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The People's Game: Football, State and Society in East Germany
Sport in East Germany is commonly associated with the systematic doping that helped to make the country an Olympic superpower. Football played little part in this controversial story. Yet, as a hugely popular activity that was deeply entwined in the social fabric, it exerted an influence that few institutions or pursuits could match. The People's Game examines the history of football from the interrelated perspectives of star players, fans, and ordinary citizens who played for fun. Using archival sources and interviews, it reveals football's fluid role in preserving and challenging communist hegemony. By repeatedly emphasising that GDR football was part of an international story, for example, through analysis of the 1974 World Cup finals, Alan McDougall shows how sport transcended the Iron Curtain. Through a study of the mass protests against the Stasi team, BFC, during the 1980s, he reveals football's role in foreshadowing the downfall of communism.
374 pages, Hardcover
First published June 5, 2014
6 people are currently reading
129 people want to read
About the author
Alan Mcdougall
15 books3 followersDr. McDougall is professor of history at University of Guelph.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 20, 2019
McDougall's book first came to my attention through the agency of a podcast hosted by a site focused on the history of the German Democratic Republic. As I listened to the program I found myself fascinated by the multiple levels of narrative and anecdotal material presented by the author, and the historical questions that were provoked through the discussion. Issues such as the relationship between the DDR's Communist elite and footballers, the 'failure' of the national team, Stasi surveillance etc all got a bit of coverage, however not enough for me to be satisfied. So I had to buy the book and read it get a better appreciation of what McDougall wrote.
Having now completed 'The People's Game" I can confirm it met all my expectations and then exceeded them. This is not just a minor study of how football was played at a professional level in East Germany. It's not a boring recounting of stats and stories of individual players and their clubs nor an esoteric, highly academic analysis of East German socialism in praxis. McDougall has written what must be (in English at least) the definitive account of football as a cultural, political, economic and popular element of East German society, providing both a framework for analysing how East Germany was constructed across every level possible, and a platform to show the universality of football as a sport and as a social phenomenon. As McDougall presents with a combination of deeply researched historical information and persuasive arguments, East German football was both unique and yet also the same as experienced in other countries around the world.
Structurally the book works exceedingly well in that McDougall doesn't fail to include almost every aspect of the game as played and administered in the DDR that one could expect. By breaking down the topic into individual thematic studies, and then pulling them all together in a very well formulated conclusion, McDougall gives the reader the structures to develop an understanding that is complex and historically sound.
I could go into great details on the breadth and depth of 'The People's Game' and how well it presents its history of East German football. Obviously there is much to be said about covering the 'big' issues, like East Germany's win over West Germany at the 1974 World Cup, or how BFC Berliner Dynamo was seen as the pet project of the Stasi. Hooliganism, Republikflucht, club politics etc all get a go. However I would like to draw attention to one telling part of the book.
In the closing part of 'The People's Game' McDougall looks at popular football, i.e. the amateur game that was played by those outside the elite regimes of the Oberliga clubs and the national team. Here he spends some time looking at (among other things) women's football in the DDR and the dearth of quality equipment and infrastructure for footballers in general. It is here that McDougall really shows off how good his book is. National histories of football or of other sports area dime a dozen. Rarely do they get into the weeds of those players and community members who are the outliers, the grassroots of the game in question.
That McDougall does all this whilst also looking for connections and correlations between East German football and what constituted the lives of the good (and not-so-good) genoßen of the DDR between Soviet Occupation to Die Wende is a remarkable achievement. In fact, even this paradigm is not sufficient; McDougall completes his work by offering historical analysis and insights into East Germany through football by looking at what happened after reunification. Ostalgie is held up to the light in the same fashion that Eigen-Sinn is, thus providing a model to understand East Germany and East Germans.
The only reason I can't give this book five stars is that I am both unable to draw comparisons or contrasts with other books on the same subject, particularly in German, therefore my understanding of the subject may be limited. Additionally, this is a dense academic book that does require focus and some prior knowledge; it will not be the type of book that a general reader on football and/or German history would normally tackle. That is not a weakness, but more a recommendation that would not meet the expectations of most Goodreads members.
This is a great football history book and one that I am very glad to have found and read.
Having now completed 'The People's Game" I can confirm it met all my expectations and then exceeded them. This is not just a minor study of how football was played at a professional level in East Germany. It's not a boring recounting of stats and stories of individual players and their clubs nor an esoteric, highly academic analysis of East German socialism in praxis. McDougall has written what must be (in English at least) the definitive account of football as a cultural, political, economic and popular element of East German society, providing both a framework for analysing how East Germany was constructed across every level possible, and a platform to show the universality of football as a sport and as a social phenomenon. As McDougall presents with a combination of deeply researched historical information and persuasive arguments, East German football was both unique and yet also the same as experienced in other countries around the world.
Structurally the book works exceedingly well in that McDougall doesn't fail to include almost every aspect of the game as played and administered in the DDR that one could expect. By breaking down the topic into individual thematic studies, and then pulling them all together in a very well formulated conclusion, McDougall gives the reader the structures to develop an understanding that is complex and historically sound.
I could go into great details on the breadth and depth of 'The People's Game' and how well it presents its history of East German football. Obviously there is much to be said about covering the 'big' issues, like East Germany's win over West Germany at the 1974 World Cup, or how BFC Berliner Dynamo was seen as the pet project of the Stasi. Hooliganism, Republikflucht, club politics etc all get a go. However I would like to draw attention to one telling part of the book.
In the closing part of 'The People's Game' McDougall looks at popular football, i.e. the amateur game that was played by those outside the elite regimes of the Oberliga clubs and the national team. Here he spends some time looking at (among other things) women's football in the DDR and the dearth of quality equipment and infrastructure for footballers in general. It is here that McDougall really shows off how good his book is. National histories of football or of other sports area dime a dozen. Rarely do they get into the weeds of those players and community members who are the outliers, the grassroots of the game in question.
That McDougall does all this whilst also looking for connections and correlations between East German football and what constituted the lives of the good (and not-so-good) genoßen of the DDR between Soviet Occupation to Die Wende is a remarkable achievement. In fact, even this paradigm is not sufficient; McDougall completes his work by offering historical analysis and insights into East Germany through football by looking at what happened after reunification. Ostalgie is held up to the light in the same fashion that Eigen-Sinn is, thus providing a model to understand East Germany and East Germans.
The only reason I can't give this book five stars is that I am both unable to draw comparisons or contrasts with other books on the same subject, particularly in German, therefore my understanding of the subject may be limited. Additionally, this is a dense academic book that does require focus and some prior knowledge; it will not be the type of book that a general reader on football and/or German history would normally tackle. That is not a weakness, but more a recommendation that would not meet the expectations of most Goodreads members.
This is a great football history book and one that I am very glad to have found and read.
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May 18, 2023Puestos a rebuscar en nuestra particular biblioteca libros que hablen de fútbol en la Europa del Este antes de la caída del Muro de Berlín, nos topamos con una cruenta realidad: para poder acceder a una bibliografía decente sobre el tema, hay que saber, como mínimo, inglés. Nuestro sector editorial no parece sentirse muy atraído por esta temática y se pueden contar con los dedos de una mano las obras que, abordando esta cuestión, se han traducido al castellano. Eso sí, hay honrosas excepciones como la de Simon Kuper y su maravilloso Fútbol contra el enemigo que la editorial Contra tuvo a bien publicar en castellano hace un par de años.
