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Rock 'n' Roll Soccer: The Short Life and Fast Times of the North American Soccer League
The future looks bright for US soccer with the continued growth of Major League Soccer, and following Tim Howard and company's heroics in the 2014 World Cup, it's the perfect time to revisit the most exciting period in US soccer history.
The North American Soccer League—at its peak in the late 1970s—was way ahead of its time. It was soccer as performance, played by men with a bent for flair, hair, and glamour. Rock 'n' Roll Soccer reveals in all its glory the color and chaos of the world's first truly international league.
More than just Pelé and the New York Cosmos, it lured the biggest names of the world game like Johan Cruyff, George Best, and Franz Beckenbauer to play soccer as it was meant to be played—without inhibition, to please the fans, a glitzy alternative to the muddy, hooligan-blighted grounds of Europe. It sold itself in a continent unfamiliar with soccer before crashing back down to earth like a rock star's private jet, bankrupt but laughing all the way.
Ian Plenderleith is a soccer writer and journalist based just outside Washington, DC. He has been writing about the game for the past twenty years for publications including the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, and Soccer America.
Rodney Marsh enjoyed a colorful period in the NASL, playing for the Tampa Bay Rowdies between 1976 and '79. He later went on to coach the Rowdies, New York United, and Carolina Lightnin'.
The North American Soccer League—at its peak in the late 1970s—was way ahead of its time. It was soccer as performance, played by men with a bent for flair, hair, and glamour. Rock 'n' Roll Soccer reveals in all its glory the color and chaos of the world's first truly international league.
More than just Pelé and the New York Cosmos, it lured the biggest names of the world game like Johan Cruyff, George Best, and Franz Beckenbauer to play soccer as it was meant to be played—without inhibition, to please the fans, a glitzy alternative to the muddy, hooligan-blighted grounds of Europe. It sold itself in a continent unfamiliar with soccer before crashing back down to earth like a rock star's private jet, bankrupt but laughing all the way.
Ian Plenderleith is a soccer writer and journalist based just outside Washington, DC. He has been writing about the game for the past twenty years for publications including the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, and Soccer America.
Rodney Marsh enjoyed a colorful period in the NASL, playing for the Tampa Bay Rowdies between 1976 and '79. He later went on to coach the Rowdies, New York United, and Carolina Lightnin'.
448 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2014
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421 people want to read
About the author
Ian Plenderleith
9 books13 followersMy latest book (published September 2025) is another collection of football short stories, The Last Amateur (Halcyon Publishing), and is "inspired by the amorality, the greed, and the somehow still irresistible allure of the modern game", to quote the cover blurb. It follows my book about being an amateur ref (Reffing Hell, 2022) and my counter-Hornby supporter's memoir The Quiet Fan (2018). That book was preceded by my historical analysis of the wildly entertaining North American Soccer League of the 1970s - 'Rock n Roll Soccer', which was published in the UK by Icon Books in 2014, and by Thomas Dunne in the US in 2015. My debut was back in 2001, For Whom the Ball Rolls (Orion Books), my first foray into football fiction.
The rest of my life has been spent playing, coaching, reffing, watching and reporting on football, with occasional interference from family and friends.
The rest of my life has been spent playing, coaching, reffing, watching and reporting on football, with occasional interference from family and friends.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
July 15, 2015
The attention that the United States team received in the World Cup soccer tournament this summer caught many by surprise. Suddenly, thousands were living and dying with each play of the tournament in Brazil. Large-screen television broadcasts the games to thousands in public squares in cities throughout America. For a country that had yawned at the game for the most part for decades, it was a shock.
However, for those who remember the North American Soccer League, particularly in its glory days of the 1970s, the explosion of interest seemed a bit more credible.
The NASL at one point was selling out Giants Stadium in New Jersey to the tune of 76,000 fans, and some of the biggest names of the game - admittedly past their prime in most cases - were playing on our shores.
