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The Last Game: Love, Death and Football
Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso
- GenresSportsFootballNonfiction
304 pages, Paperback
First published April 6, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 19, 2017
The central conceit of the book is that the 26th May 1989 Arsenal 2-0 win at Anfield marked the turning point in English football between the hooliganism and downward spiral of the 1970s and 1980s to the middle-class rebranding and commercial excess of the 1990’s and 2000’s.
The idea that 1989 was something of a turning point (with Bradford and Hillsborough) convinces; the idea that the game itself was a pivot (principally on the Liverpool fans applauding at the end rather than invading the pitch) much less so.
Although easy and enjoyable to read and full of good writing and interesting insights (e.g. the Hillsborough’s victim’s reaction to the film Fever Pitch – glamorising a game they think shouldn’t have been played) it is: inconsistent (e.g. not allowing this to stop making the same game the theme of this book); unstructured (sometimes convincingly but often aimlessly Cowley weaves the story of his family around the book, also at times the book reads a like a series of magazine articles – perhaps not surprisingly as Cowley edited OSM and now New Statesmen); derivative in places of Fever Pitch (not least in the game at the end at the Emirates where Cowley seems amazed that the fans seem to hate their experience and in his writing about his own writing career); occasionally glamorising of hooliganism (with a nostalgia which seems misplaced given everything he says about football’s history); and clumsy at times (particularly early on we are told that characters “would surely have known of ...” as a way of introducing a discussion on football history).
The idea that 1989 was something of a turning point (with Bradford and Hillsborough) convinces; the idea that the game itself was a pivot (principally on the Liverpool fans applauding at the end rather than invading the pitch) much less so.
Although easy and enjoyable to read and full of good writing and interesting insights (e.g. the Hillsborough’s victim’s reaction to the film Fever Pitch – glamorising a game they think shouldn’t have been played) it is: inconsistent (e.g. not allowing this to stop making the same game the theme of this book); unstructured (sometimes convincingly but often aimlessly Cowley weaves the story of his family around the book, also at times the book reads a like a series of magazine articles – perhaps not surprisingly as Cowley edited OSM and now New Statesmen); derivative in places of Fever Pitch (not least in the game at the end at the Emirates where Cowley seems amazed that the fans seem to hate their experience and in his writing about his own writing career); occasionally glamorising of hooliganism (with a nostalgia which seems misplaced given everything he says about football’s history); and clumsy at times (particularly early on we are told that characters “would surely have known of ...” as a way of introducing a discussion on football history).
May 21, 2021
One of the great books about sports I’ve read. Absolutely brilliant.
June 9, 2020
Ένα βιβλίο που απεικονίζει με νοσταλγία το ''άλλοτε αγγλικό ποδόσφαιρο'' της δεκαετίας του ΄70 και του '80,προτού εμπορευματοποιηθεί στον βαθμό που βλέπουμε σήμερα,με πολλές δηλώσεις ποδοσφαιριστών για το άθλημα και γύρω απο αυτό.
Περιγραφές οπαδικής νοοτροπίας μιας εποχής όπου ο κόσμος της ομάδας, ήταν η ομάδα.
Περιγραφές οπαδικής νοοτροπίας μιας εποχής όπου ο κόσμος της ομάδας, ήταν η ομάδα.
August 18, 2019
Πολλές πληροφορίες για την δεκαετία του 80 καί τά γεγονότα που οδήγησαν το αγγλικό ποδόσφαιρο μακριά από την βία
June 12, 2023
Arsenal fan testimony with less ache than Fever Pitch.
February 24, 2011
As a (then) teenage liverpool fan the last game of the 89 season has stuck in my mind more than almost any other purely sporting event. The book took me back to that season of Hillsborough and the all mersey cup final and left me surprisingly touched. I'm not even sure how good a book it is really, anything relating to hillsborough and the gap between the 80s and now always gets to me but it was more readable than a lot of football books and despite being from the arsenal point of view seemed to have it's heart in the right place about why people return to that game as the end of something.
March 9, 2014
A nice book reflecting on football and it's future, regional differences (that the author is an arsenal fan doesn't detract from fans of other clubs and especially Liverpool fans enjoying and relating to the book) and family, particularly the father - son relationship.
August 12, 2015
Must read για φίλους Άρσεναλ και Λίβερπουλ (κυρίως) και γενικά για ρομαντικούς του ποδοσφαίρου. Αρκετά ενδιαφέροντα και τα λοιπά, μη ποδοσφαιρικά στοιχεία της καθημερινότητας του συγγραφέα και της Βρετανίας των περασμένων δεκαετιών.
June 29, 2011
Great book on Arsenal.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews