Rock 'n' Roll Soccer: The Short Life and Fast Times of the North American Soccer League, by Ian Plenderleith
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Rock 'n' Roll Soccer: The Short Life and Fast Times of the North American Soccer League, by Ian Plenderleith
Ebook PDF Online Rock 'n' Roll Soccer: The Short Life and Fast Times of the North American Soccer League, by Ian Plenderleith
The North American Soccer League - at its peak in the late 1970s - presented soccer as performance, played by men with a bent for flair, hair and glamour. More than just Pelé and the New York Cosmos, it lured the biggest names of the world game like Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, Eusebio, Gerd Müller and George Best to play the sport as it was meant to be played-without inhibition, to please the fans.
The first complete look at the ambitious, star-studded NASL, Rock 'n' Roll Soccer reveals how this precursor to modern soccer laid the foundations for the sport's tremendous popularity in America today. Bringing to life the color and chaos of an unfairly maligned league, soccer journalist Ian Plenderleith draws from research and interviews with the men who were there to reveal the madness of its marketing, the wild expectations of businessmen and corporations hoping to make a killing out of the next big thing, and the insanity of franchises in scorching cities like Las Vegas and Hawaii. That's not to mention the league's on-running fight with FIFA as the trailblazing North American continent battled to innovate, surprise, and sell soccer to a whole new world.
As entertaining and raucous as the league itself, Rock 'n' Roll Soccer recounts the hype and chaos surrounding the rapid rise and cataclysmic fall of the NASL, an enterprising and groundbreaking league that did too much right to ignore.
Rock 'n' Roll Soccer: The Short Life and Fast Times of the North American Soccer League, by Ian Plenderleith - Amazon Sales Rank: #802704 in Books
- Published on: 2015-09-22
- Released on: 2015-09-22
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.48" h x 1.28" w x 6.39" l, 1.00 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 368 pages
Rock 'n' Roll Soccer: The Short Life and Fast Times of the North American Soccer League, by Ian Plenderleith Review
“Scrupulously researched and sourced, with first-person accounts knitted together in an enthusiastic, irreverent narrative, this is a gift to fans of America's richer-than-expected soccer history.” ―Booklist
“An important contribution to the understanding of the NASL, American soccer, and worldwide football as a whole. Soccer fans will gain a better appreciation of the much derided league. Recommended for those interested in the game or in the intersection of sports and business.” ―Library Journal, starred review
“An entertaining but level-headed look back at a league that broke a lot of rules and a lot of barriers.” ―Sports Myriad
“[This] is the definitive history on the original NASL. Nothing out there rivals the detail and variety provided by this book. It is easily one of the best soccer titles of 2015, if not the best.” ―International Soccer Network
About the Author IAN PLENDERLEITH is a British soccer writer and journalist who has lived in the United States for the past 15 years. Author of the critically acclaimed short story collection For Whom The Ball Rolls, he has been writing about soccer in the UK, Germany and the US for the past twenty years for publications such as The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, Soccer America, Prospect and When Saturday Comes.
