BOOK REVIEWS
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The Ball is Round | The Ball is Round |
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The book starts with a wide-ranging review of sports in the ancient world, from the Aztec use of rubber balls in the tchatali game to The Odyssey, but moves quickly to the traditional Shrovetide brawls between villages, stressing the deep roots that the physical, passing game has in Britain. From then on Goldblatt knits his themes together using the politics and sociology of the time and above all economics, which in its various guises is the villain of the piece. Scattered through the book are short match reports – great games, horrible tragedies, pivotal political events. In the end, though, it is the player on the pitch that counts – there are some fine and stirring descriptions of personalities and games, highlighting the magic balances between the gifted player who can turn a World Cup (such as El Pibe d’Oro in 1986) and team organisation and strength such as the “anti-football” approach of the 1970s. Comments (0)
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