Believe in the Miracle (Miracle of Castel di Sangro - Joe McGinniss)

Member Name: Puggers

Product:	Miracle of Castel di Sangro - Joe McGinniss
Date:	07/02/09 (74 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fascinating look at the culture wrapped around Italian football, refreshing perspective

Disadvantages: Author can come across as intensely arrogant at times

Books about football are not a rarity. Good ones tend to be - there exist a lot of lazy efforts that seek to capitalise on the inherent drama and saga-like nature of the game and the politics that surround it without adding an awful lot of originality or perceptiveness in return. Amongst the wide range of writing on the subject, however, The Miracle of Castel di Sangro stands out for two reasons; firstly, it is written by an American, a nationality not traditionally known for their love of the game - and even less so back in 1996, when this was composed. Secondly, it revolves around an unlikely marriage between the aforementioned and a team few outside of Italy would have heard of before the publication of this book.

The town of Castel di Sangro lies in the Abruzzo region, due east of Rome in one of the least-visited parts of Italy. Little more than a village team, Castel rose rapidly through the lower Italian leagues in the years before McGinniss arrived in the country, culminating in the titular "miracle", a penalty-shoot-out win over Ascoli that took them up to Serie B, only one below the top tier, where Baggio, Batistuta et al plied their trade at the time.

McGinniss joined the team at the start of the season, and followed them through it, forging relationships with staff and players which allowed him an insight into the game that one would rarely be granted. This level of intimacy is one of the key components of The Miracle, achieving something few books on the game do - allowing a look at the personalities involved as people, rather than the well-documented sporting personas they adopt on the pitch and, more often than not, in front of the media. Of course, this is made possible because the team involved were a small club at their previous levels - in Serie B, they are almost microscopic in comparison to some of the names they come up against. As such, the level of access is much greater, and much easier to obtain, and the players and staff are less "on guard" in the author's presence. Far from being a weakness of the book that the players are relative unknowns on the footballing stage, it is a great strength for what it does for the novel.

Staying in the town, the author speaks to the Coach, President and Owner of the team, as well as most of the players at various points, in an attempt to build up a picture of what the miracle means to Castel di Sangro - not just as a football team, but as a town. This is ever the dual focus of this book; on one hand, the account of the club's struggle to survive against all odds in Serie B, where many players earn as much as their entire team, and on the other, the tale of a small, close-knit community fitting their regular (occasionally highly irregular) lives around this great event.

In this sense, the book benefits greatly from a wider focus - by looking at the community as a whole, and dealing with all sorts of people, McGinniss avoids this becoming a dry game-by-game recollection of a football season. The actual football takes up a fairly small proportion of the book, whilst the concentration on the ramifications and off-field events reflects the extent of the author's immersion in Castel di Sangro life. These non-sporting moments are largely the most memorable, giving the book its life and most memorable moments, in portrayals of all manner of inhabitants of the town, from everyday workers and locals to the larger-than-life magnate backing the team and looking down upon the Miracle from his lofty villa complex, Signor Rezza.

The book is told from a strongly first-person perspective; everything is very much subjective, and McGinniss never shys away from offering his opinion, often where it is unwanted. On the plus side, this makes for an involving, insightful analysis of Italian life, of which football is such a major part - and viewing it from a foreign perspective brings out the quirks and oddities even more strongly.

However, McGinniss's narrative can also become deeply irritating. Despite only having been a fan of the game for a matter of years, and never having been invloved in it at any meaningful level, he soon decides he knows more about football than the coach, Jaconi, a man with decades of professional experience as both coach and player, and considerable success. McGinniss knows more about tactics, he feels, more about the players, and more about how the game works as a whole. He consistently paints Jaconi as a fool; an idiot when he loses, a lucky man when he somehow wins - but in doing so only shows himself up. Though he is exceptional when dealing with "normal" people, and bringing their stories to life on the page, his arrogance when dealing with those in positions of power grates. Some deserve it, granted, but others, notably Jaconi, merit more respect than he gives them.

Despite the irritations, however, this is still an engrossing book, if only for the light it sheds on the somewhat seedy world of Italian football. As McGinniss starts to uncover the true depths of murkiness surrounding the game, he can become a bit self-righteous and condescending, but the substance of the book at this stage is nonetheless intriguing. This is probably a better book on the culture that surrounds Italian football than it is on football itself, but where it works, it really excels. Often infuriating, almost always interesting, The Miracle ... is well worth looking into.

Summary: American author explores a year in the life of a small-town Italian team.