Football Dark Arts


Book Description

Football Dark Arts provides detailed knowledge about crafty, deceitful and outrageous gamesmanship that is unnecessary but sometimes helps teams win matches. From the perspective of an experienced referee, this book outlines 80 football tricks, traps and tips used by less sporting players. These 'dark arts' help give ultracompetitive managers and street-smart players an unfair competitive edge that prevents their opponents from performing at their optimal level. Masters of the dark arts know how to bend the rules, to deceive, to con and ultimately to negatively affect their opponents. This book highlights the ugly, unpleasant and unsporting aspects of the Beautiful Game so that you won't be deceived by them. Whether you are a player, coach, match official, fan, commentator, journalist or club director, this book is your defence against the dark arts!




The Age of Football: Soccer and the 21st Century


Book Description

A monumental exploration of soccer and society in our time—by its preeminent historian. The Age of Football proves that whether you call it football or soccer, you can’t make sense of the modern world without understanding its most popular sport. With breathtaking scope and an unparalleled knowledge of the game, David Goldblatt—author of the best-selling The Ball Is Round—charts soccer’s global cultural ascent, economic transformation, and deep politicization.




The Aesthetics, Poetics, and Rhetoric of Soccer


Book Description

Soccer has long been known as 'the beautiful game'. This multi-disciplinary volume explores soccer, soccer culture, and the representation of soccer in art, film, and literature, using the critical tools of aesthetics, poetics, and rhetoric. Including international contributions from scholars of philosophy, literary and cultural studies, linguistics, art history, and the creative arts, this book begins by investigating the relationship between beauty and soccer and asks what criteria should be used to judge the sport’s aesthetic value. Covering topics as diverse as humor, national identity, style, celebrity, and social media, its chapters examine the nature of fandom, the role of language, and the significance of soccer in contemporary popular culture. It also discusses what one might call the ‘stylistics’ of soccer, analyzing how players, fans, and commentators communicate on and off the pitch, in the press, on social media, and in wider public discourse. The Aesthetics, Poetics, and Rhetoric of Soccer makes for fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in sport, culture, literature, philosophy, linguistics, and society.




Football and National Identity in Twentieth-Century Argentina


Book Description

This book examines how since its arrival in 1867 with British immigrants, football has become the key cultural signifier of national identity in Argentina over the long twentieth century. With the international exploits of players such as Luis Monti, Alfredo Di Stéfano and Diego Maradona, the sport has projected Argentina onto the global consciousness not seen in any other way. In this book, Mark Orton challenges existing myths surrounding the nativisation of football in Argentina away from British influence, as he shows how the game provided a conduit for the assimilation of millions of European immigrants in the early decades of the century into a new Argentine ‘race’. The book also examines how football gave some of the ‘voiceless others’ such as women, Afro-Argentines, indigenous people and those in the interior an arena to project themselves in an Argentine society that was masculine, white and Buenos Aires-dominated.




Soccer Dark Arts: Every Crafty Trick in the Book from Time-Wasting Tactics to Devilish Deceptions


Book Description

How do winners in soccer really win at soccer? Soccer Dark Arts provides detailed knowledge about crafty, deceitful, and outrageous gamesmanship that will help you and your team win matches. Within this book are 80 soccer tricks, traps, and tips. These "dark arts" help give ultra-competitive managers and street-smart players a competitive edge that will prevent their opponents from performing at their optimal level. Masters of the dark arts know how to bend the rules, to deceive, to con, and ultimately to negatively affect their opponents. This book highlights the ugly, unpleasant, and unsporting aspects of the Beautiful Game. Whether you are a player, coach, match official, fan, commentator, journalist, or club director, your best option is to read this book and understand the dark arts!




The Dark Art


Book Description

A highly decorated DEA agent recounts his incredible undercover career and reveals the shocking links between narcotics trafficking and terrorism. What exactly is undercover? From a law-enforcement perspective, it’s the art of skilfully eliciting incriminating statements. From a personal and psychological standpoint, it’s the dark art of gaining trust — and then manipulating that trust. Edward Follis mastered the chess game —the dark art —over the course of his distinguished 27 years with the Drug Enforcement Administration, where he was one of the driving forces behind the agency’s radical shift from a limited local focus to a global arena. Follis bought eightballs of coke in a red Corvette, negotiated multimillion-dollar deals on board private aircraft, and developed covert relationships with men who were not only international drug traffickers, but — in some cases — operatives for Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Mexican federation of cartels. Spanning five continents and filled with harrowing stories about the world’s most ruthless drug lords and terrorist networks, this memoir reads like a thriller. Yet every word is true, and every story is documented. The first and only insider’s account of the confluence between narco-trafficking and terrorist organisations, The Dark Art is an electrifying page-turner.




