing about the game at all - no players are mentioned, no anecdotes, no coaches, no results etc. etc.
An example that illustrates the books BIG problems in general. Bologna is given a whole chapter. One would think this chapter would tell a lot of anecdotes about the club, its golden period from 1925 onwards, about its great players during this period, it's coaches, staff and the movers behind the scene etc. etc. etc. but it doesn't. In fact not ONE player is mentioned by name, not ONE result, anecdote or anything. One coach is named in one line but that's it. Instead the reader is treated (tortured) with an extremely lengthy and very boring step-by-step of how the local fascist orchestrated the building of the stadium, how he funded it, the ideas behind the building architecturally. How many different names was tried for the stadium and why they settled for the one they did, how the local fascist gets to control a local newspaper so he can write/control the direction of sport and sports education in the Bologna district in general - sway the public. During this marathon the author again and again deviates from the main subject and goes on lengthily explanations in themselves about general architecture, sociological ideas about the power of the masses vs. the individual etc. and what feelings the fascists wanted to make to the public. Reading all this you again and again wonder - where is he going and how on earth is this really relevant,(the relevant part about FC Bologna and its exploits in Seria A and in Europe is neatly left out.)the answer and the problem - its not relevant. 80% of the book is really irrelevant and therein lies the big problem.
Its crammed with a ton of names, titles of thesis and books that doesn't help with the readability of the book - which in itself is hard going, difficult and forced. Nothing flows easily and thus every page is a struggle.
Italy won 2 World Cups in 1934 and 1938 - the apogee of Fascist power and what they set out to achieve. Especially the one in 1938 was won more from the pressure that Mussolini and the Party applied to the opposition, judges etc. than anything else. It was a political won victory pure and simple. Again nothing about this very exiting tournament in hind sight just more of the same irrelevant dribble about issues that aren't even remotely connected or interesting.

Do yourself a service and stay away from this - it is not worth the time or EFFORT.