The Global Game

by Turnbull, John

• ISBN13: 9780803210783
• ISBN10: 0803210787
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-11-01
• Publisher: Bison Books

Summary

The world's most popular sport, soccer, is also one of the planet's prevalent cultural expressions, celebrated and debated as an art form, observed with ritual and passion. Thus it has inspired literary efforts of every sort, from every corner of the globe, by women and men. The writings gathered in this volume reflect the universal and infinitely varied ways in which soccer connects with human experience. Poetry and prose from Ted Hughes, Charles Simic, Eduardo Galeano, Guuml;nter Grass, Giovanna Pollarolo, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Elvis Costello-to name but a few-take us to a dizzying array of cultures and climes. From a patch of ground in Missoula, Montana, to a clearing in a Kosovo forest, from the stadiums of Burma and Iran to the northern lights over Greenland to remotest Sierra Leone, these writers show us soccer's stars and fans, politics and rituals, as well as the game's power to encourage resistance, inspire faith, and build community.

Author Biography

John Turnbull is a freelance writer on soccer and an editorial consultant. He maintains www.theglobalgame.com, a soccer Web site with an accent on women’s soccer, media, and culture. Translator and author Thom Satterlee is associate professor of English at Taylor University. Alon Raab is a lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Davis, and the author of articles, reviews, and interviews.

 

Contributors: Rafael Alberti, Eduard Bass, Nalinaksha Bhattacharya, Hebe de Bonafini, Lawrence Cann, Bridget Carson, Hernán Casciari, Elvis Costello, Edilberto Coutinho, Erik Eggers, Friedrich Christian Delius, György Dragomán, Philippe Dubath, álvaro Enrigue, Eduardo Galeano, Günter Grass, Einar Már Guðmundsson, William Heyen, Miroslav Holub, Ted Hughes, Ian Jack, Elísabet Jökulsdóttir, Ephraim Kishon, Simon Kuper, Anatoly Kuznetsov, Driton Latifi, Donna J. Gelagotis Lee, Mario Vargas Llosa, Subcomandante Marcos, Javier Marías, Andrew Marshall, Stanley Matthews, Christopher Merrill, Mássimo Moratti, Lady Murasaki, Mark Nuttall, Giovanna Pollarolo, Julio Ramón Ribeyro, Paul Richards, Klaus Rifbjerg, Nelson Rodrigues, María Graciela Rodríguez, Umberto Saba, Matilde Sánchez, Thom Satterlee, Rogelio Ramos Signes, Charles Simic, Antonio Skármeta, Osvaldo Soriano, David Starkey, Gay Talese, Crispin Thomas, Bea Vidacs, Luiz Vilela, Sarah Wardle, Ch’ao Yueh-chih, and Uroš Zupan.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Note to Readers	p. xvii
Space
Introduction	p. 3
The Orb	p. 5
The Origins	p. 7
Hem and Football	p. 10
The Daily Life of Cameroonian Football	p. 16
The Soccer Moms-1996	p. 20
Atiguibas	p. 22
Why Eleven of All Numbers? Football between Carnival and Freemasonry	p. 30
Klapzuba's Eleven	p. 34
Holland, a Country of Clubs	p. 40
Readymade	p. 48
Soccer Fields, Fort Missoula	p. 56
"Get Him a Body Bag!" (A Brief, Enthusiastic Account)	p. 58
Improvisation
Introduction	p. 65
Young Shoots	p. 67
A Boy Juggling a Soccer Ball	p. 70
Fallen from the Sky	p. 72
Combing over History	p. 74
Encomiastic Arts of Our National Gamesmen	p. 80
The Longest Penalty Ever	p. 88
Fretting while the Scarlet Tide Make History	p. 96
Streaker Disrupts Iceland vs. Albania	p. 104
Football at Slack	p. 107
Dead Radio	p. 109
Fahrenheit 1976	p. 112
Challenge
Introduction	p. 117
Dreaming of Sunday Afternoons	p. 119
A Fine Fla-Flu	p. 121
Escaping with the Ball	p. 124
Generals and Fools	p. 130
1974	p. 136
End of the World	p. 140
Not So Much a Religion, More a Way of Life	p. 150
Kimmel Springs vs. Metula	p. 154
For the Sake of My Right and Not Football	p. 157
Let the Games Begin	p. 159
Loss
Introduction	p. 169
On a Painting of Playing Football	p. 171
Beauty Is Nothing but the Beginning of a Teror We Can Hardly Bear	p. 172
Playing Football in Secret	p. 182
Why Does My Wife Love Peter Crouch?	p. 187
The Dynamo Team: Legend and Fact	p. 189
Boycotting the World Cup	p. 195
Football in Athens, with Her	p. 199
Sierra Leone, Social Learning, and Soccer	p. 201
Parity	p. 206
Penalty Phase	p. 208
Platko (Santander, May 20, 1928)	p. 214
Belief
Introduction	p. 221
The Lord's Prayer, Recast	p. 223
Communicate, Lads	p. 225
Five Poems for the Game of Soccer	p. 230
Living to Tell a Tale (Letter to Diego)	p. 235
The Empty Pleasure	p. 239
Match	p. 243
Zidane and Me	p. 245
The Sunday I Became World Champion	p. 251
Art Works Football Club	p. 255
Football Is	p. 272
Arsarnerit: Inuit and the Heavenly Game of Football	p. 274
On the Origin of Football	p. 283
Source Acknowledgments	p. 285
Further Reading	p. 293
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