Danish Dynamite: The Story of Football's Greatest Cult Team

by Rob Smyth, Lars Eriksen, Mike Gibbons

The Denmark side of the 1980s was one of the last truly iconic international football teams. Although they did not win a trophy, they claimed something much more important and enduring: glory, and in industrial quantities. They were a bewitching fusion of futuristic attacking football, effortless Scandinavian cool and laid-back living. They played like angels and lived like you and I, and they were everyone's second team in the mid-1980s. The story of Danish Dynamite, as the team became known, is the story of a team of rock stars in a polyester Hummel kit.

Heralding from a country with no real football history to speak of and a population of five million, this humble and likeable team was unique. Everymen off the field and superheroes on it, they were totally of their time, and their approach to the game was in complete contrast to the gaudy excess and charmless arrogance of today's football stars. That they ultimately imploded in spectacular style, with a shocking 5-1 defeat to Spain in the 1986 World Cup in a game that almost everyone expected them to win, only adds to their legend.

For the first time in English, Danish Dynamite tells the story of perhaps the coolest team in football history, a team that had it all and blew it in spectacular style after a live-fast-die-young World Cup campaign. Featuring interviews with the players themselves, including Michael Laudrup, Preben Elkjær and Jesper Olsen, as well as with those who played or managed against them, this is a joyous celebration of one of the most life-affirming teams the world has ever seen.

Genres: Football, Sports, Soccer, Nonfiction, Denmark

268 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 24, 2014

About the author

Rob Smyth is a freelance sports journalist writing for The Guardian and Wisden.

Reviews

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm neither a football fan nor Danish but I was given this book so had a quick look; its next home will be with a fan. Someone with interest and background knowledge may well rate the book highly.

The Danish team of 1980s did very well and I was amused to see how Carlsberg got involved in sponsoring football. Downside is of course that as a whole team is followed, we get unfamiliar (to me) names thrown at us continually and don't follow an individual. The oddest section is how they got involved with Haiti (their manager was training for Baby Doc and found out how to convince people they were zombies and so on) which is quite a startling juxtaposition with the pleasant Danes.
Nice colour photos.
This is an unbiased review.

[Avnish Anand · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Danish side was one of those mythical sides, which was blessed and cursed at the same time. A team beloved by all football romantics whose failure to win anything significant doesn't diminish their historical status, rather adds to it.

I am one of those romantics which caught them towards the very end. But I have heard so much about them and they are mentioned by football writers all the time. But until this book came along, there wasn't any resource to get to know this team in detail.

Now that wait is over. I pre - booked this as soon as it was possible to do so and finished it in one go. This is a brilliant story - interspersed with glorious highs and heart breaking lows. The book captures all of it nicely and introduces us to the characters who made that happen.

It is also a good introduction to Danish life and their approach to football. Now just waiting for someone to write a similar book about Tele Santana's 1982 Brazilian team.

[Martin Rouchmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book about the team that made me love football, born in 1978, my first memories of the beautiful game was the European championship in 1984 and especially the qualification for the world cup in Mexico and the actual tournament. One of my favorite VHS-tapes when I was a kid was about that qualification, the games against USSR and Norway are still clear to me, and the games in Mexico are legendary.

Well back to the book, reading it brings back memories, good and bad, it is not only the tale of the best national team Denmark ever had, but it is also a crash course into the Danish mentality. It's full of anecdotes and vivid descriptions about the games and the players.

If you are the slightest interested in football or Danish culture (or both) read this book.

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Danish Dynamite: The Story of Football's Greatest Cult Team (2014) by Rob Smyth, Lars Eriksen and and Mike Gibbons looks at the wonderful Danish team of the 1980s and early 1990s.

Denmark didn't get a professional league with reasonable rules until the 1970s. Despite football being the big game in Denmark the national team had never managed to be good prior to the late 1970s. Kurt Nielsen was one of the first Danish managers of the National team who was a full manager in the modern sense and who could select his own team. He was friendly and allowed the players too much freedom. His successor, Sepp Pointek was a former German international who was serious about creating a good team. When he moved to Denmark he was very lucky and got a fantastic group of players who with more serious coaching became one of the best teams of the 1980s featuring the fantastic Laudrup brothers, Elkjær, Olsen and a host of others.

The team really was thrilling and would go on to remarkable success at the 1984 European Championship and the 1986 World Cup. The team then declined and went on to cause a great upset and win the 1992 European Championship.

If you like reading about soccer and great teams of the past the book is well worth reading. However, it would be better as a documentary. Apparently there is a documentary in Danish and perhaps English which would be great to see. For anyone who vaguely remembers the team but not in great detail it's a bit of a stretch. Hopefully the documentary will be released like the Kindle copy of the book.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for all football freaks out there.

[Blake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Denmark’s national team in the 1980s was one to behold. Names such as Laudrup, Elkjær, and Olsen became synonymous with an attractive, attacking brand of football that was in full flow at the Euros and 1986 World Cup in Mexico. Coach Sepp Piontek laid the foundations for not so much a team, but a movement for an entire nation that would ultimately culminate in Euro glory in the early 90s. In Danish Dynamite, authors Rob Smyth, Lars Eriksen, and Mike Gibbons capture this Danish zeitgeist in a thoroughly engaging and spirited read that will leave fans of 80s football reminiscing on one of the best-assembled national teams in football history.

Danish Dynamite is a lovingly-curated time capsule that focuses primarily on the ‘golden generation’ which represented Denmark at major tournaments in the 1980s. The book draws upon a multitude of resources that gives weight and depth to the narrative, and the descriptions (particularly of the matches) are lavish and vivid. From the national team’s amateur days wherein a session in a pub or bar was more highly regarded than the performance on the pitch beforehand; to the inspirational wins borne from the attack at-all-costs mentality and the soul-crushing losses at the latter stages of major tournaments, the reader rises and falls with the team.

“For the Italian and Germans an international match was business; for the Danish players it was a beano. They were an international team in name and a pub team in nature, steeped in a quagmire of amateurism in both approach and structure.” (pg. 16)

Elkjær, Simonsen, Laudrup, Arnesen, Berggreen, Olsen, Lerby—these are not just players, but instantly likeable ‘men of the people’ who enchanted the football world, and who were equally as comfortable on the ball as they were drinking with the fanatic traveling band of Danish roligans. Although this generation of Danish footballers may in some quarters be best-known for that game against Spain at Mexico 86, the authors treatment of this game and other memorable ties (the win against Platini and France, and the grudge match against Belgium in particular) is respectful, insightful, and the benchmark of excellent football reportage.

“…after a particularly brutal opening the game morphed into one of the greatest in the history of the European Championship. A genuinely brilliant football match and a stripped-to-the-waist set-to were gloriously entwined. As the saying goes, in the middle of it all a football match broke out. And what a match.” (pg. 90)

‘Danish Dynamite’, as the Danish team’s way became known as, was the house that coach Sepp Piontek built, and Danish Dynamite can perhaps be seen as a tribute to his outstanding work. From his beginning as the coach of Haiti, to harnessing the tremendous individual talent he assembled into a glorious Danish national team, Piontek’s influence and character is finely weaved into the narrative. Piontek is a man certainly worthy of mention in football history—he led Denmark to its first World Cup in 1986, and even provided Bobby Robson with his worst memory of management when England capitulated to Denmark in 1983. Thankfully, Danish Dynamite lays out Piontek’s achievements in English-language long-form to a generation of football enthusiasts who may have been too young to remember the Danish team in its pomp.

Some readers may wonder why Denmark’s crowning achievement (champions of Euro 92) gets scant attention in Danish Dynamite, with one chapter at the end devoted to it. Indeed, the glory that escaped the ‘classic’ Danish team of the 80s is seen as an afterthought. However, the main strength of this book is that it poeticises not just the highs but also the lows, and in so gives the missteps, the fateful injuries and red cards, and the painful losses meaning. Danish Dynamite is about the journey, not the destination, of that comet that streaks across the sky and dazzles onlookers. As such, Danish Dynamite is an instant classic of football non-fiction, and is a highly recommended read.

HIGHLIGHTED PASSAGE

“It was football’s saddest, maddest thrashing. ‘It annoys me tremendously still today, because it’s ridiculous,’ says Elkjaer. ‘We were the better team, but we lost our heads and that’s crazy.’ Yet in a sense it was also in the spirit of Danish Dynamite. This was a team who could win 6-1 one week and lose 5-1 the next—and at Mexico 86 they became the only team since the 1950s to score and concede at least five at the same World Cup.” (pg. 190)

STARS: 5/5
UNDER 20: Danish Dynamite is a classic and eminently re-readable account of the 80s Danish team that enchanted supporters and rivals alike.
FULL-TIME SCORE: A barnstorming 6-1 win, reflective of that memorable win against Uruguay in the 1986 World Cup.

[Football Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the book's strengths is its exploration of the cultural and social impact of Danish Dynamite. It examines how the team's success influenced the nation's collective identity, uniting Danes from all walks of life in their shared passion for football. The book delves into the fan culture, the atmosphere at matches, and the indelible mark left by Danish Dynamite on the country's sporting landscape.

The authors' meticulous research is evident throughout the book, drawing from interviews, archival material, and firsthand accounts to present a comprehensive and detailed narrative. The book is also supplemented with captivating photographs, providing visual context to the team's journey and achievements.

Overall, "Danish Dynamite: The Story of Football's Greatest Cult Team" is a captivating and informative read. It pays tribute to a team that defied expectations and left an indelible mark on Danish football history. Whether you're a fan of Danish football, a lover of football nostalgia, or simply interested in captivating sports stories, this book is a must-read.

[Felipe Portes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grande recorte histórico de um time fascinante, astros emergentes e um futebol inconfundível. O caminho da Dinamarca até o grupo dos campeões foi repleto de altos e baixos. A história contada no livro traz muitos depoimentos de personagens que viveram aquele tempo, com riqueza de detalhes e dados factuais. Naturalmente o tema desperta curiosidade conforme as páginas vão passando. Excelente trabalho de pesquisa e documentação, para que o leitor conheça a fundo e se apaixone pela lenda da Dinamáquina, que ficou longe de qualquer título em seus melhores anos, mas alcançou a redenção de maneira inesperada em 1992, na Eurocopa. Viva Laudrup, Elkjaer, Berggreen, Arnesen, Lerby, Olsen e Piontek.

[Jonathen Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful read, and one that gives this Scotland fan, some hope, that one day we will have a such a wonderful spell too…some great stories that will make you both laugh and cry in equal measure 🇩🇰👏⚽️

[Paul McCormack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed it. Very nostalgic and a reminder of why many of us fell in love with football in the first place

[Martin Hedegaard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fortræffelig bog om det danske 80´er-landshold. Jeg husker så meget af det, at det i virkeligheden er begrænset nyhedsværdi for mig ved at læse denne bog, men det er sat i perspektiv og krydret med små, sjove detaljer.
Vi er med fra Kurt Nielsen-dagene, hvor det at spille på landsholdet mest var sjov og ballade. Til Piontek overtog i 1979 og Carlsbergs sponsorat. De tidlige 80´erne, hvor Pionteks træningsmetoder blev sat i system. De afgørende milepæle: Sejren over de senere verdensmestre Italien i 1981, Jesper Olsen mod England i Idrætsparken i 82, gennembruddet på Wembley i 1983 og de herlige sommerdage i Frankrig i 1984, hvor det hele gik op i en højere enhed. Vejen mod Mexico, herunder den uforglemmelige Sovjet-kamp Grundlovsdag 1985. Og så selvfølgelig eventyret i Mexico, hvor hele verden fik et af VM-historiens bedst spillende hold at se i en indledende runde inden det store sammenbrud mod Spanien. Bogen tager os med gennem slutrunden i Vesttyskland, hvor vi igen havnede i en dynamitgruppe og tabte det hele til den mislykkede kval til Italien 1990 og frem til det mirakuløse guld i Sverige i 1992. Det sidste ofres der dog ikke meget plads til - bogen er en hyldest til 80´er-holdet og det hold, som vandt en plads i folks hjerter verden over.
Bogen er godt researchet og velskrevet. Der er sans for detaljen, men også det store overblik.
Bogen perspektiverer til den evige strid i Argentina mellem Menotti og Billardo, som jo hver vandt et VM i hhv. 1978 og 1986. Den ene med sprudlende offensivt spil, den anden med et mere kynisk blik for resultater. I Danmark har vi Pionteks farverige dynamitdrenge i 80´erne, der jo aldrig vandt en titel og Richardos defensive 92-hold, der jo som bekendt endte med at vinde EM. Selvom der kun var 6 år mellem Pionteks Mexico-hold i 1986 og Richardos i 1992, var det to vidt forskellige hold (med kun to gengangere). Og hvilket hold foretrækker man? Guldholdet eller dem, der fejlede på den mest spektakulære vis? For mig er der i hvert fald ingen tvivl.
Bemærk, dette er en dansk oversættelse, da bogen er skrevet af to engelske journalister (med hjælp af en dansker) til det internationale marked. Denne artikel, som vakte en del opmærksomhed, blev startskuddet til bogen: http://www.theguardian.com/football/b.... Rammende, da dette hold huskes over hele verden.
En enkelt fejl bemærkede jeg: Michael Laudrup skiftede ikke til Real Madrid i 1995, som der står i bogen, men i sommeren 1994.

[Scott Derry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful dash back in time to the days of crackly microphones in far off lands, of Jesper Olsen and Preben Elkjaer, and of the coolest football kit of all time. I whizzed through the book like Michael Laudrup whizzed through Uruguayan tackles. Despite knowing the story and the outcome, there were still surprises in store and wonderful anecdotes. If you watched this Danish side at the World Cup in '86 or at the Euros in '84, then this is well worth a read. I was saddened by the postscript informing the reader of the fate of John Eriksen, the prolific striker who was unfortunate to play at the same time as Elkjaer and Laudrup.

[Dave Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fun and enjoyable read. I knew vaguely of the Denmark team from the 1980s before reading this book, but my knowledge was limited to the names of Michael Laudrup and Peter Schmeichel. This book really gets across the excitement and buzz created by the Danish team and I spent hours re-watching the highlights of many of the games described in the book. Nice to read about a time when teams could turn up to a tournament with very little public knowledge of their ability and tear teams apart with their attacking style. I felt like a Danish fan riding the roller-coaster all over again 32 years after Mexico 86. 5/5.

[Kevin Coaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Iconic team, iconic Hummel kit. A ragtag of egos and characters come together to create a true 'Golden generation' in Scandinavia. Yes i have a nostalgia for Mexico '86, but i raced through this, which always speaks volumes to me.

[Peter Sellars · Rating 5 out of 5]

Denmark had a classic golden generation in the 80s. This book takes you inside this most eccentric of cult footballer groups. Mixing anecdotes and facts this is a hard to put down book. Best football book ever!

[Fritzov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have never realised Danmark had such a great team and that it wasn't just Laudrup that was a mega star.

[Steven Law · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, brought back memories!