Foul Play


Book Description

There is cheating. And then there is cheating. But where does one end and the other start? Doping. Fixing. Sledging. Intimidating. Time-wasting. Diving. Ever since sporting contests began there have been rules, and for many competitors those rules have been there to be broken. Or maybe just bent a little . . . Foul Play offers an inside track on the dark arts employed in sport to gain an unfair advantage-on the football or rugby field, on the tennis or squash court, on the athletics track and the golf course, even on the bowling green or the Subbuteo table. Some cheating in sport is considered virtually par for the course, while other forms are completely unacceptable. But who, ultimately, makes that judgement? From ball-tampering and bribery in cricket to rugby union's 'Bloodgate' scandal; from Diego Maradona's Hand of God to Alex Ferguson's managerial mind games; from the dodgy dealing of the ancient Greeks and the wily cunning of W.G. Grace to the doping scandals engulfing Marion Jones and Lance Armstrong, it's all here. Foul Play-sometimes funny, sometimes shocking-provides all the evidence you'll ever need that the sporting world is often anything but.




The Country of Football


Book Description

Soccer is the world’s most popular sport, and the Brazilian national team is beloved around the planet for its beautiful playing style, the jogo bonito. With the most successful national soccer team in the history of the World Cup, Brazil is the only country to have played in every competition and the winner of more championships than any other nation. Soccer is perceived, like carnival and samba, to be quintessentially Brazilian and Afro-Brazilian. Yet the practice and history of soccer are also synonymous with conflict and contradiction as Brazil continues its trajectory toward modernity and economic power. The ongoing debate over how Team Brazil should play and positively represent a nation of demanding supporters bears on many crucial facets of a country riven by racial and class tensions. The Country of Football is filled with engaging stories of star players and other key figures, as well as extraordinary research on local, national, and international soccer communities. Soccer fans, scholars, and readers who are interested in the history of sport will emerge with a greater understanding of the complex relationship between Brazilian soccer and the nation’s history.




Contemporary Issues in Sport Management


Book Description

‘Contemporary Issues in Sport Management presents an extensive array of absorbing contemporary issues relevant to managing sport. Internationally recognised scholars have contributed thought-provoking chapters on current global and local issues that are challenging traditional ways of thinking about and delivering sport. This exciting new book is rich in theory and stimulates readers to really think through the associated implications for sport management practice.’ -Tracy Taylor, Professor and Deputy Dean, University of Technology Sydney Business School Contemporary Issues in Sports Management offers a rich and dynamic introduction to the management of sport. An essential companion for all students embarking on a sports management course or module, it draws on research expertise from around the world and integrates these perspectives into engaging and accessible chapters. This book offers: Contemporary and international case studies followed by ‘Tools for analysis’ so students can put the methodology into practice. A range of pedagogical features including learning objectives, learning outcomes and short ‘Thinking points’ Useful websites and further reading at the end of each chapter A discussion of up-to-date issues including corruption in sport, sport policy, doping, athlete transgressions and much more. This book will lead students on a comprehensive exploration of global, national issues, and organizational issues in sport management. The authors encourage critical thought, investigation and the questioning of current practice in order to improve the leadership and management of sport in today’s society. Ideal for Undergraduate students of sport management, sport business, sport policy, sport marketing and sport development.




Football, Gambling, and Everyday Life in Zimbabwe


Book Description

As unemployment soared in Zimbabwe in the early twenty-first century, betting on football/soccer emerged as a popular, if unsustainable, livelihood option, and the number of betting halls mushroomed. This book investigates this growing social phenomenon, providing a holistic analysis of football gambling in Zimbabwe and exposing its impact on the everyday lives of Zimbabweans. Drawing on original empirical and theoretical analysis from across six different areas of Zimbabwe, the book highlights the lived experiences of communities that are only beginning to grapple with the long-term effects of addiction. Explaining its historical origins in the colonial and immediate post-colonial periods, the authors delve into the motivations, patterns, practices and impacts of soccer betting. Tackling issues such as gender, livelihoods, addiction, religion, and tradition related to soccer betting, the book lays bare the general lack of policy frameworks and support services to protect vulnerable populations. This book offers a rare glimpse into a sociological phenomenon sweeping across Zimbabwe, with a particularly stark impact on the country’s youth. It will interest sports and African studies researchers, as well as those focusing on the socio-health problems related to gambling.