Si tienes la suerte de haber hecho un Erasmus o pagar la cuota en una alguna academia de inglés (el método Vaughan ya nos puede servir), no puedes dejar de leer The Peoples’ Game: Football, State and Society in East Germany. Su autor es el canadiense Alan McDougall (Victoria, 1975), profesor de Historia en la Universidad de Guelph (Ontario) que también tiene la nacionalidad inglesa ya que se crió en Londres y llegó a ser jugador del Tottenham hasta la categoría juvenil. Licenciado en Historia por la Universidad de Oxford, McDougall se ha especializado en Historia del deporte, Historia Moderna de Alemania e Historia del comunismo y escribió su tesis doctoral sobre las organizaciones juveniles comunistas en la antigua RDA que acabó convirtiéndose en un libro en 2004. Diez años después, salió a la luz durante el pasado verano su segundo libro que intenta abordar el papel del fútbol durante el régimen comunista en la Alemania del Este.
No ha habido régimen autárquico que no haya recurrido al deporte como arma propagandística con la que intentar mantener adormecida a su población y blanquear su imagen de cara al exterior. La RDA no fue una excepción. Conocidos son los métodos empleados por los teutones rojos en pro de la gloria olímpica. Éxitos circundantes a los cinco anillos en disciplinas como el atletismo o la natación basados en adustos programas de entrenamiento y toneladas de substancias dopantes. En su condición de recreamiento masivo, el fútbol tampoco pudo escaparse de los intentos de manipulación del gobierno del Berlín Este. El trabajo de McDougall aborda el recorrido del fútbol en la Alemania Oriental a través de la óptica política. Una crónica fascinantemente poliédrica ya que del mismo modo que los dirigentes comunistas intentaron manejar a su antojo el rodar del esférico, los contrarios al orden dictatorial establecido hallaron en los estadios un resquicio de libertad, espacios de actividad clandestina desde donde hacer oír sus reivindicaciones.
Relato mecanografiado con precisión académica pero lectura gozosa, este libro se destaca como una obra imprescindible para aquellos que vemos en el balón una metáfora geométrica del rotar sociocultural del mundo.
----
Puedes encontrar esta review en el #Panenka36. Disponible en
tienda.panenka.org.
Si tienes la suerte de haber hecho un Erasmus o pagar la cuota en una alguna academia de inglés (el método Vaughan ya nos puede servir), no puedes dejar de leer The Peoples’ Game: Football, State and Society in East Germany. Su autor es el canadiense Alan McDougall (Victoria, 1975), profesor de Historia en la Universidad de Guelph (Ontario) que también tiene la nacionalidad inglesa ya que se crió en Londres y llegó a ser jugador del Tottenham hasta la categoría juvenil. Licenciado en Historia por la Universidad de Oxford, McDougall se ha especializado en Historia del deporte, Historia Moderna de Alemania e Historia del comunismo y escribió su tesis doctoral sobre las organizaciones juveniles comunistas en la antigua RDA que acabó convirtiéndose en un libro en 2004. Diez años después, salió a la luz durante el pasado verano su segundo libro que intenta abordar el papel del fútbol durante el régimen comunista en la Alemania del Este.
No ha habido régimen autárquico que no haya recurrido al deporte como arma propagandística con la que intentar mantener adormecida a su población y blanquear su imagen de cara al exterior. La RDA no fue una excepción. Conocidos son los métodos empleados por los teutones rojos en pro de la gloria olímpica. Éxitos circundantes a los cinco anillos en disciplinas como el atletismo o la natación basados en adustos programas de entrenamiento y toneladas de substancias dopantes. En su condición de recreamiento masivo, el fútbol tampoco pudo escaparse de los intentos de manipulación del gobierno del Berlín Este. El trabajo de McDougall aborda el recorrido del fútbol en la Alemania Oriental a través de la óptica política. Una crónica fascinantemente poliédrica ya que del mismo modo que los dirigentes comunistas intentaron manejar a su antojo el rodar del esférico, los contrarios al orden dictatorial establecido hallaron en los estadios un resquicio de libertad, espacios de actividad clandestina desde donde hacer oír sus reivindicaciones.
Relato mecanografiado con precisión académica pero lectura gozosa, este libro se destaca como una obra imprescindible para aquellos que vemos en el balón una metáfora geométrica del rotar sociocultural del mundo.
----
Puedes encontrar esta review en el #Panenka36. Disponible en
tienda.panenka.org.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews