Calcio: A History of Italian Football

I have just finished reading this book (the updated edition with Cannavaro lifting the World Cup on the cover.) The author obviously knows his calcio. As a follower of Italian football I found this book to be a very fluid read and allowed me to discover the foundations of the game in Italy, the great teams of the past (Torino, Inter, Genoa, Juventus), the managers and players who helped make the game what is is today, wrapped in an analysis of the social and political context of the country.

I thought the author wrote very well and at a level which would be engaging for the layperson. Of course, when dealing with a history of a subject, it is difficult not to write in a style which some readers might find list-like. I didn't and I'm sure that the vast majority of readers wouldn't. The book is written with a skew towards British players (e.g the `Foreigners' chapter is Brit dominated) but the author is British and the book is aimed at a British market, so I don't think this can be a criticism.

The Heysel and Superga tragedies are mentioned very sensitively. My only criticism would be the black and white pictures which didn't do the text justice. Overall I thought the book was authoritative, comprehensive with the right level of humour interspersed. I would recommend this book to all those with an interest in the beautiful game.

Appropriate for Britons. The rest of the world, not so much. (0/0 people found this helpful)

I'm sympathetic towards the difficulty in getting in more information and pages in a book that already spans 500+ pages. I am, truly. But I feel there's a very misguided balance between what would be important in explaining Italian football and what the author feels just 'had' to be in there (see: seemingly endless words spent re-hashing the failures and few successes of British players in Italy).
I found it great in the beginning, but my enthusiasm quickly wore down as I progressed through the chapters and timeline of calcio. As items I am myself comfortable in my knowledge of came up, numerous mistakes on behalf of the author were exposed. I believe my final count of the different years mentioned for Roma's third scudetto win came to four, only mentioning the correct (2001) once. And there are many of these seemingly minor flaws (another that has stuck is the statement that Bologna is on the stockmarket; it is in fact probably the last club that would consider it, its presidents over the years leading the charge against the very 'financial doping' so very associated with the three clubs on the Milano stock exchange).

But the lack of understanding, on the part of the author, what's important is my main beef; a revolutionary coach such as Liedholm, who held such great esteem in his adopted country and was also a fantastic player in his day, 'godfather' of many of today's great coaches is mentioned only in passing. If I believed it to be intentional and not a very unfortunate overlook and miscalculation I'd deem it an insult of the highest magnitude. (Liedholm's fellow Swede at Milan in the 50's, Nordahl has been erased from Foot's history books, his incredible goal scoring record ignored and shunned, himself not even mentioned, as far as my memory serves, and if he was, like Liedholm only in passing).

But the book can probably serve well as a superficial reading for mainly a British audience who actually cares much for what Ian Rush wrote in his journal; I, most certainly, did not whatsoever.

Pure Joy (1/1 people found this helpful)

This book is a wonderful read. Even my wife, who hates football, enjoyed it. I've read an awful lot of books, from Dostoevsky to detectives, and can't remember too many that gave me so much pleasure. A word of warning; don't let anyone borrow it as you'll never get it back.

More dictionary than history (2/2 people found this helpful)

There is some wonderful material here, but it is wasted (I assume by the editors, who had typical English football supporters in mind) by the annoying sub headings and a bizarre running order. The prose comes across as stilted, and simply does not flow (it is not allowed to flow). There is no narrative, and though billed as a history of Italian football is, alas, more a dictionary of the subject.

Simply brilliant (2/3 people found this helpful)

At first you'd imagine that the history of the football in Italy whose leagues are so often dubbed as boring. Foot's book has been a great revelation for me showing how the football is integrated deeply into the everyday life and thinking of Italians.

The coverage is vast and full of interesting details. I'm simply in awe of this book.

Calcio: A History of Italian Football

John Foot

Reader Reviews:

Entertaining and well-paced read. (0/0 people found this helpful)

Appropriate for Britons. The rest of the world, not so much. (0/0 people found this helpful)

Pure Joy (1/1 people found this helpful)

More dictionary than history (2/2 people found this helpful)

Simply brilliant (2/3 people found this helpful)

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