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Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football
Brilliant range is a book about Dutch soccer that's not really about Dutch socer. It's more about an enigmatic way of thinking peculiar to a people whose landscape is unrelentingly flat, mostly below sea level, ad who owe their salvation to a boy who plugged a fractured dike with his little inger. If any one thing, Brilliant Orange is about Dutch space and a people whose unique conception of it has led to ome of the most enduring art, the weirdest architecture, and a bizarrely crebral form of soccer--Total Football--that led in 1974 to a World Cup finalsmatch with arch-rival Germany and more recently to a devastating loss againstSpain in 2010. With its intricacy and oddity, it continues to mystify and delght observers around the world. As David Winner wryly observes, it is an expression of the Dutch psyche that has a shaed ancestry with the Mondrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie, Rembrandt's Th Night Watch, maybe even with Gouda cheese.
Finally here in paperbck, Brilliant Orange reaches out to the reader from an unexpected place andnever lets go.
Finally here in paperbck, Brilliant Orange reaches out to the reader from an unexpected place andnever lets go.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 19, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 224 reviews
March 29, 2016
Fascinating study of the evolution of Total Football, taking in the possibilities that the Dutch teams of the 1960s were influenced by such varied aspects of their culture as architecture, geography, social upheaval and discussing potential reasons for why they also have a habit of imploding and failing dramatically at major tournaments. Deserving of much more than I can give it at six am. RIP Johan Cryuff, for all of the impact of architecture and geography none of this brilliance would have been possible without your majesty.
September 2, 2018
Ha qualcosa di magnetico, quella maglia arancione. Scrivere totaalvoetball riesce a far innamorare ancora oggi chi venera un’idea di calcio portatrice sana di godimento in quanto meraviglia estetica, sebbene non necessariamente vincente.
Lo sa bene David Winner, giornalista inglese che del suo amore per il calcio olandese ne ha fatto un libro, Brilliant Orange, che si potrebbe definire anch’esso totale.
«Proprio come il fascino di Romeo e Giulietta consiste nel fatto che i due innamorati non vivano per sempre felici e contenti, di sicuro la mia ossessione nei confronti del calcio olandese sarebbe meno profonda se non fosse stato per quella sconfitta».
La sconfitta è quella al Mondiale del 74. Ma per arrivarci Winner parte raccontandoci l’Olanda. Si parte da Amsterdam nel Dopoguerra, grigia e provincialotta, una città che si risveglia all’improvviso a metà degli anni Sessanta. Per strada ci sono i Provos, mentre negli studi di architettura la Scuola di Amsterdam progetta una nazione sui canoni dell’architettura totale.
Allo Stadio De Meer, l’Ajax gioca un calcio che diventa arte rivoluzionando il concetto di spazio, tanto caro a un Paese che lo spazio per vivere se lo è preso persino strappandolo al mare. Rinus Michels e i suoi ragazzi mescolano dinamismo e geometrie, collettivismo e individualità e l’Ajax a vince in patria e in Europa, 3 Coppe dei Campioni consecutive tra il '70 e il '73. L’emblema del calcio totale è Johan Cruijff. Johan che per quelli della sua generazione è come John Lennon: quando se ne va al Barcellona, come i Beatles anche l’Ajax si scioglie.
Il meccanismo perfetto dell’Olanda, invece, va in tilt con la finale mondiale persa nel 1974 contro la Germania Ovest. Un trauma nazionale inaspettato, che fa riaffiorare il trauma dell’invasione patita durante la Seconda Guerra Mondiale. In seguito l’Olanda giocherà (e perderà, di nuovo) un’altra finale mondiale nel ’78, anche se contro l’Argentina della Giunta militare seduta in tribuna forse ci sarebbe stato poco da fare.
L’Olanda produrrà nuovi campioni, Van Basten, Gullitt e gli altri epigoni, capaci di vincere un Europeo, ma incapaci di sanare quel vulnus aperto nella società. Così nelle pagine più recenti, il calcio non ha più a che fare con l’arte, ma si deve confrontare con antisemitismo, razzismo, una perdita di innocenza che sfocia nell’ennesima finale mondiale persa nel 2010. Dove un’Olanda brutta e cattiva gioca sporco contro una Spagna alla catalana (e quindi anche all’olandese). Eppure, da sconfitta, la squadra riceve una festa regale al ritorno in patria.
A Winner non resta che registrare con malinconia la fine dell’Età dell’Oranje tramite le parole del giornalista Hubert Smeets. «Sii ordinario: è già divertente abbastanza. Per quarant’anni il calcio è stata un’eccezione, ma ora siamo tornati alla società olandese che c’era prima degli anni Sessanta».
Lo sa bene David Winner, giornalista inglese che del suo amore per il calcio olandese ne ha fatto un libro, Brilliant Orange, che si potrebbe definire anch’esso totale.
«Proprio come il fascino di Romeo e Giulietta consiste nel fatto che i due innamorati non vivano per sempre felici e contenti, di sicuro la mia ossessione nei confronti del calcio olandese sarebbe meno profonda se non fosse stato per quella sconfitta».
La sconfitta è quella al Mondiale del 74. Ma per arrivarci Winner parte raccontandoci l’Olanda. Si parte da Amsterdam nel Dopoguerra, grigia e provincialotta, una città che si risveglia all’improvviso a metà degli anni Sessanta. Per strada ci sono i Provos, mentre negli studi di architettura la Scuola di Amsterdam progetta una nazione sui canoni dell’architettura totale.
Allo Stadio De Meer, l’Ajax gioca un calcio che diventa arte rivoluzionando il concetto di spazio, tanto caro a un Paese che lo spazio per vivere se lo è preso persino strappandolo al mare. Rinus Michels e i suoi ragazzi mescolano dinamismo e geometrie, collettivismo e individualità e l’Ajax a vince in patria e in Europa, 3 Coppe dei Campioni consecutive tra il '70 e il '73. L’emblema del calcio totale è Johan Cruijff. Johan che per quelli della sua generazione è come John Lennon: quando se ne va al Barcellona, come i Beatles anche l’Ajax si scioglie.
Il meccanismo perfetto dell’Olanda, invece, va in tilt con la finale mondiale persa nel 1974 contro la Germania Ovest. Un trauma nazionale inaspettato, che fa riaffiorare il trauma dell’invasione patita durante la Seconda Guerra Mondiale. In seguito l’Olanda giocherà (e perderà, di nuovo) un’altra finale mondiale nel ’78, anche se contro l’Argentina della Giunta militare seduta in tribuna forse ci sarebbe stato poco da fare.
L’Olanda produrrà nuovi campioni, Van Basten, Gullitt e gli altri epigoni, capaci di vincere un Europeo, ma incapaci di sanare quel vulnus aperto nella società. Così nelle pagine più recenti, il calcio non ha più a che fare con l’arte, ma si deve confrontare con antisemitismo, razzismo, una perdita di innocenza che sfocia nell’ennesima finale mondiale persa nel 2010. Dove un’Olanda brutta e cattiva gioca sporco contro una Spagna alla catalana (e quindi anche all’olandese). Eppure, da sconfitta, la squadra riceve una festa regale al ritorno in patria.
A Winner non resta che registrare con malinconia la fine dell’Età dell’Oranje tramite le parole del giornalista Hubert Smeets. «Sii ordinario: è già divertente abbastanza. Per quarant’anni il calcio è stata un’eccezione, ma ora siamo tornati alla società olandese che c’era prima degli anni Sessanta».
October 12, 2020
İngiliz gazetecisi David Miller merkeze Ajax futbol klubünü ve efsanevi futbolcusu Johan Cruyff’u yerleştirerek Hollanda’nın bir resmini çizmiş “Harika Portakal”da. Sadece futbol ile yetinmeyip resim, mimari, tarih, sosyoloji, felsefe ve sanat tarihine bağlantılar yaparak çok ilginç bir Hollanda tablosu çıkarmış ortaya ünlü gazeteci. Bir edebiyat yapıtı değil tabii ki, ancak çok keyif verici bir okuma sağlıyor.
Günümüzden 60-70 yıl önce Avrupa’nın en gösterişsiz ve sıkıcı kentlerinden biri olan Amsterdam’ın bugün sadece Avrupa’nın değil dünyanın da en gözde ve ilgi çeken bir kent haline gelmesinin farklı hikayesini bu kitapta bulacaksınız. Belki futbol üzerinden bir hikaye kurgulansa da, denizden toprak kazanarak, deniz seviyesinin altında bir ülke yaratma başarısını futbol ile ilişkilendirmek, önemli bir deniz savaşının yapıldığı deniz üzerine bir ulaşım noktası harikası olan entegre Schipol Havaalanını kurulmasını futbol taktikleri ile özdeşleştirmek ilginç olsa da hiç kolay değil. D. Miller usta kalemi ile bunu başarmış.
Sömürgesi olan Surinam’ın (1975’de bağımsızlığını kazandı) Hollanda futbolunda ve yaşamındaki yerini, ilk siyahi futbolcunun İngiltere’de ancak 1978’de milli takımda yer alabildiği düşünüldüğünde bunun Hollanda’da 1960’da gerçekleşmiş olduğunu okumak insan hakları açısından dikkat çekici. Ajax futbol klübünün Yahudi kökenleri olduğunun yanlış bir bilgi olduğunu, otoriteye karşı olan ama kurallara uyan, kibirli, özgür ruhlu Hollandalıların, Cruyff’un sanat ve estetik dolu akılcı oyun anlayışı “total futbol”dan nasıl savrulduğunu, günümüzde bu futbol anlayışını kimlerin devam ettirdiğini, esasen bu değişimin köklerinde toplumdaki sosyo-politik değişimlerin yattığını çok güzel anlatmış Miller.
Çocuklarım ve torunlarım yıllardır Hollanda’da, benim de ikinci adresim Hollanda, belki bu nedenle çok keyifle okudum. Ama inanın bana kolay okunan bu kitap hem sizi dinlendirecek hem de size farklı bir düşünce alanı açacaktır.
Günümüzden 60-70 yıl önce Avrupa’nın en gösterişsiz ve sıkıcı kentlerinden biri olan Amsterdam’ın bugün sadece Avrupa’nın değil dünyanın da en gözde ve ilgi çeken bir kent haline gelmesinin farklı hikayesini bu kitapta bulacaksınız. Belki futbol üzerinden bir hikaye kurgulansa da, denizden toprak kazanarak, deniz seviyesinin altında bir ülke yaratma başarısını futbol ile ilişkilendirmek, önemli bir deniz savaşının yapıldığı deniz üzerine bir ulaşım noktası harikası olan entegre Schipol Havaalanını kurulmasını futbol taktikleri ile özdeşleştirmek ilginç olsa da hiç kolay değil. D. Miller usta kalemi ile bunu başarmış.
Sömürgesi olan Surinam’ın (1975’de bağımsızlığını kazandı) Hollanda futbolunda ve yaşamındaki yerini, ilk siyahi futbolcunun İngiltere’de ancak 1978’de milli takımda yer alabildiği düşünüldüğünde bunun Hollanda’da 1960’da gerçekleşmiş olduğunu okumak insan hakları açısından dikkat çekici. Ajax futbol klübünün Yahudi kökenleri olduğunun yanlış bir bilgi olduğunu, otoriteye karşı olan ama kurallara uyan, kibirli, özgür ruhlu Hollandalıların, Cruyff’un sanat ve estetik dolu akılcı oyun anlayışı “total futbol”dan nasıl savrulduğunu, günümüzde bu futbol anlayışını kimlerin devam ettirdiğini, esasen bu değişimin köklerinde toplumdaki sosyo-politik değişimlerin yattığını çok güzel anlatmış Miller.
Çocuklarım ve torunlarım yıllardır Hollanda’da, benim de ikinci adresim Hollanda, belki bu nedenle çok keyifle okudum. Ama inanın bana kolay okunan bu kitap hem sizi dinlendirecek hem de size farklı bir düşünce alanı açacaktır.
January 13, 2014
Let me begin this with a confession. I had absolutely no intention of reading this book so soon into the New Year, especially after reading something as comprehensive & exhausting as "Soccer in Sun and Shadow" last month. But a friend of mine on Twitter seemed to wax lyrical about it while he was halfway through, so I sort of gave him my word over a discussion I would read it & there you go, I did.
"Brilliant Orange" is a football book alright, despite David Winner's disclaimer that it is only in essence - for it is more of an exploration of the reasons why the Dutch seem to end up doing what they have done on the football pitch all the time.
Winner digs deep to understand the Dutch mentality - he explains how the roots of totaalvoetball or 'total football' actually lay in their ability to find space, Holland being a small country situated below sea level. He digresses into Dutch architecture & art to realise that the concept of finding space has been a Dutch characteristic for ages, which the Dutch footballing greats replicated on the field through the maze of team formations & opposition tactics.
The Dutch are meticulous about systems & simplicity, which explains the phenomenon of the 'Clockwork Oranje', the machine-like, quickfire style of gameplay the Dutch employed to sweep opponents as well as spectators off their feet. The idea of finding the simplest solution to a problem is emphasised upon not only on the pitch but also off it, as is evident in the design of major edifices as well as in town planning.
History has been an influence on the country's psyche as well - for instance, the Dutch don't tolerate a loss to the Germans, a hate-filled rivalry which stretches back to the World War II when Hitler betrayed their trust by occupying their nation. The Dutch pride upon themselves as downright virtuous in the annals of history, even when evidence suggests the contrary. Paul Schnabel, director of the Netherlands Institute of Social Research, sums this up quite well about his fellow countrymen -
"We are a rather weird country with rather weird people who never did learn how to behave. The idea that we are light and open and friendly is just mythology. We are not that open or tolerant or liberated at all. That was the story of a certain liberal upper or upper-middle-class people of the 1960s and 1970s, who were in charge. So today what you see is the not-so-pleasant face of the normal rude Dutchman."
And the Dutch tendency to celebrate moral victories - where losing beautifully is equivalent to winning itself - is completely befuddling to Winner. For a team that ends up on the winning side through a conservative approach (club side Ajax in the 1973 European Cup) is derided for being 'boring' & "betraying the Dutch soul" whereas a losing side playing an attractive brand of football gets a homecoming worthy of heroes, referring to the events that followed the Lost Final of 1974.
Winner also investigates the Dutch propensity to self-destruct at crucial moments, illustrated by the number of times they have lost in World Cup finals & semifinals, their only claim to national glory being the 1988 Euro. He claims that the Dutch often tend to look ahead of what awaits them in the first place, ensuring they struggle or fail to get past the initial hurdle itself. And the claim to moral victory makes an appearance once again as the Dutch seem to show scant regard for the ultimate method of deciding a game - penalty shootouts - something they are not very good at.
However, Winner senses that things have changed in the past decade, as a new generation emerges in the country, unhinged by the failures of the past & willing to take an actual victory over a moral one. The same trend is further elaborated in the final chapter - while older members witness the 2010 World Cup final against Spain (eventual winners) with agony over the "unimaginably dirty" tactics of the Dutch, the youth are far more accepting of the new style & give the team a grand welcome when they arrive home. The generation gap is further highlighted by what legendary Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff pronounced in the aftermath of the final - that Spain were far more 'Dutch' than the Dutch themselves. Winner aptly likens it to the "father of Dutch football disowning Dutch football".
I won't go far enough to pronounce "Brilliant Orange" as a brilliant book, but it is certainly recommended for anyone wishing to gain an all-encompassing insight into the Dutch phenomenon.
"Brilliant Orange" is a football book alright, despite David Winner's disclaimer that it is only in essence - for it is more of an exploration of the reasons why the Dutch seem to end up doing what they have done on the football pitch all the time.
Winner digs deep to understand the Dutch mentality - he explains how the roots of totaalvoetball or 'total football' actually lay in their ability to find space, Holland being a small country situated below sea level. He digresses into Dutch architecture & art to realise that the concept of finding space has been a Dutch characteristic for ages, which the Dutch footballing greats replicated on the field through the maze of team formations & opposition tactics.
The Dutch are meticulous about systems & simplicity, which explains the phenomenon of the 'Clockwork Oranje', the machine-like, quickfire style of gameplay the Dutch employed to sweep opponents as well as spectators off their feet. The idea of finding the simplest solution to a problem is emphasised upon not only on the pitch but also off it, as is evident in the design of major edifices as well as in town planning.
History has been an influence on the country's psyche as well - for instance, the Dutch don't tolerate a loss to the Germans, a hate-filled rivalry which stretches back to the World War II when Hitler betrayed their trust by occupying their nation. The Dutch pride upon themselves as downright virtuous in the annals of history, even when evidence suggests the contrary. Paul Schnabel, director of the Netherlands Institute of Social Research, sums this up quite well about his fellow countrymen -
"We are a rather weird country with rather weird people who never did learn how to behave. The idea that we are light and open and friendly is just mythology. We are not that open or tolerant or liberated at all. That was the story of a certain liberal upper or upper-middle-class people of the 1960s and 1970s, who were in charge. So today what you see is the not-so-pleasant face of the normal rude Dutchman."
And the Dutch tendency to celebrate moral victories - where losing beautifully is equivalent to winning itself - is completely befuddling to Winner. For a team that ends up on the winning side through a conservative approach (club side Ajax in the 1973 European Cup) is derided for being 'boring' & "betraying the Dutch soul" whereas a losing side playing an attractive brand of football gets a homecoming worthy of heroes, referring to the events that followed the Lost Final of 1974.
Winner also investigates the Dutch propensity to self-destruct at crucial moments, illustrated by the number of times they have lost in World Cup finals & semifinals, their only claim to national glory being the 1988 Euro. He claims that the Dutch often tend to look ahead of what awaits them in the first place, ensuring they struggle or fail to get past the initial hurdle itself. And the claim to moral victory makes an appearance once again as the Dutch seem to show scant regard for the ultimate method of deciding a game - penalty shootouts - something they are not very good at.
However, Winner senses that things have changed in the past decade, as a new generation emerges in the country, unhinged by the failures of the past & willing to take an actual victory over a moral one. The same trend is further elaborated in the final chapter - while older members witness the 2010 World Cup final against Spain (eventual winners) with agony over the "unimaginably dirty" tactics of the Dutch, the youth are far more accepting of the new style & give the team a grand welcome when they arrive home. The generation gap is further highlighted by what legendary Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff pronounced in the aftermath of the final - that Spain were far more 'Dutch' than the Dutch themselves. Winner aptly likens it to the "father of Dutch football disowning Dutch football".
I won't go far enough to pronounce "Brilliant Orange" as a brilliant book, but it is certainly recommended for anyone wishing to gain an all-encompassing insight into the Dutch phenomenon.
May 6, 2016
Can countries even have national football neuroses? Nahhh. The boring truth is that we really can’t connect the way a country plays football to its national psyche... because football is a collection of players, all separate humans; and a country is just an idea, formed by millions of different people over thousands of years.
But this book is great. At those precious moments when a country's football reaches its golden age, what fun! Then there is so much beautiful happening that we can choose among the riches, and make comparisons to the most appealing aspects of a country's culture. That’s what Winner does here, and that’s why I adore his book.
Readers of this book will kibitz — “remember the 2010 World Cup final? There we saw the Dutch playing nasty football against Spain. That doesn’t correspond with their ideal of graceful, playful space.”
But the author, credit to him, hooks us on his “Brilliant Orange” thesis and then complicates it. He reveals a hundred eddies in Holland’s judgement and swamps in football style. We wonder- perhaps the golden age of Ajax was just luck, not anything inherent in the Dutch psyche?
And then we chuckle at the absurd delight of Dutch culture, soccer, and trying to draw a straight line between the two. Who’s to say that lovely moments in Dutch football aren’t actually “Brazilian,” since they look and feel just like a samba? Here's a random clip of Dutch soccer at 1:09.
(Irrelevant youtube clip: here’s a Dutch samba song about gingerbread. (Relevant warning: this clip features Zwarte Piet. Piet — a blackface character — needs to get studied by anyone who, like me, romanticizes the Dutch record on tolerance. But that’s a whole other jar of cookies…)).
But this book is great. At those precious moments when a country's football reaches its golden age, what fun! Then there is so much beautiful happening that we can choose among the riches, and make comparisons to the most appealing aspects of a country's culture. That’s what Winner does here, and that’s why I adore his book.
Readers of this book will kibitz — “remember the 2010 World Cup final? There we saw the Dutch playing nasty football against Spain. That doesn’t correspond with their ideal of graceful, playful space.”
But the author, credit to him, hooks us on his “Brilliant Orange” thesis and then complicates it. He reveals a hundred eddies in Holland’s judgement and swamps in football style. We wonder- perhaps the golden age of Ajax was just luck, not anything inherent in the Dutch psyche?
And then we chuckle at the absurd delight of Dutch culture, soccer, and trying to draw a straight line between the two. Who’s to say that lovely moments in Dutch football aren’t actually “Brazilian,” since they look and feel just like a samba? Here's a random clip of Dutch soccer at 1:09.
(Irrelevant youtube clip: here’s a Dutch samba song about gingerbread. (Relevant warning: this clip features Zwarte Piet. Piet — a blackface character — needs to get studied by anyone who, like me, romanticizes the Dutch record on tolerance. But that’s a whole other jar of cookies…)).
July 18, 2011
This is a very good, but fundamentally flawed book. It is an easy/fun read with above-average intelligence w/r/t reporting&thought. At the same time, it continually hints at ideas that it shies away from exploring in a little more depth. There is no bibliography, so it is tough to make a case for it pointing to other books that may provide more insight. It makes the whole thing feel like a well-quoted confirmation of the author's opinions. But I find those opinions relevant and interesting, so I'll allow it. As if I'm the arbiter.
It might well be summed up, without the joy of reading it all, by the following:
"To win at all costs and by any means necessary is considered shameful and indecent."
"'At a World Cup or a European Championship, ninety per cent of the teams are there to win. But there's always one country who only wants to show how good they are. And that's Holland.'"
"The problems we have are not because Cruyff is or is not like a muppet..."
"...we have no servants on the pitch. We have only stars and it kills us."
It might well be summed up, without the joy of reading it all, by the following:
"To win at all costs and by any means necessary is considered shameful and indecent."
"'At a World Cup or a European Championship, ninety per cent of the teams are there to win. But there's always one country who only wants to show how good they are. And that's Holland.'"
"The problems we have are not because Cruyff is or is not like a muppet..."
"...we have no servants on the pitch. We have only stars and it kills us."
August 3, 2011
This book sells itself as a populist guide to Dutch soccer, one that will deal with not just history, but strategy and theory. It doesn't (exactly) deliver. The first few chapters are engaging and make connections between the way the Dutch play soccer and the way they think about art, cities, politics and philosophy. From there, the author descends into a series of exegeses dealing with particular players, matches and coaches that, together, provide a haphazard history of orange football. Worth reading, but not for the reasons it sets out for itself.
