football

Last summer I did a lot of reading on the Sox's history - the season was fun, and I naturally startedto explore older seqson of such fun- which led to read on seasons of fun before I even existed. This summer I have been on a soccer history kick - well, really only two books so far. One was in Spring - How soccer exlains the world. Slite 24h read type of books - really didn't learn me anythig @ all, but it was candynice. Inspired me to doubletake my siteline back to this fat book - The Ball is Round A Global History of Soccer - when it went across whatever section it was in (or ordered from the computerized system of interlibrary loan - methinks). But it has been a major success - I'm totally immersed in it, taking breaks only when my mind fills up too much. It's a long book - 900p - so it has taken a week so far - but it'll be done soon. It's so good I put my other book - that slog by Erickson on the German Russian War v. 2- on hold @ p. 225 or so - it really ground me down and I decided to give my self a rest. I'll go back to it soon - the next 200p. in erickson will be a REAL SLOG 'till I smell the end of the book and be carried onto the end by the thrill of finishing th book.

But the soccer book. Remember,it's a total survey. 900 p. is long, but when yr talking about the entire history of soccer - well, things are introduced, and y'd like the author the delved deeer - but always there is the need to get along to the next spot in soccer history. More to-do reading, I guess. Already have ordered books from the library to carry on. But the brush of interest its sparked in me ...

Another funny aspect is that the author writes that rarely do y get a global history of modern times w/ the USA playing only a small bit part. 3p on the early 1900's, 3 more again for NASL in the Seventies, and then five pages on 1994, MLS, and 1999. Im experts on that shit (well,not the early 1900's). Fun to rad and educate meself on all this stuff. Do read. Like y will, huh?

Really interesting and what really caught me from the beginnnig was ... well, the beginnings of soccer. Started bigtime in England and Scotland and spread from there. And how it spread - and the 'choices' different nations made to either adapt soccer or somehting else as the national sport was the killer hook. First off was the decision 'footablls' rule. In the beginnings th rules were just being made up - there was soccer, Gaelic Football, Aussie rules football, rugby, American football - each of these sports were linked way back, but in each country the top game evolved differently. And the interesting part id is that in many ways each country that has an alternative "main" football type sport tends to be an ex colony of britain - and in many ways, the choice of that sport was made in opposition to Britain. So, we have football. - well, baseball, is also a huge sport as well America football was the choice made here btween soccer w/ hands or soccer w/out hands. In Ireland, it was Gaelic football - or Gaelic, as they call it - in South Africa Wales, and New Zealand it was rugby,and thn you got Aussie rules. All kool sports. Reading thise early history seemed a lot like when I was doing my heavy reading two years ago on the early days of the Christian church. Beginnings. Beginnings of the early League, Cup, and eventually internqtional soccer very interesting.

And then it spread to the rest of the world. Whereever Britian had economic interest - there grew soccer. Snce Brits were all ove rthe world in the late 1800's, soccer went everywhere. Some countries got it because the Brits working wherever wanted to play - and the locals observed, learned, participated, and it grew from there.

Again, a dynamic of opposites were @ work in determining if soccer became a huge success in a new country - and every country where soccer hit had a different storyline. For example, in some countries the game became to be a symbol of working class pride and was in opposition to another sort the local elites liked better. Some places there was huge ethnic or religoius pride - one thinks of Celtic in Scotland. Other places it was nationalistic - think Barcelona. And etc etc etc... Every picture has a story.

Im nearing the end. To me, to finally come up to modern days - and actually start reading the parts where I lived through - is intoxicating. Rememebr, this is a survey - so I fully know there will not be pages after pages of Chesterfield -v- M'boro in the F.A. Cup Semifinals of 1997

or

the 91st through 93d minute of the 1999 champions league Final.

Shit - the Chicago Fire won't even get a mention - but that's the beast of the book. Secondary reading, as always, needed.

But since I became a 'made soccer man' in the late Seventies, and an 'internationalist' since my first World Cup perused (1982) and 100% totally committetted/everysecond of every game/ dying during World Cup 1986 - Ive follwed a great deal of the modern game. Obviously, in context, the growth of soccer here as been phenominal since when I first started watching. The book is dicided up into periods, although there is alot of overlapping. So, it examines different parts of the world and the growth or progression of the game in each area. Strted in Britqain, but then its spread to Euroe - then, of course, South America - and the rst of the world. But it hopscotches back and forth trying to give a balanced view of its growth. So, around 1974 soccer started to become really capitalised in a global sense of the word. It really showed in the World Cups - and even I can sense that. Here, I cant remember if the 1978 World Cup was onair here - dunno. But I can totally remember the 1982 World Cup going on - the team to follow especially was Northern Ireland that World Cup. but the big marketing change had come between 1974 and 1982 - 1978 being an abberation because it was being held in Argentina, thn totally rightwiing nazi types running everything there. But in 1982 - the golbal phenomanom had reached a new level - and so i could pop in on Moho that smmer, and sureenught, there was Spain taking on whoever, followed by whoever playing whoever..

The next breaking part is 1990 - Im into thats action finally, and familier names and teams and incidents and contexts from around the world has finally arived. Heaven. Or, as close to heaven as I can get outside of that 91st through 93d minute in 1999. To this day the memory of that afternoon ...