It's nice then to have a hard-headed, objective look at what went right and what went wrong with the NASL. Ian Plenderleith supplies exactly that in his book, "Rock 'n' Roll Soccer."
The author takes through the start of American pro soccer in the early Sixties, when we were just starting to figure out how the pro league should get going. After some starts and starts that included a league and teams folding, the NASL got going in earnest.
While you could argue that the Cosmos were the league's flagship team, complete with names like Pele, Chinaglia and Beckenbauer, Plenderleith takes a wider approach. He talks to a variety of people from throughout the league in history. That gives a balanced approach to the NASL as a whole. Some of the names and teams mentioned ought to bring back memories. It would be easy to stick to the Cosmos, since they were the glamour team that attracted most of the publicity and are the subject of many of the books covering that time period. Plenderleith is after a wider story, one sticking to soccer as opposed to delving into drugs and parties off the pitch.
The NASL did plenty of things wrong, as the author points out. It expanded too quickly and was too optimistic about future success. Few of the teams could make money in those days, and eventually the dollars dried out. When the fad faded, the league came crashing down rather quickly in the early 1980s.
But Plenderleith points out that the NASL has had an influence on the game that still is felt today. The rest of the world was content with 0-0 or 1-0 games that left soccer with a reputation for boredom here. The NASL encouraged scoring at all costs, and thus increased the entertainment value. It also worked to teach the game to newcomers, and brought show biz to the game presentation. Teams in other countries were taking notes, and international soccer evolved to encompass those qualities.
Plenderleith serves as a good guide for all of this. He obviously knows the game, and it's interesting to read his comments after watching games on DVDs years later. The NASL's level of play seems to surprise him. Plenderleith, an Englishman who has spent many years here, does a little bashing of Washington as a representative of American society as a whole in one section. There's a little anger there, and it doesn't really fit in with the rest of the book. Otherwise, though, he's supplies knowledge and perspective.
"Rock 'n' Roll Soccer," then really fits a nice little niche in reviewing an era with American soccer in a way that appeals to fans of the sport. It's a valuable addition to the library of those who qualify, even if that number won't be overwhelmingly large.
However, for those who remember the North American Soccer League, particularly in its glory days of the 1970s, the explosion of interest seemed a bit more credible.
The NASL at one point was selling out Giants Stadium in New Jersey to the tune of 76,000 fans, and some of the biggest names of the game - admittedly past their prime in most cases - were playing on our shores.
It's nice then to have a hard-headed, objective look at what went right and what went wrong with the NASL. Ian Plenderleith supplies exactly that in his book, "Rock 'n' Roll Soccer."
The author takes through the start of American pro soccer in the early Sixties, when we were just starting to figure out how the pro league should get going. After some starts and starts that included a league and teams folding, the NASL got going in earnest.
While you could argue that the Cosmos were the league's flagship team, complete with names like Pele, Chinaglia and Beckenbauer, Plenderleith takes a wider approach. He talks to a variety of people from throughout the league in history. That gives a balanced approach to the NASL as a whole. Some of the names and teams mentioned ought to bring back memories. It would be easy to stick to the Cosmos, since they were the glamour team that attracted most of the publicity and are the subject of many of the books covering that time period. Plenderleith is after a wider story, one sticking to soccer as opposed to delving into drugs and parties off the pitch.
The NASL did plenty of things wrong, as the author points out. It expanded too quickly and was too optimistic about future success. Few of the teams could make money in those days, and eventually the dollars dried out. When the fad faded, the league came crashing down rather quickly in the early 1980s.
But Plenderleith points out that the NASL has had an influence on the game that still is felt today. The rest of the world was content with 0-0 or 1-0 games that left soccer with a reputation for boredom here. The NASL encouraged scoring at all costs, and thus increased the entertainment value. It also worked to teach the game to newcomers, and brought show biz to the game presentation. Teams in other countries were taking notes, and international soccer evolved to encompass those qualities.
Plenderleith serves as a good guide for all of this. He obviously knows the game, and it's interesting to read his comments after watching games on DVDs years later. The NASL's level of play seems to surprise him. Plenderleith, an Englishman who has spent many years here, does a little bashing of Washington as a representative of American society as a whole in one section. There's a little anger there, and it doesn't really fit in with the rest of the book. Otherwise, though, he's supplies knowledge and perspective.
"Rock 'n' Roll Soccer," then really fits a nice little niche in reviewing an era with American soccer in a way that appeals to fans of the sport. It's a valuable addition to the library of those who qualify, even if that number won't be overwhelmingly large.
December 9, 2017
Although the writing is uneven and the narrative isn't always linear, this is still one of the books you want to read if you're interested in the NASL, and it's pivotal role in the evolution of soccer in the United States.
May 7, 2019
Soccer fans who enjoy Major League Soccer may not be aware that there was another professional soccer league in North America that also saw success at the box office and on the pitch, albeit for only a brief time. The history of this league, the North American Soccer League (NASL) is captures in this very objective and factual book by Ian Penderleith.
In the 1970’s and early 1980’s, the NASL brought the sport’s international superstars to American shores and the public loved it – at least for a few years. The New York Cosmos were the glamor franchise of the league, achieving that crown when they signed Pele, considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game. However, the Cosmos weren’t done as they added other superstar players such as Franz Beckenbauer and Giorgio Chinaglia. Given this, it would be easy to have the book and league’s history focus on just the Cosmos.
Fortunately, Plenderlieith didn’t do that. Instead, he pieces together stories and information on other teams that may not have had the glamour of the Cosmos, but nonetheless contributed to the culture of the league. The appropriately-named Tampa Bay Rowdies, who had their own flamboyant star in Rodney Marsh, brought entertaining soccer to the fans. Offering free parking for their fans who often preferred the tailgating parties to the soccer inside the stadium, the Minnesota Kicks also were one of the more successful franchises in the league both in attendance and on the pitch, despite the fact that they never won a championship and appeared in the Soccer Bowl (the NASL championship game) only once, during their first season in 1976. By including passages about teams like the Kicks and Rowdies, and their players such as Alan Merrick and Marsh respectively, Plenderlieth paints a complete picture of the league to the reader – at least of those successful franchises.
The demise of the league and the reasons have been well-documented elsewhere – the league expanded to too many teams too fast amd the ownership groups did not have the capital to invest in a losing business for the long haul. Plenderlieth takes a level headed approach at these issues and doesn’t lay a lot of blame on any one person, but doesn’t make excuses or sugar-coat the problems that the league faced. Instead, he simply reports what happened.
The NASL also was at odds with the governing body of the sport, FIFA, over several rule variations it made to make the game more entertaining to fans. Correctly believing that American sports fans would not take to a game that had very little scoring, the league made two radical rule changes. One had to do with standings and the points awarded. The usual point allocation for a match was three points for a win, one point for a draw and none for a loss. Instead, the NASL awarded six points to the winning side, three for a draw and win or lose, a bonus point for each goal scored up to three per match. This gave teams incentive to try to keep scoring throughout the game. Also, the pitch had a 35 yard line on each side – offiside could not be called on the offensive team until it was past that line instead of midfield as was the case elsewhere. While these rules went by the wayside when the league disbanded in 1984, the offensive style of play it encouraged is still felt today as clubs realize that more goals mean more fans in the stands.
The meteoric rise and spectacular crash of the NASL is a compelling story and this book is one that anyone who has memories of the league, as this reviewer does (a Minnesota Kicks season ticket holder for two seasons), will want to add this book to his or her library.
In the 1970’s and early 1980’s, the NASL brought the sport’s international superstars to American shores and the public loved it – at least for a few years. The New York Cosmos were the glamor franchise of the league, achieving that crown when they signed Pele, considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game. However, the Cosmos weren’t done as they added other superstar players such as Franz Beckenbauer and Giorgio Chinaglia. Given this, it would be easy to have the book and league’s history focus on just the Cosmos.
Fortunately, Plenderlieith didn’t do that. Instead, he pieces together stories and information on other teams that may not have had the glamour of the Cosmos, but nonetheless contributed to the culture of the league. The appropriately-named Tampa Bay Rowdies, who had their own flamboyant star in Rodney Marsh, brought entertaining soccer to the fans. Offering free parking for their fans who often preferred the tailgating parties to the soccer inside the stadium, the Minnesota Kicks also were one of the more successful franchises in the league both in attendance and on the pitch, despite the fact that they never won a championship and appeared in the Soccer Bowl (the NASL championship game) only once, during their first season in 1976. By including passages about teams like the Kicks and Rowdies, and their players such as Alan Merrick and Marsh respectively, Plenderlieth paints a complete picture of the league to the reader – at least of those successful franchises.
The demise of the league and the reasons have been well-documented elsewhere – the league expanded to too many teams too fast amd the ownership groups did not have the capital to invest in a losing business for the long haul. Plenderlieth takes a level headed approach at these issues and doesn’t lay a lot of blame on any one person, but doesn’t make excuses or sugar-coat the problems that the league faced. Instead, he simply reports what happened.
The NASL also was at odds with the governing body of the sport, FIFA, over several rule variations it made to make the game more entertaining to fans. Correctly believing that American sports fans would not take to a game that had very little scoring, the league made two radical rule changes. One had to do with standings and the points awarded. The usual point allocation for a match was three points for a win, one point for a draw and none for a loss. Instead, the NASL awarded six points to the winning side, three for a draw and win or lose, a bonus point for each goal scored up to three per match. This gave teams incentive to try to keep scoring throughout the game. Also, the pitch had a 35 yard line on each side – offiside could not be called on the offensive team until it was past that line instead of midfield as was the case elsewhere. While these rules went by the wayside when the league disbanded in 1984, the offensive style of play it encouraged is still felt today as clubs realize that more goals mean more fans in the stands.
The meteoric rise and spectacular crash of the NASL is a compelling story and this book is one that anyone who has memories of the league, as this reviewer does (a Minnesota Kicks season ticket holder for two seasons), will want to add this book to his or her library.
August 7, 2019
A great account of the USA soccer league of the 1970s . Rodney Marsh , Pele and George Best turn up - but who remembers Aberdeen and Wolves playing in the 1967 final as the LA Wolves and the Washington Whips.
A great read of football is your thing.
A great read of football is your thing.
November 21, 2020
Dude really hates baseball players.
Otherwise really enjoyed it.
Otherwise really enjoyed it.
March 15, 2019
A fascinating book, though more a series of anecdotes than a history.
Another caveat is that the book is very much written for a British audience, with plenty of attention paid to individual English players who played in the NASL, but much less to, for instance, Yugoslav players in the league (the backbone of many an NASL team) and the NASL's role in the evolution of North American soccer itself. As a hapless supporter of the Canadian National Team, I was especially disappointed with the latter, particularly as Canada reached the 1984 Olympic quarter finals and the 1986 World Cup, in both cases with teams predominantly comprised of NASL players. Those interested in the same subject should be aware that there are still compelling stories by and about Bruce Wilson, Bob Iarusci, Carl Valentine, and Bob Lenarduzzi, among others.
Another caveat is that the book is very much written for a British audience, with plenty of attention paid to individual English players who played in the NASL, but much less to, for instance, Yugoslav players in the league (the backbone of many an NASL team) and the NASL's role in the evolution of North American soccer itself. As a hapless supporter of the Canadian National Team, I was especially disappointed with the latter, particularly as Canada reached the 1984 Olympic quarter finals and the 1986 World Cup, in both cases with teams predominantly comprised of NASL players. Those interested in the same subject should be aware that there are still compelling stories by and about Bruce Wilson, Bob Iarusci, Carl Valentine, and Bob Lenarduzzi, among others.
May 2, 2025
I am not a soccer fan and I know very little about the sport. However, I do remember something of a phenomenon when I was young when the NASL was a big deal--or seemed like a big deal. That relatively brief time in history fascinated me and I wanted to know more about it. Enter Mr. Plenderleith's book. It provided the history I was looking for and then some. The style is light and not overly formal and the author seems well-versed in the sport. There are some bits of humor that are hit and miss (perhaps cultural) but i was starting to bite on the David Byrne story (if only for a moment). Also, I was unsure if Mr. Plenderleith was joking in his use of Roughneck as a synonym for redneck. Overall, a solid history of the brief run of the North American Soccer League--what made it tick and what caused it to stop. 3 1/2
May 15, 2020
This book rates a 5+ for anyone, like me, who closely followed the NASL back in the 1970s and it might rate a zero with anyone who couldn’t care less about American soccer or sports marketing. But it’s a great story of the first real attempt to make soccer a major sport in the U.S. For about three years it looked like lightening had actually struck. Sold out stadiums, network TV coverage, plenty of hype and action. Then it all went to shit. Fascinating.
December 22, 2021
Interesting and well researched book. But again, a sports book without a coherent narrative. By choosing to arrange the chapters by subject rather than chronology, he then adds footnotes like "see Chapter 5". Most people read a book in page order, so instructions like that are just really annoying - especially when they refer back to a Chapter you've already read. To add insult to injury, each Chapter then concludes with a chronological history of the League! Structurally, it's a mess.
September 24, 2024
4.5 stars rounded up to 5. The author does a great job connecting 'whys' throughout the book and being sure to understand people and situations within the context of other situations, almost to the point that the book becomes a little too much work (it is not a quick read, but it is better if read quickly, if that makes sense). The author did a great job and some of the perspective and predictions about what would become of American and European soccer were very on target!
May 9, 2018
Book reminded me of my youth and my dad taking me to LA Aztec games at the LA Coliseum. Book does a good job of presenting those manic hopeful days when soccer was playing to huge crowds that MLS could not hope to achieve and then how it all rather quickly ended. Excellent at pointing out the NASL's influence on FIFA and soccer abroad.
June 14, 2020
Kind of hard to follow early but a good look into the first iteration of soccer in the USA. It grew too fast and makes me wonder if MLS is expanding too fast.
December 30, 2020
Really interesting stories about a soccer league from my childhood. At times the writing is uneven, but this was likely a better form than a straight history. Sometimes it dwelt too much on NASL's failures, but boom/bust was part of the story.
January 30, 2021
Wonderful history of the NASL. This book is a must for any fan of the MSL and US Soccer and wants to know how soccer in the US started to rise. It also helps to explain why we are where we are today
February 16, 2021
Such a fun read. What a ride for Soccer!
August 15, 2021
I gave up half way through, it became so repetitive, old footballers telling the same stories, shame as it started out well.
February 21, 2023
This book doesn’t know what it wants to be.. A meandering pile of💩.
February 28, 2025
I really enjoyed this book, I felt transported back to America of the 1970s-1980s.
July 19, 2025
Informative.
August 12, 2023
The North American Soccer League was a unique organization that pushed the soccer envelope and maintained a fairly outlaw status throughout its existence. “Rock ‘n’ Roll Soccer” looks at the NASL with a topical rather than chronological approach. Ian Plenderleith takes the reader through the league and artfully portrays the impact of the NASL as well as the cast of character who made the league what it was. A fun run through the late seventies through the mid eighties, it is definitely entertaining.
September 27, 2014
http://ensuingchapters.com/2014/09/27...
Rock ‘n’ Roll Soccer
The Short Life and Fast Times of the North American Soccer League
Ian Plenderleith
I recall, from my childhood, soccer on television, cheering for Pelé and watching him slow-motion bicycle kick his way through Nazis alongside Sylvester Stallone. And then it was gone.Rock n Roll Soccer
I don’t remember when it went away, but in the early 1980s, my attention turned to music and girls. So long, Pelé. Farewell slow-motion bicycle kick. We hardly new ye. It didn’t even occur to me, until Major League Soccer started play, that there was no longer an elite professional American league.
