Reddit reviews The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer

The key book for football hooliganism is Among the Thugs by Bill Buford. A fantastic read that gives a great insight into 1980s British hooligan culture. A great look into what started off as a bunch of young lads just wanting to fight that spiraled into violence and death.

The Ball is Round by David Goldblatt. This book is football's history bible. But chapters 13, 14 and 15 focus particularly on FIFA corruption, South American dictatorships and the outbreak of a worldwide hooligan culture, all of which are intertwined.

The book Football Hooliganism is also on my list of readings.

Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby, while not a particularly brilliant insight into hooliganism is a great look into the relationship between fan and club.

And there are some great documentaries on it too:

Football's Fight Club. Charts the rise and fall of hooliganism in 70s and 80s Britain.

There are loads of great documentaries on youtube to be honest that chronicle the problem of hooliganism both in the present day and the past. Here's one I thought was good

I don't know anything too specifically related to Leeds, but Among the Thugs does spend some time with leeds' firm.

I also just watched Vice's program on the Celtic-Rangers rivalry just last night. A good watch.

Seconded for sure. Watch some soccer and, if you like books, go read up on the game. There’s a fairly short but really high-quality list of books that you can hit to get a varied taste of soccer, from history to tactics to biographies to silly books about English soccer clichés.

But there is no substitute for watching the game, and even playing around in your back yard a bit. Enjoy!

(Edit: there are other books on the shortlist out there too. Also, there are plenty of fun and informative podcasts related to the sport if you’re into that sort of thing)

The Ball is Round by David Goldblatt

The Ball is Round is a good read, especially if you're into the history of the game.

Bloody Confused!: A Clueless American Sportswriter Seeks Solace in English Soccer -- The book for the novice soccer fan. It explains how one can get caught up in the sport even if they deride it or have no history with it. Amazon: After covering the American sports scene for fifteen years, Chuck Culpepper suffered from a profound case of Common Sportswriter Malaise. He was fed up with self-righteous proclamations, steroid scandals, and the deluge of in-your-face PR that saturated the NFL, the NBA, and MLB. Then in 2006, he moved to London and discovered a new and baffling world—the renowned Premiership soccer league. Culpepper pledged his loyalty to Portsmouth, a gutsy, small-market team at the bottom of the standings. As he puts it, “It was like childhood, with beer.”

The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer -- Be warned this book can be mistaken as a blunt object. One of the most global histories I've ever read. If you like information about how world soccer got to where it is now, I highly recommend this book. Amazon: In this extraordinary tour de force, David Goldblatt tells the full story of soccer's rise from chaotic folk ritual to the world's most popular sport-now poised to fully establish itself in the USA. Already celebrated internationally, The Ball Is Round illuminates soccer's role in the political and social histories of modern societies, but never loses sight of the beauty, joy, and excitement of the game itself.

Long-Range Goals: The Success Story of Major League Soccer -- Amazon: From the league’s formation in 1993 to the David Beckham era, this book reveals all the action on and off the pitch: the politics, the lawsuits, the management of its teams, and the savvy business deals that helped MLS rebound. It also revels in the big personalities of its stars, the grace of its utility players, and the obstacles the league faces in meeting its long-range goals.

Corner Offices & Corner Kicks -- Amazon: The Bethlehem Steel soccer team of 1907-30 and the New York Cosmos of 1971-85 were very much alike in a number of ways beyond their status as the two greatest soccer teams the United States has ever produced. The most important way that they are alike is that both were owned by major corporations, which is the exception in professional sports, and both experienced the benefits and the pitfalls of corporate ownership. Here are the stories of these two teams, and in particular the roller-coaster rides that their ownership situations sent them on.

Not a Saint, just visiting this sub but I'll throw in my two cents as well:

Play the game - Get involved as much as you can. Doesn't matter the level, just get playing. And, importantly, try to take up different positions when you play. Even though the game is the same, the role of a lone striker is very different to that of the right back, the playmaker is very different from the holding midfield, the left winger is different from the 'keeper and so on. It'll help build your understanding of the different roles at play on the pitch.

Computer games - Personally not sure about games like FIFA (if it works for you, go nuts) but I'd recommend some of the older manager games. Not because they were necessarily better than the ones around now but because they were a bit simpler. Not trying to be patronising but if I were trying to learn to play the guitar, I'd probably want to start with the rudimentary stuff before moving on to more complex issues, and that's kinda the case here. You can download Championship Manager 01/02 free and legally from their own website, something I recommend because of the clear and very intriguing insights into some of the game's inner workings like basic formations, player types and a rough idea of individual skill sets.

YouTube - Although I haven't gone too far into it myself, I'm absolutely certain there are a myriad very handy videos online explaining tactics on different levels. This is a nice introduction, and uMAXIT have some decent videos on basic tactical principles explained at a pleasant speed and with good visuals. When you've got the basics down (or maybe you already have), throw a quick butcher's at their videos on things like false 9's, gegenpressing and zonal/man marking.

Literature - Plenty, and I do mean plenty, of really good books out there. "Inverting the Pyramid" is interesting reading but will probably not provide you with too many insights into the modern game. I'd recommend reading that a little later.

For the history of the game, there is really only one bible - David Goldplatt's "The Ball is Round". It's a right monolith but it's well-written and very, very interesting reading. Once you get into the game, you might want to read up on a few of its greats' autobiographies - but all that in due course.

Online reading - At the risk of upsetting the reddit intelligentsia, I'd recommend you find some of the best personal blogs about your team and start reading them. Maybe even pop by the most popular message boards that aren't driven by points. The points made there are also more likely to be made by locals and so can give you an idea of what they think of it all (particularly with a club like Southampton which probably has a fairly modest global following compared to the so-called big clubs). By this I'm not saying you should stay away from here or not engage, not by any means. Just that it's a different world on the old message/discussion boards.

For news, I recommend this sub and NewsNow. Just be very aware that it's a link aggregator so there can be a lot of shit in among the good bits. You'll soon learn to avoid sites such as 101greatgoals, talkSPORT, TEAMtalk and the usual array of hacks but it's a good place to get an idea of what's moving around the club nonetheless.

Hope it helps.

Another not-specific-to-Arsenal but great read is The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer by David Goldblatt. Love it.

the ball is round. recommended for fans of soccer & history: https://www.amazon.com/Ball-Round-Global-History-Soccer/dp/1594482969

The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer might be the sort of thing you're looking for.

When football came to America there were 2 popular versions at the time rugby football and asSOCiation football (which the British shortened to soccer often adding an er to many popular phrases at the time) the rugby style was more popular and eventually evolved into what we know as football. And association football just became soccer.
This is all paraphrased from The ball is round read it, it's a good book.

ninjedit fuck grammar

The Ball is Round: A global history of football (soccer if you get the US edition) by David Goldblatt

It's a very good book if you want a book detailing the spread of the history of the game. It cover it's roots, how it spread, how the major leagues came about, a general history of every continent, the world cup, etc. It's kind of a brick, but covers a lot of ground and is a good cornerstone if you are interested in the history of the game.

There is a book titled "The Global History of Soccer" that I read a few years ago. It is a great read and talks about some of these issues. It goes through the history of Football in each region and how they are connected. Unfortunately, I don't remember WHY soccer didn't catch on but I remember something about local cultures that were occupied by the british would play to emulate the british soldiers.

The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football (Soccer, in the American printed version) by David Goldblatt

http://www.amazon.com/The-Ball-Round-Global-History/dp/1594482969

Fantastically researched, and all-encompassing text on the history and moreover the development of football all over the world. I am about 200-300 pages in. Very dense read, but definitely a must-have for any one interested in the history of the sport.

Huh, interesting. Have you read many other nonfiction books about soccer? I've been thinking about picking up The Ball is Round. Looks like some interesting books.

I started Cod today and it's very good.

Another excellent book on the history of football is called The Ball is Round.

Gotcha, makes sense. It doesn't pertain directly to the Premier League, although there's a lot of PL covered, but you might be interested in reading The Ball is Round if you haven't yet.