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Most helpful customer reviews
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. At last some recognition for us Kicks fans! By John F. Pepple The first four professional soccer games I went to each drew more than 40,000 fans. This was in 1976, and they were Minnesota Kicks games in Bloomington, Minnesota. I don’t bother talking about this to soccer fans today (to say nothing of anyone else) because I assume no one will believe me. They’ve never heard of it. Nevertheless, it happened.To have been a Minnesota Kicks fan was like being part of some important historical event, say, the Battle of the Bulge, only to discover later on that the historians have said nothing about it. The event just disappeared from society’s collective memory.The Kicks were an amazing phenomenon that sprang up like magic in the year 1976, but hardly any outsiders noticed. No one noticed because the Kicks were way off in Minnesota and didn’t have any famous stars like Pele. There was some bad luck along the way, too. In 1976, the Kicks’ first season, we missed out on the record for highest average attendance because people in the Twin Cities were still just getting introduced to the Kicks. In 1977, we were cruising to that record when people in New York suddenly realized they had Pele in their midst and started showing up at Cosmos games in massive numbers, so we lost out that year and subsequent years as well. And then the Kicks’ biggest game, the 9-2 thrashing of the Cosmos, occurred when the "New York Times" was on strike. Finally, the Kicks didn’t last very long because in the fall of 1978 the local powers-that-be decreed that an expensive domed stadium be built, and the Kicks just couldn’t afford to play there or anywhere else that was big.I never once noticed an article in any national newspaper or magazine about the Kicks phenomenon. I didn’t even see articles in the soccer magazines of that era. We were just plain invisible.So, I’m giving this book five stars (and would give it a hundred if I could) just because it’s the first time I’ve seen an outsider actually give us some recognition. Thank you, Mr. Plenderleith. I loved some of the anecdotes about the players, which I had never heard before (especially the one about Tim Twellman on p. 120).Here’s just a few nitpicky points:1. The Kicks died not because of the failings of a new owner, but because of that damned domed stadium I mentioned above.2. It wasn’t all rock and roll soccer in the Kicks’ parking lot. There would be Dixieland bands playing, as well as a band called Shangoya composed of Trinidadian immigrants playing Caribbean music.3. And it wasn’t the Woodstock generation in the parking lot, but people a decade younger. If the Woodstock generation was there, it was because they were now parents of young children, and going to a Kicks game was cheap entertainment (parking was free!).4. As frustrating as it was to be a Kicks fan in those years, what was even more frustrating as an American soccer fan was that there was no team comparable to the Cosmos in California. Yes, the Cosmos were important, but California and not New York (or D.C. – sheesh) was the trend-setting place of the nation. Getting 77,000 to a soccer game in New York was impressive, but not as influential as it would have been if it had been in Los Angeles. So, I found it terribly frustrating when Johan Cruyff was traded away from the Aztecs to D.C., where he could do nothing for American soccer. The author doesn’t dwell on this.Aside from these points, great book.By the way, becoming a Kicks fan was one of two big turning points in my life. Basically, I knew nothing about the rest of the world before becoming a Kicks fans, despite having a college degree. I had never heard of promotion and relegation before this. I knew nothing of open-cup tournaments like the FA Cup because our sports don’t have them. I was only dimly aware of the World Cup and had never heard of how we beat England in a World Cup game back in 1950. My first trip abroad was to Brazil, and I’ve managed to attend games on four continents in eight countries.Beyond sports, I didn’t know the difference between England and Britain, knew almost nothing about Latin America, and never paid any attention to foreign media. Now I make sure that at least some of the news I get is from foreign sources, a practice that even the most sophisticated Americans still don’t do. After all, we know that our media is bad concerning their coverage of foreign sports, so why should they be good at anything else foreign?The Kicks’ slogan encouraged Minnesotans to join the world by becoming a Kicks fan, and I did.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. 'Rock 'n' Roll Soccer' hits all the right notes By Michael Woitalla One of the greatest American soccer books ever. An entertaining, informative, myth-busting, side-splitting tour through the old NASL, which had such a major impact on where American soccer (and global soccer) is now. For those of us who lived through the NASL, "Rock 'n' Roll Soccer" brings back wonderful memories, in addition to enlightening us on fascinating aspects of the league we didn't realize. For those too young to remember the NASL, you'll be treated to a colorful account of how soccer took a foothold in the USA and the fascinating characters who made it happen.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Like the original NASL: fast and loose, exciting, a little unorganized. By uncle b A great book about a wild and crazy league that probably could've only existed in the mid to late 70s-early 80s. Fast and loose and freewheeling, the book reads a lot like the NASL's existence, bouncing from pillar to post, sometimes quite unorganized, and a little frustrating. Still a good read. Recommended.
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