Fast forward to 2014, and soccer in America is once again on the rise. It’s now expected that the U.S. men’s team will not only qualify, but advance to the knockout rounds of the World Cup. The bar is even higher for the medal-winning women’s club. MLS is approaching its 20th season, and the future is looking bright.
Couple that with the self-immolation of the NFL and in a few decades Monday Night Football might be a whole different ballgame. Literally.
The groundwork for today’s soccer popularity was laid by the North American Soccer League, the subject of Plenderleith’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Soccer. This is required reading in a World Cup year, and a treat to read anytime.
Plenderleith documents the folly, effrontery and ultimate failure of the NASL—an impressively thorough tome that benefits from solid research and a witty outsider’s perspective (though now living in America, Plenderleith is British and brings a European’s passion and insight to football writing).
One of Plenderleith’s great accomplishments in this book is his ability to zoom in and out of the action while keeping the reader engaged. This is not an easy task. At times, he’ll be recounting the exaggerated drug- and drink-fueled antics of over-the-hill international stars and young Americans performing in a flamboyant, fly-by-night federation that defied, in equal measure, rules, tradition and, ahem, sound business practice.
Then Plenderleith will step back and establish the international and cultural context within which the NASL was operating. At first, the international audience mocked the upstart Americans, and FIFA pushed back against the young league that was tinkering with tradition.
But as the NASL achieved early success, the world took notice. While it didn’t reinvent the sport, the outlaw league reinvigorated it by making it a fan-friendly experience and drove rule changes that increased substitutions and decreased back passes.
The model, though exciting, was as unsustainable as that alcohol-fueled borderline relationship you had in college. The peaks were unforgettable, but the valleys unbearable. Sure enough, the NASL folded following the 1984 season.
It was an experiment and experience that was thoroughly American, and though the league didn’t last, it left a lasting impression on the game and paved the way for MLS success.
Rock ‘n’ Roll Soccer is an excellent work of sports journalism and, regardless of whether you follow football or futbol (or both), it is worthy of any fans’ bookshelf.
Rock ‘n’ Roll Soccer
The Short Life and Fast Times of the North American Soccer League
Ian Plenderleith
I recall, from my childhood, soccer on television, cheering for Pelé and watching him slow-motion bicycle kick his way through Nazis alongside Sylvester Stallone. And then it was gone.Rock n Roll Soccer
I don’t remember when it went away, but in the early 1980s, my attention turned to music and girls. So long, Pelé. Farewell slow-motion bicycle kick. We hardly new ye. It didn’t even occur to me, until Major League Soccer started play, that there was no longer an elite professional American league.
Fast forward to 2014, and soccer in America is once again on the rise. It’s now expected that the U.S. men’s team will not only qualify, but advance to the knockout rounds of the World Cup. The bar is even higher for the medal-winning women’s club. MLS is approaching its 20th season, and the future is looking bright.
Couple that with the self-immolation of the NFL and in a few decades Monday Night Football might be a whole different ballgame. Literally.
The groundwork for today’s soccer popularity was laid by the North American Soccer League, the subject of Plenderleith’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Soccer. This is required reading in a World Cup year, and a treat to read anytime.
Plenderleith documents the folly, effrontery and ultimate failure of the NASL—an impressively thorough tome that benefits from solid research and a witty outsider’s perspective (though now living in America, Plenderleith is British and brings a European’s passion and insight to football writing).
One of Plenderleith’s great accomplishments in this book is his ability to zoom in and out of the action while keeping the reader engaged. This is not an easy task. At times, he’ll be recounting the exaggerated drug- and drink-fueled antics of over-the-hill international stars and young Americans performing in a flamboyant, fly-by-night federation that defied, in equal measure, rules, tradition and, ahem, sound business practice.
Then Plenderleith will step back and establish the international and cultural context within which the NASL was operating. At first, the international audience mocked the upstart Americans, and FIFA pushed back against the young league that was tinkering with tradition.
But as the NASL achieved early success, the world took notice. While it didn’t reinvent the sport, the outlaw league reinvigorated it by making it a fan-friendly experience and drove rule changes that increased substitutions and decreased back passes.
The model, though exciting, was as unsustainable as that alcohol-fueled borderline relationship you had in college. The peaks were unforgettable, but the valleys unbearable. Sure enough, the NASL folded following the 1984 season.
It was an experiment and experience that was thoroughly American, and though the league didn’t last, it left a lasting impression on the game and paved the way for MLS success.
Rock ‘n’ Roll Soccer is an excellent work of sports journalism and, regardless of whether you follow football or futbol (or both), it is worthy of any fans’ bookshelf.
August 9, 2021
This book has an unusual structure, in that it just jumps into the story of the NASL without giving real context, and just goes through the wild stories that come from the game. There is little discussion of its impact on North America or soccer as a whole, and glosses over events that many would consider key, like the signing of Pele (or most big-name players). It certainly is written in a way that assumes the reader is familiar with the subject, so it can be confusing at times. It also does very little to show why the NASL failed, and doesn't give any post-script on the period between its demise and the formation of MLS, which would have been a nice way to end the book.
August 12, 2016
The late '70s and early '80s is when I discovered soccer as a pre-teen then teen following NASL's Ft. Lauderdale Strikers. Plenderleith's well-researched and entertaining book not only brings back those days but puts them in the perspective that the NASL changed soccer--not just in America. Yes, Plenderleith has an axe to grind, but the experience of soccer fans does not lend itself to dispassionate disinterest. Plenderleith's comparison of the wide-open, attacking play in the NASL (helped by a 35-yard offsides line, a complex point system that encouraged winning and goal scoring, and a self-destructive buying binge by owners for skillful players like Pele, Chinaglia, Cruyff, Best, Mueller, Beckenbauer, Cubillas, and a young Trevor Francis) with the dull, pragmatic play in Europe (I submit that it's nearly impossible for a non-partisan to enjoy any European Cup final between 1975 and 1986) reminds me of Nick Hornby's remark in Fever Pitch that if you look closely at the crowd in most live shots from English games when he was growing up, the spectators look miserable, tense, anxious--clearly not enjoying themselves. Yes, I know, the purist snobs are correct: the players and the quality of the soccer itself is so much better in Europe than in North America, always has been, and maybe always will be. Maybe so, but if you find videos of NASL games, in between all the smoke, the cheerleaders, the garish uniforms, and mid-game commercial breaks, you'll see the crowd having a great time.
June 29, 2015
This hugely entertaining and informative book tells the fascinating story of the brief, colourful life of the North American Soccer League. Behind this lies Plenderleith's thesis, namely that in many of its innovations - making the game the centrepiece of an afternoon or evenings entertainment, its business model, and some of its rule changes - the NASL pointed in the direction European, and particularly British, football took later on.
But like all the best sports books, Plenderleith uses the sport as a platform to explore something larger. The essence of the NASL's story is of constant innovation, a freedom from convention, and an unsentimental willingness to ditch what's not working and try something else. In telling this tale of "creative destruction", first creative, then destructive, Plenderleith tells a real American tale.
But like all the best sports books, Plenderleith uses the sport as a platform to explore something larger. The essence of the NASL's story is of constant innovation, a freedom from convention, and an unsentimental willingness to ditch what's not working and try something else. In telling this tale of "creative destruction", first creative, then destructive, Plenderleith tells a real American tale.
August 9, 2016
Ian Plenderleithin "Rock'n'roll Soccer" (Icon, 2016) kertoo pohjoisamerikkalaisen NASL-jalkapalloliigan noususta, uhosta ja tuhosta.
Vuosina 1968-1984 pelatun ammattilaissarjan vaiheisiin kytkeytyvät niin New York Cosmoksen kaltaiset jättiseurat kuin Team Hawaiin kaltaiset yhden kauden viritelmät, ikääntyvät mutta siitä huolimatta parhaimmillaan maagiset maailmantähdet kuten Eusebio, Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cryuff ja George Best, sääntömuunnelmat kuten rangaistuskuljetukset 35 jaardin alueelta kohti maalia, hyökkäävästä pelistä aiheutuneet 9-2 -lopputulokset ja amerikkalaisille urheilutapahtumille tyypilliset oheistoiminnot cheerleadereineen.
Ei siis ihme, että näistä aineksista syntyy hyvin viihdyttävä tietokirja, jota voi lämpimästi suositella kaikille kuningaspelin ystäville!
Vuosina 1968-1984 pelatun ammattilaissarjan vaiheisiin kytkeytyvät niin New York Cosmoksen kaltaiset jättiseurat kuin Team Hawaiin kaltaiset yhden kauden viritelmät, ikääntyvät mutta siitä huolimatta parhaimmillaan maagiset maailmantähdet kuten Eusebio, Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cryuff ja George Best, sääntömuunnelmat kuten rangaistuskuljetukset 35 jaardin alueelta kohti maalia, hyökkäävästä pelistä aiheutuneet 9-2 -lopputulokset ja amerikkalaisille urheilutapahtumille tyypilliset oheistoiminnot cheerleadereineen.
Ei siis ihme, että näistä aineksista syntyy hyvin viihdyttävä tietokirja, jota voi lämpimästi suositella kaikille kuningaspelin ystäville!
July 14, 2024
Love the research and the lack of condescension. It probably could have dropped a couple chapters and been punchier without losing any depth — the Philly chapter in particular had little to add other than a re-examination of the "rock and roll soccer" title theme, which the author spent way too much time justifying. A+ for the Washington chapter, though: rarely is hatred for Washington and its sports culture so well-executed and dead-on (and I say that having lived in Northern Virginia proper for three years and Washington's downstate Virginia sports market my whole life). I wasn't at all surprised to learn Plenderleith wrote while living in the region.
March 24, 2016
A shame this book was written by a snobby Brit who seems to enjoy making sneering asides at North Americans, such as the following comment, on page 216 of the hardcover version: "Canadian Buzz Parsons played for the Vancouver Whitecaps, while American Buzz Demling turned out for the San Jose Earthquakes--this is stated merely to prove that in North America it is perfectly legal to name a child Buzz." I'm sure all the readers in Cornwall were floored by that broadside. After reading that comment, I put the book down.
Maybe someday a good assessment of the NASL will be produced.
Maybe someday a good assessment of the NASL will be produced.
June 29, 2016
There must have been countless hours of research thrown into this project and there is a lot of detail, sometimes a tad much. A number of really interesting stories of players, teams, glam and glitter, creativity, ideas that later caught on in real football makes it a must read for those who want knowledge of the game outside of Europe and South America.
Some parts could do with a rewrite or editing, but all in all I enjoyed it.
Some parts could do with a rewrite or editing, but all in all I enjoyed it.
September 29, 2014
this is a bit of a curates egg.
Plenderleith is a fun guide to a short lived time in world football he manages to be linear and yet to explore little corners of the soccer world.
The book is probably the only book you ever need to read about nasl , it reads a little like what you would expect Michael Lewis would write but every so often it falls a little flat
Plenderleith is a fun guide to a short lived time in world football he manages to be linear and yet to explore little corners of the soccer world.
The book is probably the only book you ever need to read about nasl , it reads a little like what you would expect Michael Lewis would write but every so often it falls a little flat
October 14, 2014
There are more than 304 pages of narrative...404 to be exact. Couple of Appendixes, Notes, and an Index and total pages of this book goes to 434. Just saying because I'm on page 358 and getting closer to finishing this great book.
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