In this extraordinary tour de force of a book, David Goldblatt describes the rise of football, from a chaotic folk ritual to a sector of the global-entertainment industry. It's the story of players and managers, fans and owners, clubs and national teams; a chronicle of who won and who lost. But it's also a history of states and markets, money and power. And, above all, how all these forces interact. It is a history which attempts to locate where the line between the realm of glory and the realm of power has been crossed, that celebrates the love of the game, but knows that it can be bought. Thus the book describes and accounts for the careers of Pele and Maradona, Puskas and George Best; the histories of the Wunderteam and the incomparable Hungarians, the anti-futbol of Estudiantes de la Plata and the futbol arte of Brazil 1970. It explores the cultural meanings and political uses of football in Peron's Argentina, Adenauer's West Germany, Stalin's Soviet Union and Mussolini's Italy. It ranges from the postcolonial politics of African football to the manufacturing history of the football boot; from the history of stadium architecture to the architecture of power in global football's leading institutions.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Amazon.com Review
The definitive book about soccer. With a new foreword for the American edition.
There may be no cultural practice more global than soccer. Rites of birth and marriage are infinitely diverse, but the rules of soccer are universal. No world religion can match its geographical scope. The single greatest simultaneous human collective experience is the World Cup final.
In this extraordinary tour de force, David Goldblatt tells the full story of soccer's rise from chaotic folk ritual to the world's most popular sport-now poised to fully establish itself in the USA. Already celebrated internationally, The Ball Is Round illuminates soccer's role in the political and social histories of modern societies, but never loses sight of the beauty, joy, and excitement of the game itself.
There may be no cultural practice more global than soccer. Rites of birth and marriage are infinitely diverse, but the rules of soccer are universal. No world religion can match its geographical scope. The single greatest simultaneous human collective experience is the World Cup final.
In this extraordinary tour de force, David Goldblatt tells the full story of soccer's rise from chaotic folk ritual to the world's most popular sport-now poised to fully establish itself in the USA. Already celebrated internationally, The Ball Is Round illuminates soccer's role in the political and social histories of modern societies, but never loses sight of the beauty, joy, and excitement of the game itself.
Questions for David Goldblatt
Amazon.com: There's a sentence in the middle of The Ball Is Round that to me sums up a great deal of the culture of football. After noting that Pelé had scored nearly a goal a game in over 1,300 professional matches--the sort of stat that would be on every page in a history of one of the major American sports but that is very rare in this one--you write, "This of course tells us nothing about all the goals he made." What stories do football fans tell about their sport and their stars?
Goldblatt: Well, in America not only would you be banging on about Pele's goal to game ratio but you would have been collecting statistics in a rational organized manner about his assists--a concept that had only entered soccer statistics in the last few years. The state of Brazilian football statistics during Pelé's career would not pass muster in Cooperstown in can tell you. Bill James would have a nervous breakdown with hopeless state of the data base. Soccer fans tell a lot the same stories that Americans tell themselves, sagas, epics, heroic tasks, near misses, dramatic comebacks, tales of curious individualists and unshakeable teams, but they are told in a the idioms, genres, vocabulary, and head space of hundreds of different cultures.
Amazon.com: I have to ask the inevitable question: why hasn't football--rather, soccer--ever taken hold in the United States (despite generations now who grow up playing it)? (And does the rest of the world care if it ever does?) I was fascinated by your comment in the American foreword that you recovered from finishing the book by ignoring soccer for half a year and only watching American sports. What did you notice?
Goldblatt: Contrary to the received wisdom I would say that soccer has taken hold in the US, if we look at participation figures amongst women and the young, and while MLS isn't about to challenge the premiership or Serie A for money or glamour it looks like it is now established on a firm footing. If the game can just tap into the rising Latino communities of America it could be pushing hockey for fourth sport.
That said it would still be just number 4. Baseball, football, and basketball have now had over a century's head start on soccer and between them created a wider sports culture--of expectations, tastes, and pleasures--that I think sometimes finds soccer incomprehensible ( what's with the draws?) or distasteful (all that diving). Soccer had its chance in the USA in the 1920s and 30s when East Coast professional leagues were drawing big crowds but a combination of bureaucratic infighting, the Wall Street crash, and the lingering ethnic associations of the game killed it for two generations.
My time with American sports, which I should add is far from over, wasn't planned. After the 2006 World Cup I just couldn't watch any more soccer and there was an awfully big space in my brain where that used to go on. Moneyball by Michael Lewis came into the void and that took me to Jules Tygiel and the great tradition of baseball histories, Ken Burns's long documentary which enchanted me (watched the whole thing in two days) and by the time I had read Roger Angell and stopped laughing, discovered Jackie Robinson, DiMaggio's Streak, and the Shot Heard Round the World it was time to subscribe to NASN and watch the last two months of the 2006 season. If you like the places where culture, society, sport, and history intersect then you're going to like baseball. I'm still working on hockey, in fact I'm still working on seeing the puck, and I'm trying hard to understand football--but I'm finding the helmets, amongst other things, a problem.
What did I notice? Where do I begin? After barely thinking about the United States for three and half years the whole modern history of America opened up before me. That's a work in progress.
Amazon.com: It's hard to underestimate the density and breadth of knowledge that went into this book: politics, culture, and of course football, across the entire football-playing world (which is to say, the entire world). How did you research your vast topic?
Goldblatt: The Ball Is Round was, in retrospect, 20 years in the making. I had wanted to write a world history since I knew that such things existed. In a former life I spent a long time working on globalization and global history and then I made a global atlas of football, so I had plenty of background.
After that, I followed Phillip Pullman's advice, "Read like a butterfly, write like a bee." I read a lot, followed my nose and other's advice, scoured journals, libraries and old magazines, studied web sites, visited museums, stadia, and shrines, made contacts in a lot of countries, and begged, bought, and traded information and opinion--oh and I watched an awful lot of football.
There were trips to Scotland, Sweden, Serbia, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Greece, Tunisia, Uruguay, Brazil, and Argentina not to mention a lot of old games on video and DVD.
How did I write it? Fast.
Amazon.com: There is nearly as much politics in your history as football--among Argentines, for instance, Peron has nearly as many index entries as Maradona. Why did you not want to write a history only of the players and the games? What relationship do you see between football and politics?
Goldblatt: How could anyone write a history of just players and games and be true to the meaning of soccer? Milan Kundera defended the role of the literary critic by arguing "Without the meditative background that is criticism, works become isolated gestures, historical accidents, soon forgotten." I would say the same of same of social history and sport. All sports trade on their histories, but tend to offer us at best the anodyne accounts of their own development and meanings at worst they are scurrilous cover-ups and concocted myth. Sport and its audience deserve better.
The relationship between football and politics takes many forms--it has been entwined with every conceivable political ideology and movement, every geographical unit and social division, and it has served authoritarian and democratic visions. In the end, football will take on and express the politics determined by our collective choices and struggles, the point for me is to remember that one has choices; to some extent we get the soccer we deserve.
Amazon.com: Has modern football become too big for itself, between the tycoons and the multinationals, the giant audiences and transfer fees, the corruption and the endless media coverage? Is there still space for the game?
Goldblatt: I went to see Manchester United last year in the Champions league--a 70th birthday present for my Mancunian father-in-law--and here at the epicenter of the global branding revolution and the foreign takeover and the rest of it I was privileged to see Carlos Tevez take the game by the scruff of the neck and force 21 players and 70,000 people to track his every move--electric.
Come to Bristol, England's most underperforming soccer city (half a million people, two clubs, no titles) and tell me there's no space for the game. No one is going to Bristol Rovers to be part of giant audience or a world shaped by tycoons and multinationals. But go they do, and to Bristol City too, teetering on the edge of the premiership and there I find a game that makes me laugh--soccer does pantomime and farce here--but surprises, thrills, and reminds me as part of a living crowd the one thing that writing a world history really drives home--"we are all just a drop in the ocean."
Amazon.com: And lastly: who's your favorite for Euro 2008?Goldblatt: It feels really open--so I'm going with an outsider (like Greece at 2004)--Croatia.
About the Author
David Goldblatt was born in London in 1965 and inherited, for his sins, Tottenham Hotspurs from his father. He has flirted with and abandoned careers in medicine, stand-up comedy, broadcasting, politics and academia. In previous lives he has published amongst other books, Social Theory and the Environment, Global Transformations and the World Football Yearbook. In this life he has been lucky enough to put them all together. He currently lives in Bristol, the Bermuda triangle of footballing prowess, where he spreads his affections amongst Spurs, Bristol Rovers and Bristol City.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
50 of 50 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book which I hoped would never end but I finished far too quickly
February 1, 2008
Format:Paperback
I've read a lot of books about sports in my relatively short time on this planet and while I have really enjoyed many of them and reread a few multiple times, this was definitely the first sports-related book I have ever NOT wanted to finish. Based on my rating, you can tell I mean this in a completely positive way: this book was easily one of the most informative and engaging texts I have ever had the pleasure of reading.
The main point of this text is the history of soccer (or football, whichever you may prefer - I'm an American, so soccer it is), which is clear from the subtitle on the cover. Yet there is so, so, so much more contained within the roughly 900 pages that span the book's binding. You have a lot of politics, great human successes and failures, stories of survival and disaster, as well as small passages that set you in a certain time and space where Goldblatt takes you to a scene important to the chapter or section.
For a well-read fan of the game, the importance of this book lies in the first half of it, as Goldblatt starts from the very beginning, discussing ball games of the ancient world, moving to the late 19th century and the creation of the English FA and the FA Cup, the development of professionalism (both accepted and hidden) versus amateurism, and while he obviously takes the history all the way to the present, the first half of the book opens up a history of the sport that many know absolutely nothing about. Soccer in the first half of the 20th century is not a well-known history, one Goldblatt marvelously elucidates.
For those who like the sport but know little about it, the book shows you how much there was to soccer before the advent of the Premier League, corporate sponsorship, and 32 teams in the World Cup. Goldblatt does a tremendous job of really digging into the social and political implications and uses of the sport in various countries, from the first world to the third.
Perhaps the most impressive part is that this text is all-inclusive. You don't just get a history of European soccer with a decent bit about South America and occasional mentions or anecdotes from Africa, North America, Australia, or Asia. Goldblatt delves into every continent's history and relationship to the game, truly showing how soccer really is the global game. All in all, this is a fantastic read and I highly recommend it to anyone.
The main point of this text is the history of soccer (or football, whichever you may prefer - I'm an American, so soccer it is), which is clear from the subtitle on the cover. Yet there is so, so, so much more contained within the roughly 900 pages that span the book's binding. You have a lot of politics, great human successes and failures, stories of survival and disaster, as well as small passages that set you in a certain time and space where Goldblatt takes you to a scene important to the chapter or section.
For a well-read fan of the game, the importance of this book lies in the first half of it, as Goldblatt starts from the very beginning, discussing ball games of the ancient world, moving to the late 19th century and the creation of the English FA and the FA Cup, the development of professionalism (both accepted and hidden) versus amateurism, and while he obviously takes the history all the way to the present, the first half of the book opens up a history of the sport that many know absolutely nothing about. Soccer in the first half of the 20th century is not a well-known history, one Goldblatt marvelously elucidates.
For those who like the sport but know little about it, the book shows you how much there was to soccer before the advent of the Premier League, corporate sponsorship, and 32 teams in the World Cup. Goldblatt does a tremendous job of really digging into the social and political implications and uses of the sport in various countries, from the first world to the third.
Perhaps the most impressive part is that this text is all-inclusive. You don't just get a history of European soccer with a decent bit about South America and occasional mentions or anecdotes from Africa, North America, Australia, or Asia. Goldblatt delves into every continent's history and relationship to the game, truly showing how soccer really is the global game. All in all, this is a fantastic read and I highly recommend it to anyone.
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this book to be phenomenal. I must admit that I am a rather new prosylyte to "futbol" or soccer as we call it here in the States. I really new nothing about the history of the sport and very little about modern rules or teams or leagues. That having been said, I found the book to be very informative. Goldblatt begins with the "pre-history" of soccer, exposing many nationalist myths about soccer's origins and placing it firmly into the realm of a Celtic game taken up by elite public school boys in Victorian England.
The chapters dealt with specific subjects and I actually found the book to be extremely well organized. Time periods are gone through and after World War I, Goldblatt begins seperating chapters by region (Latin America from 1934-1954, Europe from 1934-1954, Africa from 1900-1974, Latin America from 1955-1974, etc.).
Having said all of that, what made this book especially interesting to me was the placing of soccer within a much larger context. He takes the narrative of soccer and places it within the meta-narrative of world history, economics, sociology, and anthropology. Soccer serves as the thread through which modern history is successfully traced. The writing is brilliant, at times incredibly deep, but always readable and always urging the reader to continue. Each chapter contains a reflection on a notable match of that time period. These are written in a completely different style than the rest of the book and are absolutely incredible. The writing is brilliant and the imagery is transportive.
All in all, more than deserving of five stars. This soccer "newbie" has become a seasoned vet in a span of less than one thousand pages.
The chapters dealt with specific subjects and I actually found the book to be extremely well organized. Time periods are gone through and after World War I, Goldblatt begins seperating chapters by region (Latin America from 1934-1954, Europe from 1934-1954, Africa from 1900-1974, Latin America from 1955-1974, etc.).
Having said all of that, what made this book especially interesting to me was the placing of soccer within a much larger context. He takes the narrative of soccer and places it within the meta-narrative of world history, economics, sociology, and anthropology. Soccer serves as the thread through which modern history is successfully traced. The writing is brilliant, at times incredibly deep, but always readable and always urging the reader to continue. Each chapter contains a reflection on a notable match of that time period. These are written in a completely different style than the rest of the book and are absolutely incredible. The writing is brilliant and the imagery is transportive.
All in all, more than deserving of five stars. This soccer "newbie" has become a seasoned vet in a span of less than one thousand pages.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By J. Perry
Format:Paperback
This is amazing, wide ranging work that tells the story of football (soccer) and places it in the social context of the times. It is a dense and scholarly work which covers a lot of world history and social class because football does not stand on it's own as simply a game but it is much more important than life and death(to paraphrase Bill Shankly's famous quote).
Goldblatt is a very good writer who had me reaching for the Dictionary, who is able to synthesize the rich history of world football into a readable account. I appreciate the match accounts from great matches.
I see this book as an companion to the excellent History of Football BBC series. The only drawback with this book is that it should have more photos
Goldblatt is a very good writer who had me reaching for the Dictionary, who is able to synthesize the rich history of world football into a readable account. I appreciate the match accounts from great matches.
I see this book as an companion to the excellent History of Football BBC series. The only drawback with this book is that it should have more photos
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great History of the Game and the World
If you love the game you will love this book. It ties the history and the politics of the world to the game of football. A great perspective.
Published 2 days ago by Matthew C. Lineberry
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome book, great service
I got this book for my Husband, he loves it, and it arrived a lot sooner than expected!!! My husband says it is a must have for football fans!
Published 1 month ago by Nicci
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Most Ambitious Opus
This book is not for the weak hearted. It is a very good and detailed book, but it is such an ambitious colossus that reading it requires great persistence and dedication. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Ronn Berrol
5.0 out of 5 stars
Americans Should Read
An excellent book by a very fine writer. I'm an American unfamiliar with the game and its history - so if you want a soccer history go global. I was not familiar with Mr. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Max Bville
3.0 out of 5 stars
Long, But Interesting
If you love the sport of soccer, you will find this book interesting. But you have to be prepared to take a long time to read this book. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Megan
4.0 out of 5 stars
just over the bar
If you know very little about soccer's history in various nations across the world, this is a good primer. I found much of it endlessly fascinating (i.e. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Brian Maitland
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good even for non-fans
The Ball Is Round: A Global History of Football is an enjoyable book even for those who, like me, don't know skillful dribbling from poor, which teams are strong at the moment or... Read more
Published 19 months ago by D.E. Wray
5.0 out of 5 stars
Que Golazo!
Good lord is this book amazing. It's possibly the best work on sport, not just football, that I've ever read, right up there with Paper Lion and the first FreeDarko book. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Skitch Winchester
5.0 out of 5 stars
Standard text for history of soccer
Goldblatt's book has certainly established itself as the standard reference for the history of soccer. It would be an understatement to say that the book is comprehensive. Read more
Published on April 7, 2011 by Matt Mitterko
5.0 out of 5 stars
I can't recommend it highly enough
A truly fantastic history of the global game, placed within historical and cultural contexts. I can't recommend it highly enough. Read more
Published on February 28, 2011 by DC reader
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