Simon Kuper’s book, Soccer Against the Enemy: How the World’s Most Popular Sport Starts and Fuels Revolutions and Keeps Dictators in Power, is not all about soccer and politics.I think this book is more about soccer and the role the sport plays in everyday life in the countries he visits and writes about.
I enjoyed reading this book. His stories are entertaining, and eye-opening. The title is a bit misleading. He rarely talks about revolutions or dictators in the book. With that said, there are a lot of savory characters. The book is full of hooligans, gangsters and superfans.
I enjoyed reading this book. His stories are entertaining, and eye-opening. The title is a bit misleading. He rarely talks about revolutions or dictators in the book. With that said, there are a lot of savory characters. The book is full of hooligans, gangsters and superfans.
In order to research the book, Kuper took a year-long journey around the world to various soccer hotspots. As a result the book is a sort of combination of travelogue, match day observations and investigative reports. I feel it is his investigative reporting that Kuper wants the readers to focus on. He wants to stress the fact that in some places soccer has assumed a different importance. For example, in Kiev, Dinamo Kiev was more powerful than the city government in the early 1990s. In Argentina, using soccer to cover up the nation’s problems is a tactic that dates back to at least 1978. The generals in the 1990s simply used soccer more efficiently. In Africa, soccer was used as a representative example of the dysfunctional nation-state. He shows how soccer was used by various governments, but very few dictators are mentioned.
In the last couple of chapters, he focuses on soccer in the Middle East and the Balkans. In both areas, soccer is viewed as an expression of nationalism. Like Camp Nou (Barcelona's field) during the Franco era, it is perhaps the only way for people to express anti-regime feelings. Soccer is capable of bringing people together and dividing them.
National soccer teams, for example, take on an importance in other parts of the world such as Africa or Eastern European countries, that is hard to understand for the average American. Even the Dutch national team, in Kuper’s estimation, are a proxy for the nation itself. Playing Germany is a little war, in which the Dutch can express their resistance, once again. He does a good job showing how soccer can reflect the mood and the political feelings of a country.
Soccer Against the Enemy is a great book and a must read for soccer fans.
In the last couple of chapters, he focuses on soccer in the Middle East and the Balkans. In both areas, soccer is viewed as an expression of nationalism. Like Camp Nou (Barcelona's field) during the Franco era, it is perhaps the only way for people to express anti-regime feelings. Soccer is capable of bringing people together and dividing them.
National soccer teams, for example, take on an importance in other parts of the world such as Africa or Eastern European countries, that is hard to understand for the average American. Even the Dutch national team, in Kuper’s estimation, are a proxy for the nation itself. Playing Germany is a little war, in which the Dutch can express their resistance, once again. He does a good job showing how soccer can reflect the mood and the political feelings of a country.
Soccer Against the Enemy is a great book and a must read for soccer fans.
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