March 7, 2018
Bir kez de Türkçesinden okumak farzdı. Hala beş yıldız :)
Çok iyi kitap.
Çok iyi kitap.
November 6, 2018
Wow what an incredible book. Growing up I was taught the Koerver Football style which was all about individual skill and getting multiple touches of the ball and making yourself as comfortable on the ball as you could. The skill that you need to be able to play the Dutch total football style is incredible but also at a more macro level you also need to be able to flex your style and fit into a system that is in constant flux. This book tracks the development of Dutch football from the 60s and 70s till the time that the book was published in 2000. There is a strong focus on the 70s era of Johan Cruyff and of course on Ajax who were sensational at the time. They were not improving the game; they were changing the game. This book talks a lot more than football. It tries to give you an understanding of how the Dutch culture, religion in that country and many other factors led to that melting pot of talent and success that drove the Dutch to such success in the 70s and how they were able to play such exquisite football. As someone who is interested in culture and football this is the perfect book for me. Here are some of my favourite bits:
• And Vincent saw the corn, and Einstein the number, and zeppelin the zeppelin and Johan saw the ball. (sounds better in Dutch)
• Spuybroek has taken the notion of position switching in an entirely new direction. His design for a traffic noise barrier near Eindhoven allowed drivers and people in their homes to switch roles. While the homes were shielded by earth works from the noises of the road, drivers could tune in and hear what was going on in the houses as they drove by. House hold sounds – people watching TV, shouting at their children, vacuuming, running showers – were picked up by microphones and broadcast to the cars via a local radio network.
• I think that technology is perfect but you shouldn’t use it to pacify or change reality but to motorise it and speed It up.
• At times there was little else to do but play football. We played every day. If it was raining we played in the bedroom. At school we played football between lessons. When school finished we played on the street again. there was no traffic. We played with anything as long as it was round – rolled up paper tied with string. Some parents had money and could get hold of a proper ball but mostly it was tennis balls. You develop great technique like that. The ground was hard so you didn’t want to fall because it hurt so you developed good balance. And the game was very quick because the hard ground makes the game a lot quicker. No one every told us how to play it was all natural. Now you can join a club when you are 6 years old and you can train maybe once or maybe twice a day but there is a lot of difference between that and playing every day, seven days a week. I was only interested in football. I lived like a monk. No smoking no drinking, going to bed early. People said that i didn’t have a youth but I’ve had the best life.
• (Maradonna’s long dribble goal against England in ’86 world cup) He remembered a game 7 years earlier at Wembley when had been in a similar position and had played the ball to shilton’s left hand and missed the goal. He assessed the current situation and decided that he didn’t need me, he could solve the problem of scoring himself. In a quarter final of a world cup after a 70 metre run, he was able to recall a situation from years earlier, analyse it, process the information and reach a new conclusion. And he did all that in a fraction of a millisecond. That is genius.
• There is no medal better than being acclaimed for your style.
• Early in the second half as he was standing near the centre circle Wim suurbier swept a high arced cross field pass to him. Gerrie Muhren caught the ball on his left foot and incredibly started to juggle with it. Pap, pap, pap ... all with his left foot. The huge Madrid crowd briefly stunned rose and roared. To dare to do such a thing. In the Bernabeu!
• There is some kind of death wish in it connected to our Dutch, Calvinist shame of being good. Our Calvinist culture makes us deeply ashamed of being the best. Its a very common phenomenon in our cultural life. You see how anyone who is better than average is criticised and singled out in the newspapers. Perhaps in football we have the unconscious feeling that its shameful to proclaim ourselves the best in the world.
• Partying especially in huge numbers and preferably in orange is something for which young Dutch people are now famous. Some of the world’s top Djs are Dutch and they hone their skills at huge dance parties attended by thousands ... film maker Jos De Putter sees a more darker element. The whole country is completely torn up so you have this hunger for the feeling of being all together. There is this bizarre incredible urge to party – only to party and to label things the easy way. People want to be amused and they think that everything is amusement. It is very narcissistic. It is insecurity dressed as bravado, anger dressed up as pride, a forceful showing of national colour forcing everyone else, non football lovers or migrants – to join ranks or be despised.
• Television used to say: we are going to explain how things are and then people said, we don’t want you to explain anything, we want you to listen to us. And listen means 2 things in Dutch: listen but also to obey.
• And Vincent saw the corn, and Einstein the number, and zeppelin the zeppelin and Johan saw the ball. (sounds better in Dutch)
• Spuybroek has taken the notion of position switching in an entirely new direction. His design for a traffic noise barrier near Eindhoven allowed drivers and people in their homes to switch roles. While the homes were shielded by earth works from the noises of the road, drivers could tune in and hear what was going on in the houses as they drove by. House hold sounds – people watching TV, shouting at their children, vacuuming, running showers – were picked up by microphones and broadcast to the cars via a local radio network.
• I think that technology is perfect but you shouldn’t use it to pacify or change reality but to motorise it and speed It up.
• At times there was little else to do but play football. We played every day. If it was raining we played in the bedroom. At school we played football between lessons. When school finished we played on the street again. there was no traffic. We played with anything as long as it was round – rolled up paper tied with string. Some parents had money and could get hold of a proper ball but mostly it was tennis balls. You develop great technique like that. The ground was hard so you didn’t want to fall because it hurt so you developed good balance. And the game was very quick because the hard ground makes the game a lot quicker. No one every told us how to play it was all natural. Now you can join a club when you are 6 years old and you can train maybe once or maybe twice a day but there is a lot of difference between that and playing every day, seven days a week. I was only interested in football. I lived like a monk. No smoking no drinking, going to bed early. People said that i didn’t have a youth but I’ve had the best life.
• (Maradonna’s long dribble goal against England in ’86 world cup) He remembered a game 7 years earlier at Wembley when had been in a similar position and had played the ball to shilton’s left hand and missed the goal. He assessed the current situation and decided that he didn’t need me, he could solve the problem of scoring himself. In a quarter final of a world cup after a 70 metre run, he was able to recall a situation from years earlier, analyse it, process the information and reach a new conclusion. And he did all that in a fraction of a millisecond. That is genius.
• There is no medal better than being acclaimed for your style.
• Early in the second half as he was standing near the centre circle Wim suurbier swept a high arced cross field pass to him. Gerrie Muhren caught the ball on his left foot and incredibly started to juggle with it. Pap, pap, pap ... all with his left foot. The huge Madrid crowd briefly stunned rose and roared. To dare to do such a thing. In the Bernabeu!
• There is some kind of death wish in it connected to our Dutch, Calvinist shame of being good. Our Calvinist culture makes us deeply ashamed of being the best. Its a very common phenomenon in our cultural life. You see how anyone who is better than average is criticised and singled out in the newspapers. Perhaps in football we have the unconscious feeling that its shameful to proclaim ourselves the best in the world.
• Partying especially in huge numbers and preferably in orange is something for which young Dutch people are now famous. Some of the world’s top Djs are Dutch and they hone their skills at huge dance parties attended by thousands ... film maker Jos De Putter sees a more darker element. The whole country is completely torn up so you have this hunger for the feeling of being all together. There is this bizarre incredible urge to party – only to party and to label things the easy way. People want to be amused and they think that everything is amusement. It is very narcissistic. It is insecurity dressed as bravado, anger dressed up as pride, a forceful showing of national colour forcing everyone else, non football lovers or migrants – to join ranks or be despised.
• Television used to say: we are going to explain how things are and then people said, we don’t want you to explain anything, we want you to listen to us. And listen means 2 things in Dutch: listen but also to obey.
