Played in Germany – A Football Journey Through a Nation’s Soul
Written by Kit Holden Published by Duckworth 2024
This is an amazingly well researched book about football in Germany ahead of the 2024 UEFA European Championship as it takes you on a journey to the centres of football that will be hosting the9 many games.
What is marvellous is that the book is not just about football but about what makes up and has fashioned the German state that presents itself to the world today.
You are swept along in a learning fest about geography, history, economics, politics, industrial development but most importantly people and their culture.
Surprising to me was the revelation about local dialects, which can lead to peoples of some areas not being able to understand others and the fierce regional rivalry that exists. This regional patriotism feeds through to the football community culture that sticks closely to areas which are clinging on to these roots, propelled by a defence of their fan ownership model, under threat from capitalist forces.
The book describes the passion of the fans through interviews with those who live and breath their club’s traditions and customs in an ever-changing environment.
The growth and decline of different clubs is true in Germany as everywhere and this is well put near the end of the book, “But you cannot preserve everything in aspic, and even the most romantic traditionalists must at some point move with the times”.
Bring on the Euro’s.
If you are interested in reading this book then it can be pre-ordered from Stanchion Books (a cracking little football bookseller), where you can get 24% off with the code PROST24:
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