How
Football Explains the World, by Franklin Foer (2006)
IT'S probably unfair, but many people in Britain believe that Americans know as much about the beautiful game as the average baboon knows about rocket science. One man, however, has turned this theory completely on its head.
US journalist Franklin Foer has written a highly intelligent and, what's more, highly readable account of how football has affected and often changed cultures and communities across the world.
In his very personal travelogue, Foer is allowed an insider's insight into a range of disparate clubs in places from Barcelona to Belgrade and Milan to Tehran. His theory that football can be used to "explain" historical events and the make-up of the various societies is very persuasive indeed.
During his travels, Foer meets up with a British hooligan who had a Jewish mother and a Nazi father; he talks to members of a fan club in Serbia that was turned into a brutal anti-Muslim paramilitary unit by the warlord Arkan; and is given the red carpet treatment by the godfather-like hierarchy at AC Milan, whose president was also the flamboyant and often controversial leader of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi.
Foer always stays the right side of impartial, and his analyses and comments on the various clubs and their wider societies are extremely perceptive. The reader gets a lesson in world history and football history - but is never lectured, as the writing is so entertaining and never becomes dry. Above all, it is about people, and it is they who make this book.
Also, the fact that Foer is from the USA - a country not usually associated with its love of soccer - makes it all the more interesting, as he does not have the pre-conceived opinions or prejudice that British football writers may be more apt to display. For this reason, it is also intriguing to see how the people in the various countries approach him - for example, some in the blue half of Glasgow viewed him with suspicion because they believed he could have been Irish-American.
This book, which was first published in 2004 as How Soccer Explains the World, is highly recommended for anyone interested in world football and world culture.
Review by Sam Hawcroft