Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Soccer

by David Winner

Book Overview

"A brilliant, thorough, utterly mad book, the product of the most admirable sort of enthusiasm: total. You like soccer, you don't like soccer, it doesn't matter. If you think of yourself as a serious fan, if you want to continue on the path towards enlightenment and take your devotion to another level, you'd best check out the standard being set here." --ESPN.com

On one level, Brilliant Orange is about a people whose unique point...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590200551
• ISBN13: 9781590200551
• Release Date: July 2008
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Yes...it is true. I think it is the best book on football (soccer)

This book is a Chronicle. The Orange Chronicles. But such an interesting read it almost feels like a great work--an entertaining novel, but yes it really did happen. The field is more than a 2-D surface, which is what it is to most TV viewers, if you never get to soccer games. Even to the most jaded soccer watcher, This book makes the field come alive in such a way that even a non-soccer appreciator could get hooked. It is just an all-around well written sports book, by a writer who really loves sports. I don;t like intellectualized sports books, but prefer a real fan's book or player's book, and WInner writes from the sidelines in an infectious way. Ajax was usually the team I would love to hate, and I only got to see them once "live" as an opposing side, and yes I had to admit they were amazing (and beat my team : (, but little did I know that they actually started their revolutionary ways long before I was born, utilizing "the pitch" in such a way that the field became a small calculating place, without fatigue or confusion from their player switching. I don;t want to write too much and add any more spoliers than anyone else has written--since the book is like a strategist's dream...Every coach should read this. I thought the title was strange, until I got halfway through the book and realized--yes the Dutch football developments in the 60s/70s were neurotic but Awesome in their results. Hurray for the little lowland country, home to some of the greatest soccerplayers ever. I cannot think of a better book to read before or during the World CUp! EEM

Possibly the best book ever written on football.

For its entertainment value, its creativity, its humor, and its depth of insight, this is perhaps the best book ever written on soccer. One should be familiar in general with Dutch football tactics and history to get the most out of it, but even if you aren't, it's still highly engaging.

Priceless insights into the Dutch and their soccer

Pele famously called soccer "the beautiful game" and at last here is a book that does justice to that thought. It charts the Dutch soccer renaissance that flowered from the late 60s, how Dutch culture shaped it and the way that historical events in soccer have themselves influenced Dutch culture and recent history. It's a touching, intelligent and insightful masterpiece.Just as the Beatles and the Swinging 60s marked a turning point in Britain, so the new spirit in soccer marked a cultural watershed in the Netherlands. A key figure of those heady days was the prodigiously gifted and outspoken Johann Cruyff, cited by the author as probably the most important and best-known Dutch person alive. Here was a player of such intelligence and physical skill that even ballet superstar Rudolph Nureyev watched him in fascination.David Winner has doggedly researched his subject, meeting and interviewing many of the key figures. They speak with a distinctive voice and overall the writing evokes a strong sense of place, people and events - not least the (self) defeat of the Dutch in the 1974 World Cup final against Germany. "How come you understand our country so well?" a Dutchman asked me after I shared some of the book's insights with him.This is an outstanding read for anyone interested in soccer, anyone who has Dutch friends or has ever been to the Netherlands or ever intends to go there. Not to mention anyone who is interested in the importance of sport in the life of societies and nations.

Not just for football fans

This is not just a book for football (soccer) fanatics, although it helps. As Mr. Winner explains, it's his attempt to get to the bottom of Dutch football, albeit in a multidisciplinary sort of way. The creation of space on offense and the destruction of space on defense both have historical and geographical roots; likewise, the Dutch refusal to win the big one can be traced to socio-cultural factors. You can read it again and again -- the beauty of its organization (squad numbers, not chapters) makes it ideal for idle flipping, for lunch-time readings, for chapter-hopping and quick dips. A sheer joy -- you learn a lot, you'll press it on friends, you'd lend it out more if it weren't so good.

A feast for "Total Football" lovers

I will tell you right off that I've been waiting for this book for 26 years. I, like the author, fell for the "total football" of Ajax Amsterdam (a Dutch soccer club which won three consecutive European Cups-'71,'72,'73) and the Dutch national soccer team, which impressed the world during the 1974 and 1978 World Cups. Being an American, I was starved for information about this generation of players who brought a revolution in tactical thinking to world soccer. I'm sure a lot was written about them at the time (some still is), but most of it was not in English or not easily availble in the States. I was convinced at the time that the progressive thinking of these teams must be, in some part, a function of the Dutch mentality. This book is an attempt to show that connection. The chapters essentially alternate between factual information and interviews with some former players and coaches and factual information and interviews with people unrelated to soccer but involved in other creative areas, i.e. architecture, art, etc. The book is not all about the positive side, either. The Dutch national soccer team has had a history of self-destructing at important tournaments and this too is linked with certain aspects of Dutch thinking.The book also covers some of the more recent vintages of Ajax and the Dutch national team in the same way. This shows not only a continuity of cultural thought, but also helps to deal with situations that occurred after the early '70's, such as the influx of other ethnicities into the soccer teams, and the accompanying problems this brought."Brilliant Orange" is essential reading for all those who love Dutch soccer. But it will also be entertaining and insightful for anyone interested in the way cultural thought manifests itself in specific areas of life.