Customer Reviews

A Kick in the Grass

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The full title ("A Kick in the Grass: The Slow Rise and Quick Demise of the NASL") is a bit misleading. Toye's look at that once-great league is neither objective nor comprehensive in the slightest. It's rather more a vanity project, with Toye offering little else but his own admittedly biased perspective on many key turns in the league's rollercoaster trajectory (e.g. the signing of Pele) while ignoring others altogether (the replacement of Woosnam as commissioner). He focuses almost exclusively on his employers (the New York Cosmos, Baltimore Bays, Chicago Sting and Toronto Blizzard) while all but ignoring the rest of the clubs -- even those that weren't a flash in the pan. Of course, the likes of Pele, Chinaglia, Beckenbauer and Bettega (all Toye players) get loads of ink, while many of the other greats to pass through the league -- names like Cruyff, Eusebio, Francis, Marsh and Granitza -- barely warrant a mention. Still, Toye was behind the scenes for almost every major development in league history, and his insights and anecdotes are occasionally priceless. He's not afraid to tell the truth or name names, and for that alone his book is a great deal of fun to read for anyone who was a fan of the NASL. It's just a shame you have to wade through extended, pointless passages of shameless self-indulgence to unearth the chestnuts hidden in-between. (And by the way, the publisher should be absolutely humiliated by the shoddy editing here.) In the end, though, you can tell that -- despite his obviously enormous ego -- Toye genuinely loves the game. And that's all that matters, really.

Clive Toye does a nice job of relaying his experiences from the NASL. He also uses a lot of good anecdotes. The NASL was a roller coaster ride and Toye superbly navigates the reader through the highs and lows of the league's history. The book is geared more toward storytelling than factual history so don't look for statistics. Overall, an enjoyable book that I recommend.

Without doubt, anyone even remotely remembering or hearing of the North American Soccer League should grab a copy of this book for some wisdom moreso than opinion. About 25 years overdue, Clive Toye cuts loose on the good, the bad, and the worse of America's first (and only great) big-time professional soccer league... the few who hung in as pioneers and ambassadors... the many silver-spooned inbred idiots who managed to bring it down... and the players, from $75.00 per game to Pele.

The author was a world class journalist and columnist with Great Britain's Daily Express who left it all behind to chase his idea of the American Dream, as a part of bringing big-time soccer to North America in the 1960s. After navigating the league through its Dark Ages, Toye helped establish a championship side for New York City, and worked long and hard to bring Pele to his Cosmos. Such a great accomplishment, however, would soon attract the mongrels to the door. Toye relates in excruciating first-hand detail the front-office lunacy which followed. American Soccer fans -if you do consider yourself a soccer fan - buy this book. Get some wisdom. Now! Before the mongrels invade once more.