The contradictory nature of Dutch Football (Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Soccer - David Winner)

Member Name: paulie1975

Product:	Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Soccer - David Winner
Date:	20/06/09 (36 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A fantastic read for football nerds and sociologists

Disadvantages: The use of Uri Geller for an interview is unnecessary

Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Soccer - David Winner

This is a brilliant book, chronicling Dutch football, as we know Holland through Cruyff, Krol and Neeskens pioneered the ideal of 'Total Football' in the early 1970's, the idea being that players could all swap positions and be entirely free thinking and flexible rather than sticking to rigid structures and tactics.

David Winner brilliantly writes about the history of Dutch Football, the star players that shaped it and translates the ideals of total football to other issues in Holland such as Art, politics and architecture, the book draws heavily on interviews with players from Rudi Krol, Dennis Bergkamp and Johnny Rep amongst others.

The book talks about Ajax of Amsterdams long links with the Jewish population of Amsterdam, the way Cruyff changed culture and populism in Barcelona and the impact of Van Basten, Rijkaard and Guillet at AC Milan, he compares the free thinking liberalism of the Dutch football to the free thinking liberalism of Dutch society and looks at issues such as the Dutch rivalry with Germany (A really bitter hatred since the Second World War), the impact of the Surinamese population on Holland generally and in terms of football and the fact that Holland can't win a penalty shoot out for toffees.

The book really is amusing as it draws some wonderfully intelligent but incredibly contradictory statements from the people involved in football, many believing their ideas are right but as has proven on many occasions the big issue with Dutch football is they often forget the team ethic to let their individual ideals take over. Its a strange and throughly rewarding read and I found it really difficult to put down.

The book draws heavily on interviews with famous Dutch footballers and Managers and it is interesting to note the amount of conflict there has been in this country with players all thinking they are right and many missing big tournaments through disagreements with Managers (Cruyff in 1978, Davids in 1998). The interviews are funny and revealing and we get a great picture of the nation and its footballers through them.

The book is brilliantly written, it is part social commentary from someone who loves and feels confused by Dutch culture and part football obsessives almanac, it works on both levels and is a great book, it fits so much into 272 pages, the book looks great with its bright orange colouring and is an excellent companion piece to the also brilliant 'Ajax, Barcelona, Cruyff' which also covers the history of Dutch football but concentrates more on Cruyff the pioneer and agitator.

I would recommend this book to people interested in football and those interested in sociology, its funny, charming, really gets into issues of tactics, looks at total football in some detail and also thinks about why the ideals were right but the personnel were perhaps too liberal and opinionated to make it work long-term.

The book was published in 2001 and is available for £2.50 on Ebay and £5.99 through Bloomsbury Publishing.

Summary: One of the great post-modern football books