July 1, 2013
When I went to the Netherlands on vacation last spring, I asked my friends on social media to recommend some books about Amsterdam, and the Netherlands in general, other than the obvious ones like The Diary of Anne Frank and The Girl With the Pearl Earring. A couple of people (as well as my Lonely Planet guide book) recommend David Winner's BRILLIANT ORANGE: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football. A book about Dutch soccer's influence on Dutch society and Dutch society's influence on Dutch soccer didn't seem like a natural place to start, but I'm a sports fan, and knew that the book had received good reviews in the sports media when it was first published in the early 2000's. Furthermore, when I logged onto Amazon, the hardcover was out of print, and used copies in mint condition were selling at auction for more than $900, and I assumed there must be something to this book if anybody, even an insane person, was willing to pay that much for a used copy.
It is a wonderful book. Like a 280-page New Yorker article, it sprawls all over the place, entirely changing subjects from chapter to chapter, jumping back and forth in chronology, etc. The Netherlands teams of the 1970's are one of the most romantic teams in soccer history. They revolutionized tactics with a style known as "total football" -- controlling the ball with short passes and long dribbling runs into the defense (instead of the more physical "blast and chase" style that was widely used at the time), and changing positions on the fly to better press an advantage, which created more shots on goal, and from less predictable angles, than opponents were accustomed to seeing. The Dutch goaltender often passed to a defender to start a run, or even dribbled the ball out of net himself, rather than punt it towards midfield in the hope that a teammate would control it in the air. Fullbacks would press up on offense, helping the Dutch keep the ball in their opponents' half of the field and preventing opposing strikers from getting too close to the Dutch goal without the ball. Led by Johan Cruyff, universally considered one of the short-list great players of all time, Ajax, the leading professional team in the Netherlands, won three consecutive European championships in the early 70's, and, after a rule change allowed Ajax's players to go onto the open market, they were poached away by Spanish and English teams, particularly Barcelona, which, with Cruyff, dominated in the late 70's. The Netherlands lost in two consecutive world cup finals, both of which were played in their opponents' home country -- West Germany in 1974 and Argentina in 1978, and they were probably the better team in both of those tournaments. After rebuilding in the early 80's, Ajax (coached by Cruyff) and the Dutch national team, playing an updated version of total football, rose to international prominence again in the late 80's and the Dutch have been good ever since. On early color television sets, the orange of their jerseys would bleed on the screen, so the players looked like orange blurs on the screen. Their romantic image is undoubtedly enhanced by the fact that they should have won more than they did -- had they won, they would be just another historically great team, like Brazil from the late 60's and the 1970 world cup, or Argentina in the 80's, or France in the late 90's. Instead, they're the beautiful team that should have won, so soccer fans think of them like Red Sox fans thought of the Sox before 2004, or how hockey fans view the 1980 Soviet hockey team.
Winner's book is most interesting in the way it cherry-picks aspects of Dutch culture that explain Dutch successes on the football field. Because the people of the Netherlands needed to work together to build dams and dykes to prevent flooding, the egalitarian total football style, with its shared responsibility and interchangeable positions, seemed more natural to the Dutch than it did to players from other countries. Dutch architecture and design has always emphasized utility over decorative flourishes, and the total football style, which generated the most scoring opportunities per possession and allowed its players to play to their strengths, rather than try to fit players into pre-determined roles, made intuitive sense to them. Cruyff, with his Delphic pronouncements and obscure truisms (like a hippie Yogi Berra), was regarded as a sort of warrior-philosopher by a youth culture rebelling against what was one of the most conformist societies in western Europe.
I am not in a position to evaluate the author's claims about soccer's influence on, and inspiration from, Dutch society -- it could be bullshit for all I know, but it reads well on the page. I wouldn't recommend this book to everybody, but if you are a soccer fan, or have spent any significant time in the Netherlands, you'll zip through this book in no time.
It is a wonderful book. Like a 280-page New Yorker article, it sprawls all over the place, entirely changing subjects from chapter to chapter, jumping back and forth in chronology, etc. The Netherlands teams of the 1970's are one of the most romantic teams in soccer history. They revolutionized tactics with a style known as "total football" -- controlling the ball with short passes and long dribbling runs into the defense (instead of the more physical "blast and chase" style that was widely used at the time), and changing positions on the fly to better press an advantage, which created more shots on goal, and from less predictable angles, than opponents were accustomed to seeing. The Dutch goaltender often passed to a defender to start a run, or even dribbled the ball out of net himself, rather than punt it towards midfield in the hope that a teammate would control it in the air. Fullbacks would press up on offense, helping the Dutch keep the ball in their opponents' half of the field and preventing opposing strikers from getting too close to the Dutch goal without the ball. Led by Johan Cruyff, universally considered one of the short-list great players of all time, Ajax, the leading professional team in the Netherlands, won three consecutive European championships in the early 70's, and, after a rule change allowed Ajax's players to go onto the open market, they were poached away by Spanish and English teams, particularly Barcelona, which, with Cruyff, dominated in the late 70's. The Netherlands lost in two consecutive world cup finals, both of which were played in their opponents' home country -- West Germany in 1974 and Argentina in 1978, and they were probably the better team in both of those tournaments. After rebuilding in the early 80's, Ajax (coached by Cruyff) and the Dutch national team, playing an updated version of total football, rose to international prominence again in the late 80's and the Dutch have been good ever since. On early color television sets, the orange of their jerseys would bleed on the screen, so the players looked like orange blurs on the screen. Their romantic image is undoubtedly enhanced by the fact that they should have won more than they did -- had they won, they would be just another historically great team, like Brazil from the late 60's and the 1970 world cup, or Argentina in the 80's, or France in the late 90's. Instead, they're the beautiful team that should have won, so soccer fans think of them like Red Sox fans thought of the Sox before 2004, or how hockey fans view the 1980 Soviet hockey team.
Winner's book is most interesting in the way it cherry-picks aspects of Dutch culture that explain Dutch successes on the football field. Because the people of the Netherlands needed to work together to build dams and dykes to prevent flooding, the egalitarian total football style, with its shared responsibility and interchangeable positions, seemed more natural to the Dutch than it did to players from other countries. Dutch architecture and design has always emphasized utility over decorative flourishes, and the total football style, which generated the most scoring opportunities per possession and allowed its players to play to their strengths, rather than try to fit players into pre-determined roles, made intuitive sense to them. Cruyff, with his Delphic pronouncements and obscure truisms (like a hippie Yogi Berra), was regarded as a sort of warrior-philosopher by a youth culture rebelling against what was one of the most conformist societies in western Europe.
I am not in a position to evaluate the author's claims about soccer's influence on, and inspiration from, Dutch society -- it could be bullshit for all I know, but it reads well on the page. I wouldn't recommend this book to everybody, but if you are a soccer fan, or have spent any significant time in the Netherlands, you'll zip through this book in no time.
January 12, 2009
Marika: this book was a fascinating look behind the brillance of dutch footballers and dutch society since the 60s in general and how the two relate. I learned that the dutch soccer philosophy of playing attractive attacking football has been paramount to actually winning for the majority of the Dutch football heirarchy, ever since the glory days of Cruyff and Ajax in the early seventies. And that because of their arrogance and bickering the dutch will never win the world cup even with teams full of world-class players and brilliant coaches (this thoery was once again proven to be correct this past summer at Euro 08).
Also interesting: the Jewish history of Amsterdam, the Surinamese origins of the great dutch players of the 80s and 90s, Argentina '78 and the crazy Arggies, Robin Van Persie is better than Bergkamp and the next great flying dutchman.
Also interesting: the Jewish history of Amsterdam, the Surinamese origins of the great dutch players of the 80s and 90s, Argentina '78 and the crazy Arggies, Robin Van Persie is better than Bergkamp and the next great flying dutchman.
April 29, 2015
The book fortunately was not boring. The way it connect's a sports teams performance with a nation's attitude and psyche is interesting, reflection of Dutch mindset all the more so. I have admired Dutch players and have been perplexed how a team with such brilliance have failed at a global level, the book helped demystify it. David Winner being a journalist, the journalistic objectivity in writing up this analytic work is evident in quite a few presentation, the balance helped to understand better, Ajax seemed like the overarching element bit maybe have to expect it since they pioneered 'Total football' which has inspired Dutch football.
July 15, 2012
The chapters dedicated to football are excellent. Those that bring in art and history for comparisons fall flat, for me at least. Probably because neither are very relevant to me.
Would have loved to watch 'totaalvoebal', as it is described here. The football must have been beautiful ,but the narration made it even more so.
Good have included a lot more photos, esp of some of the pivotal dutch football moments over the years
Would have loved to watch 'totaalvoebal', as it is described here. The football must have been beautiful ,but the narration made it even more so.
Good have included a lot more photos, esp of some of the pivotal dutch football moments over the years
July 10, 2016
I consider myself a borderline football hipster. I'm all Atleti; BVB and Football Weekly. But this was mostly pretentious twaddle. You felt that a football book was beneath Winner. So instead of understanding in great detail the pain of '74; Cruyff's absence in '78 and the rows of the 1990s; instead you get Dutch architecture and their transportation system. And then to finish it off an arrogant dismissal of the Dutch youth who wanted to display their patriotism in 2010.
July 11, 2021
I like to read about things I know next to nothing about. Before, all I knew about Dutch football was they wore orange, their major team shares its name with a brand of bleach, and their players have names like Ruud Gullit. (‘Rude Hurl-it.’)
This isn’t really about Dutch football as the idea of it - how they play, and why. The best chapter is ‘dutch space is different’ which links geographical influence and spatial awareness to playing style:
‘The Italians welcome and lull you and seduce you into their soft embrace, and score a goal like the thrust of a dagger. The Dutch make their geometric patterns. In a Vermeer, the pearl twinkles. You can say, in fact, that the twinkling of the pearl is the whole point of Vermeer. The whole painting is leading to this moment, the way the whole of football leads to the overhead goal of Van Basten.’
Sometimes the tactic feels a bad fit, more so as the book goes on - the ‘football is war’ chapter almost falls apart entirely. Few sensible men, you’d hope, would seriously compare suicide to losing a cup final - and yes, I am writing this the day the England team plays in one for the first time since 1966.
This is going to be the first in a series of sports-related book reviews. Dependent on which arrive first, the next should be about legendary manager Brian Clough (the Mrs is a Derby County die-hard).
This isn’t really about Dutch football as the idea of it - how they play, and why. The best chapter is ‘dutch space is different’ which links geographical influence and spatial awareness to playing style:
‘The Italians welcome and lull you and seduce you into their soft embrace, and score a goal like the thrust of a dagger. The Dutch make their geometric patterns. In a Vermeer, the pearl twinkles. You can say, in fact, that the twinkling of the pearl is the whole point of Vermeer. The whole painting is leading to this moment, the way the whole of football leads to the overhead goal of Van Basten.’
Sometimes the tactic feels a bad fit, more so as the book goes on - the ‘football is war’ chapter almost falls apart entirely. Few sensible men, you’d hope, would seriously compare suicide to losing a cup final - and yes, I am writing this the day the England team plays in one for the first time since 1966.
This is going to be the first in a series of sports-related book reviews. Dependent on which arrive first, the next should be about legendary manager Brian Clough (the Mrs is a Derby County die-hard).
November 13, 2020
Buku ini tentang perjalanan sepak bola di Belanda dari tahun 1950-an sampai 2000. Di sana, terkenal dengan permainan yang dijuluki Total Football dan salah satu pemain hebat di masanya, Johan Cruyff. Selain itu, diceritakan juga tentang betapa permainan sepak bola di Belanda seperti ketika mereka membangun gedung atau rumah, yaitu sangat rapi dan teratur. Meskipun demikian, di Piala Dunia 1974 dan 1978, Timnas Belanda dianggap kurang beruntung karena tidak menjuarai kompetisi tersebut, padahal mereka sudah masuk final dan memiliki pemain-pemain terbaik serta memainkan sepak bola indah. Lebih lanjut, meskipun buku ini dicetak pada 2000, di cetakan terbaru (2012), penulis menambahkan peristiwa Final Piala Dunia 2010 ketika Belanda melawan Spanyol. Di final tersebut, Belanda malah memainkan sepak bola yang kasar dan tidak seperti para pendahulunya, sehingga banyak kritikan tertuju pada mereka setelah pertandingan selesai; yang mana mereka kalah 1-0.
March 9, 2020
Erinomainen kuvaus hollantilaisesta identiteetistä niin futisviheriöillä kuin niiden ulkopuolellakin sekä niiden välisistä yhteyksistä. Ymmärrettävästi kirjan fokus on paljon maajoukkueessa ja Ajaxissa, mutta muut seurajoukkueet ja niiden tavat lähestyä jalkapalloa jäävät aika vähiin. Joka tapauksessa ehkä paras futiksen ja yhteiskunnan välisiä yhteyksiä kuvaava kirja, jonka olen koskaan lukenut.
February 9, 2025
Great book. Marries football, history, art and psychology seamlessly.
September 7, 2022
Was pretty fun to read, had some nice pictures. Every book should have some pictures.
July 1, 2025
if you like niche football history have a read! links culture to sport brilliantly. would like a bit more between 2000 and 2010 but appreciate the last chapter came in the 2nd edition - be even more interesting to see links between Dutch sport and politics since 2020!!
September 16, 2010
First a list of all the things this book is not about
This won’t give you all the records and statistics of Dutch football.
Doesn’t have a chronological history of the game in the country. Doesn’t talk in detail about all their great players, great matches or great clubs. To sum it up, this book isn’t the best preparatory material for a quiz on Dutch football. You might even end up in last place.
In that sense, it is quite unlike most of the books written about a country or a club’s football history and culture. In fact, the writer often goes on for pages without even talking about football, forget Dutch football. And yet, it is in my humble opinion ( as well as that of most people who write reviews on Amazon.com and goodreads.com) quite easily the best book on Dutch football.
Because David Winner’s book deals with something much more profound and goes much deeper in its investigation.
It talks about the mental makeup of the Dutch nation – why they are what they are?
It does a very good job of explaining a lot of other Dutch peculiarities – and I use that word because the Dutch are the antithesis of a conformist regular normal world. And in doing so it answers the questions about Dutch football. Why and how the Dutch came up with Total Football? Why the Dutch lose all the important matches? Why the players always get into fights? Why it is wrong to call the Netherlands the Brazil of Europe? The Dutch concept of nationalism and patriotism? And the Dutch definition of a good footballer?
If Dutch football was a living person then this book makes it very clear that the head is the most important organ; more valuable than the feet. And then it does what Freud would have tried to do – study the person’s head.
And that ways, the book is very aptly named. And David Winner has written a book unlike any other.
Two of the fascinating concepts that this book deals with are individualism and space – and explains that both are as much a part of the national fabric as of their approach to football. Individualism is not the freedom to do whatever he feels like but to retain a strong sense of the self while still keeping the collective in mind. And space is to create space where there is none – something the country below sea level does on an ongoing basis.
A special mention must be made of a very fine introduction by Franklin Foer who makes a very interesting analogy that the richness of football is like a cultural Galapagos.
This book is like a fine meal. You need to eat slowly and savour every morsel. It might bore the casual fan as he looks to read about the feats of the all conquering Ajax side of the early seventies. The least he is expecting is a chapter on the three consecutive European triumphs. But all he gets is bits and pieces, here and there.
But if he can soldier on, he will have the pleasure of reading one of finest books written on football. He will see the Dutch in a new light and might just become an Oranje supporter for life (The Dutch have been one of my favourite teams but after this book, I got an Orange jersey to wear during the World Cup)
You will not win the quiz but you will surely win the paper writing competition on Dutch football.
This won’t give you all the records and statistics of Dutch football.
Doesn’t have a chronological history of the game in the country. Doesn’t talk in detail about all their great players, great matches or great clubs. To sum it up, this book isn’t the best preparatory material for a quiz on Dutch football. You might even end up in last place.
In that sense, it is quite unlike most of the books written about a country or a club’s football history and culture. In fact, the writer often goes on for pages without even talking about football, forget Dutch football. And yet, it is in my humble opinion ( as well as that of most people who write reviews on Amazon.com and goodreads.com) quite easily the best book on Dutch football.
Because David Winner’s book deals with something much more profound and goes much deeper in its investigation.
It talks about the mental makeup of the Dutch nation – why they are what they are?
It does a very good job of explaining a lot of other Dutch peculiarities – and I use that word because the Dutch are the antithesis of a conformist regular normal world. And in doing so it answers the questions about Dutch football. Why and how the Dutch came up with Total Football? Why the Dutch lose all the important matches? Why the players always get into fights? Why it is wrong to call the Netherlands the Brazil of Europe? The Dutch concept of nationalism and patriotism? And the Dutch definition of a good footballer?
If Dutch football was a living person then this book makes it very clear that the head is the most important organ; more valuable than the feet. And then it does what Freud would have tried to do – study the person’s head.
And that ways, the book is very aptly named. And David Winner has written a book unlike any other.
Two of the fascinating concepts that this book deals with are individualism and space – and explains that both are as much a part of the national fabric as of their approach to football. Individualism is not the freedom to do whatever he feels like but to retain a strong sense of the self while still keeping the collective in mind. And space is to create space where there is none – something the country below sea level does on an ongoing basis.
A special mention must be made of a very fine introduction by Franklin Foer who makes a very interesting analogy that the richness of football is like a cultural Galapagos.
This book is like a fine meal. You need to eat slowly and savour every morsel. It might bore the casual fan as he looks to read about the feats of the all conquering Ajax side of the early seventies. The least he is expecting is a chapter on the three consecutive European triumphs. But all he gets is bits and pieces, here and there.
But if he can soldier on, he will have the pleasure of reading one of finest books written on football. He will see the Dutch in a new light and might just become an Oranje supporter for life (The Dutch have been one of my favourite teams but after this book, I got an Orange jersey to wear during the World Cup)
You will not win the quiz but you will surely win the paper writing competition on Dutch football.
November 19, 2018
Football and culture almost always interlink. Watch how Dutch society and culture influences the way they play, and develop, their football.
September 29, 2011
"Brilliant Orange" is a beautifully written book on the history, and philosophy of Dutch soccer. The author taps into research on socialogy, psychology, architecture, photography, painting, sculpture, and philosophy. Much of the philosophy in the book has to do with space, area, depth, height, and width, and the abundance of space versus the lack of space. David Winner argues persuasively that the physical nature of the Netherlands being flat, below sea level, and clastrophobic in terms of living space and work space, has lead to the Dutch theory and ideas of space to be utilized in their game of soccer. Now, it was not always this way, as the author demonstrates by talking about the history of Dutch soccer from the 1940's to the present (being 2001 at the time of the writing), that Dutch soccer was not always beautiful and effective. Winner does an excellent job of researching and interviewing people to find the architects of the "Total Football" that came about in the Netherlands during the 1970's. He also explains and charts the decline of Dutch soccer through the eighties and nineties. However, I disagree with the author on his point that Dutch soccer is a shadow of it's former self, and that it will become the "ghost" of European soccer. I would argue that "Total Football" has changed the face of soccer because so many teams and coaches use parts of the Dutch theories of soccer, that now the face of soccer has changed. You only need to look at Arsene Wenger's Arsenal, and Feyenoord to see some of the Dutch influence and beauty in their games. Thus there is a new reality in which "Total Football" is no longer realistic, but is still influential in the ever evolving sport of soccer. One only needs to look to the Dutch National team's performance in South Africa during the World Cup of 2010 to realize that though they are different from their predecessors, they showed that they are still "Brilliantly Orange" with their second place finish in the Finals.
June 4, 2014
Along with 'All Played Out', Pete Davies' chronicle of England's exploits at Italia 90, 'Brilliant Orange' is the best book on football I have ever read. Calling it a 'football book' alone is doing it a huge disservice. Winner uses that incredible period of the 1970's where the Netherlands brought 'Total Football' to the world and uses it as a platform to explore the overall psyche of the nation. Connections are made between the unique way the Dutch play their football and that of their architecture, art and philosophies as a whole.
It's fair to say that many may be put off by the exploration of subjects away from football but if you are interested in reasons to why the Dutch can be so wonderfully expressive yet invariably self-destructive at major tournaments then the tangents are fascinating.
This isn't an overview of football in The Nethelands as a whole. It mainly concentrates on the national team and Ajax. It tells the story of how the likes of Cruyff, Neeskens and Haan bedazzled their much more celebrated opponents as Ajax dominated Europe in the 70's and how that side formed the basis of the Holland team that went so close to winning the World Cup in '74 and '78.
The Netherlands seem to come out of nowhere in the 1970's. They followed in the footsteps of Austria in the 30's and Hungry in the 50's by playing a brand of football had never been seen before. Unlike those other two nations they also managed to carry it on and remain a powerhouse in world football to this day. The enjoyment that Holland gave to so much of the world is superbly displayed by Winner who's admiration for the Dutch as people and as footballers shines through on every page. You imagine that Hollands cynical display in the 2010 World Cup Final left Winner, and the nation he loves so much, in a state of despair.
October 28, 2010
I'm reading David Winner’s brilliant ‘Brilliant Orange’, a look at the development of Dutch football (soccer) through the wider lens of national culture.
Via the awesome Culture of Soccer :
Winner claims that “space is the unique defining element of Dutch football. Other nations and football cultures may have produced greater goalscorers, more dazzling individual ball-artists, and more dependable and efficient tournament-winning teams. But no one has ever imagined or structured their play as abstractly, as architecturally, in such a measured fashion as the Dutch.”
Total Football exemplifies the Dutch conception of space. It was “a conceptual revolution based on the idea that the size of any football field was flexible and could be altered by the team playing on it”
Of course, the size of a football field is not flexible. Winner attributes this mentality to the land the Dutch have been given. A small, low-lying country with a long sea coast and a relatively large population, the Dutch have in fact expanded their land through the use of polders and other elaborate water control measures. Winner sees spillover of Dutch attitudes toward land into Dutch soccer. He calls the Dutch “spatial neurotics” and says that “the Dutch think innovatively, creatively and abstractly about space in their football because for centuries they have had to think innovatively about space in every other area of their lives”
The best design flows naturally out of need. Utility triumphs over glamor, every time. Okay, most times :)
Via the awesome Culture of Soccer :
Winner claims that “space is the unique defining element of Dutch football. Other nations and football cultures may have produced greater goalscorers, more dazzling individual ball-artists, and more dependable and efficient tournament-winning teams. But no one has ever imagined or structured their play as abstractly, as architecturally, in such a measured fashion as the Dutch.”
Total Football exemplifies the Dutch conception of space. It was “a conceptual revolution based on the idea that the size of any football field was flexible and could be altered by the team playing on it”
Of course, the size of a football field is not flexible. Winner attributes this mentality to the land the Dutch have been given. A small, low-lying country with a long sea coast and a relatively large population, the Dutch have in fact expanded their land through the use of polders and other elaborate water control measures. Winner sees spillover of Dutch attitudes toward land into Dutch soccer. He calls the Dutch “spatial neurotics” and says that “the Dutch think innovatively, creatively and abstractly about space in their football because for centuries they have had to think innovatively about space in every other area of their lives”
The best design flows naturally out of need. Utility triumphs over glamor, every time. Okay, most times :)
December 29, 2015
While this book's title says it is about Dutch soccer, it's really about much more. It's about what it's like to be Dutch. And while we might think of the Dutch as easy going, pot smoking, genial friends to all who visit, in reality, there is a lot more to being Dutch.
Winner does a great job of putting together an examination of how Dutch soccer (football for the rest of the world) has changed over time. The Dutch for the first half of the 20th Century were lightly regarded in Europe. Then, when Johann Cruyff came on the scene in the late 1960s, things changed. By 1974, the Dutch had one of the greatest teams ever created, using a system known as "total football" which relied on players constantly switching positions combined with tremendous ball control.
The Dutch made it to the final of the 1974 World Cup in West Germany. Unfortunately, their opponent was West Germany, who parlayed their homefield advantage for a 3-1 win. The Dutch really don't get worked up too much over losses in big tournaments. Except when they lose to Germany.
Winner brings up the artwork of Vermeer, the architecture of Schiphol Airport, and a certain photographer to demonstrate how the Dutch view open space, the key to their football strategy.
The book was published over the Netherlands lost in the final of the 2010 World Cup to Spain, a match in which the Dutch turned to cynical defensive tactics and were beaten by the technically superior Spanish team.
I was pleasantly surprised to read a book so enjoyable about a topic that I only barely knew something about before I picked it up.
Winner does a great job of putting together an examination of how Dutch soccer (football for the rest of the world) has changed over time. The Dutch for the first half of the 20th Century were lightly regarded in Europe. Then, when Johann Cruyff came on the scene in the late 1960s, things changed. By 1974, the Dutch had one of the greatest teams ever created, using a system known as "total football" which relied on players constantly switching positions combined with tremendous ball control.
The Dutch made it to the final of the 1974 World Cup in West Germany. Unfortunately, their opponent was West Germany, who parlayed their homefield advantage for a 3-1 win. The Dutch really don't get worked up too much over losses in big tournaments. Except when they lose to Germany.
Winner brings up the artwork of Vermeer, the architecture of Schiphol Airport, and a certain photographer to demonstrate how the Dutch view open space, the key to their football strategy.
The book was published over the Netherlands lost in the final of the 2010 World Cup to Spain, a match in which the Dutch turned to cynical defensive tactics and were beaten by the technically superior Spanish team.
I was pleasantly surprised to read a book so enjoyable about a topic that I only barely knew something about before I picked it up.
May 22, 2015
"'In Spain or in Italy they only talk about one thing and that's winning. Just win the game; don't be so difficult. If you play well - OK, Fantastic. If you don't play well, well it's bad luck. But win. If you have a few Dutch players in such an Italian or Spanish team or an English team, they pick it up and go with it, the neurosis disappears. Yet for some reason, when the Dutch are together, the main thing is 'Let us show the World how good we are'."
"'In music there is a rule, the bigger the group, the less democracy you can have. With three or four musicians performing chamber music, yes, you can work according to democratic principles. With anything larger, there is only one possibility: one person who tells all the others how to perform. It has to be the same way in football.' In Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution, orchestras tried to run themselves as collectives without conductors. As a result, preparations for a single concert often took more than a month and the orchestras dissolved into chaos. 'Football is a kind of art too,' Vonk continues 'Players should be free to express themselves and play their best game. But a coach, like a conductor, has to be a benign dictator who says: there's only one way, my way, and there's no room for discussion. You have to focus on one person and one idea, which is winning."
"'In music there is a rule, the bigger the group, the less democracy you can have. With three or four musicians performing chamber music, yes, you can work according to democratic principles. With anything larger, there is only one possibility: one person who tells all the others how to perform. It has to be the same way in football.' In Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution, orchestras tried to run themselves as collectives without conductors. As a result, preparations for a single concert often took more than a month and the orchestras dissolved into chaos. 'Football is a kind of art too,' Vonk continues 'Players should be free to express themselves and play their best game. But a coach, like a conductor, has to be a benign dictator who says: there's only one way, my way, and there's no room for discussion. You have to focus on one person and one idea, which is winning."
March 23, 2013
This is a pretty good book too be honest, although it does have some flaws, but I'll keep the review short and sweet.
The first of which, the author notes in the introduction, how the book is as much about Dutch philosophy and culture as it is about football. There is a lot of talk about architecture and art as well as the holocaust. The second problem was that this isn't so much a book about 'Total Football', as it is about Ajax. Now, whilst Ajax are the dominant Dutch team, and were the greatest team in football in the 70's, there is barely a mention of Feyenoord, and when they are it's not in a favourable, and can't recall ever seeing PSV mentioned.
And it focuses heavily (and understandably so) on Johan Cruyff. But perhaps it does go some way to explaining how the Dutch have never won a World Cup, and how they value beautiful football over a win. How they feel to win on penalties is ugly and below them and they would rather lose beautifully.
To put it in Dutch footballing terms, it's a good effort, but misses a crucial penalty in the semi-final to become a winner.
(Still worth a read for any football fan though)
The first of which, the author notes in the introduction, how the book is as much about Dutch philosophy and culture as it is about football. There is a lot of talk about architecture and art as well as the holocaust. The second problem was that this isn't so much a book about 'Total Football', as it is about Ajax. Now, whilst Ajax are the dominant Dutch team, and were the greatest team in football in the 70's, there is barely a mention of Feyenoord, and when they are it's not in a favourable, and can't recall ever seeing PSV mentioned.
And it focuses heavily (and understandably so) on Johan Cruyff. But perhaps it does go some way to explaining how the Dutch have never won a World Cup, and how they value beautiful football over a win. How they feel to win on penalties is ugly and below them and they would rather lose beautifully.
To put it in Dutch footballing terms, it's a good effort, but misses a crucial penalty in the semi-final to become a winner.
(Still worth a read for any football fan though)
January 19, 2016
I never really bought the cultural connection from the country's supposed social awakening phase in the 60s to the dawn of Total Football in the 70s, but I don't think the author really tried too hard to make the case. Regardless, it was interesting to have the histories of social and football growth traced from their beginnings to different time periods. It was an interesting supposition. The whole book, in fact, was just that: I enjoyed the ideas behind the premise enough to have the ultimate lack of detail not be much of an issue.
Of course, there were some interesting studies and anecdotes about the psyche and the dynamics of the country and the people, but more about the players themselves and how they existed within the team and somewhat within the culture. I did think a lot of the interviews were quite good, even if I still can't place some of the names. That's a conception that seemed to be true - that of the unique individual personalities of many Dutch football stars.
Of course, there were some interesting studies and anecdotes about the psyche and the dynamics of the country and the people, but more about the players themselves and how they existed within the team and somewhat within the culture. I did think a lot of the interviews were quite good, even if I still can't place some of the names. That's a conception that seemed to be true - that of the unique individual personalities of many Dutch football stars.
February 18, 2016
My earliest memory of watching football was staying up late to watch Italia '90 with my dad. It was then that those magnificent wizards in orange hooked me onto the beautiful game forever. Everything about the football they played was so cerebral - the interpretation of space, angles, speed and touch - it was impossible for me to imagine football played any other way. David Winner's brilliant book looks at the mechanics of thought, the philosophies and the socio-cultural traditions that form the ethos of Dutch totaalvoetbaal. Winner's depth of research is staggering - an example is the link between Dutch modernist architecture and their obsession with maximising minimum space. So much so that this book will appeal to non-football fans as well (A friend of mine started reading this on my kindle on a flight coz she was bored and there was nothing else to do - I couldn't get it off her when we landed!)
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