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Football Murals: A Celebration of Soccer's Greatest Street Art: Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Sports Book Awards 2023
WATERSTONES BEST BOOKS OF 2022 – SPORT
'This book is a work of art about football's works of art... Loved it.' - Kevin Day, broadcaster
'A beautiful showcase of such a distinctive part of the game's culture... i mpossible not to get lost in the book' – Miguel Delaney, The Independent
' Gorgeous to behold... Unmissable' – Danny Kelly, TalkSPORT radio presenter
'I absolutely love this book' – Jules Breach, football presenter
On high-rise buildings, street corners and stadium walls in countries around the world, eye-catching murals pay tribute to footballing greats. From Messi and Ronaldo to Rapinoe and Cruyff, these striking displays are remarkable testaments to the awe and affection fans feel for these football legends and cult heroes.
Join renowned football writer and broadcaster Andy Brassell as he explores this fascinating phenomenon. Offering a fresh, highly visual perspective on the global game, Football Murals is the first book to celebrate these towering works of art.
Beckenbauer and Cruyff, Rooney and Ronaldinho, Totti and Salah, Zlatan and Zidane – being honoured with a mural cements a player's place in a club's heritage and links them to the heart of the community. This richly illustrated book showcases the most impressive examples, explores their inspirational qualities and examines what they say about these icons and their sport.
Written and curated by respected football writer Andy Brassell, this ground-breaking book features more than 100 murals from around the world, capturing the scale, grandeur and wit of this powerful and popular art form. Through a series of short essays and extended captions, Andy shares the players' stories, discusses the cultural politics and explains just why these men and women have been immortalised in mural form.
Covering such diverse topics as Home Town Glory, Football Fame and The Cult of the Coach, Football Murals addresses the issues important to fans worldwide. It spans Marcus Rashford's inspirational mural in a Manchester suburb, the George Best tribute on the East Belfast estate where he was born, the 15-foot depiction of Megan Rapinoe in St Paul, Minnesota, and the Naples 'shrine' to Diego Maradona.
'I can't tell you how nice it is for players to see their face on a mural.' – Jermaine Jenas, The One Show
'This book is a work of art about football's works of art... Loved it.' - Kevin Day, broadcaster
'A beautiful showcase of such a distinctive part of the game's culture... i mpossible not to get lost in the book' – Miguel Delaney, The Independent
' Gorgeous to behold... Unmissable' – Danny Kelly, TalkSPORT radio presenter
'I absolutely love this book' – Jules Breach, football presenter
On high-rise buildings, street corners and stadium walls in countries around the world, eye-catching murals pay tribute to footballing greats. From Messi and Ronaldo to Rapinoe and Cruyff, these striking displays are remarkable testaments to the awe and affection fans feel for these football legends and cult heroes.
Join renowned football writer and broadcaster Andy Brassell as he explores this fascinating phenomenon. Offering a fresh, highly visual perspective on the global game, Football Murals is the first book to celebrate these towering works of art.
Beckenbauer and Cruyff, Rooney and Ronaldinho, Totti and Salah, Zlatan and Zidane – being honoured with a mural cements a player's place in a club's heritage and links them to the heart of the community. This richly illustrated book showcases the most impressive examples, explores their inspirational qualities and examines what they say about these icons and their sport.
Written and curated by respected football writer Andy Brassell, this ground-breaking book features more than 100 murals from around the world, capturing the scale, grandeur and wit of this powerful and popular art form. Through a series of short essays and extended captions, Andy shares the players' stories, discusses the cultural politics and explains just why these men and women have been immortalised in mural form.
Covering such diverse topics as Home Town Glory, Football Fame and The Cult of the Coach, Football Murals addresses the issues important to fans worldwide. It spans Marcus Rashford's inspirational mural in a Manchester suburb, the George Best tribute on the East Belfast estate where he was born, the 15-foot depiction of Megan Rapinoe in St Paul, Minnesota, and the Naples 'shrine' to Diego Maradona.
'I can't tell you how nice it is for players to see their face on a mural.' – Jermaine Jenas, The One Show
- GenresFootball
176 pages, Hardcover
Published November 1, 2022
28 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 4, 2023
Lots of people hate the aggrandisement of football, but if this book proves anything it's that art and the great game are as intrinsically and authentically linked as anything. Whether through the often incredible street art or through Andy Brassell's assertions, 'Football Murals' proves that the sport is entirely community-driven, expressive and meaningful.
Brassell indulges in plenty of sharp, keen and often accurate analysis of the players' cultural import, from the greats to 'Cult Heroes' (one of the book's finest chapters). He also expertly examines the less flashy but just as powerful, poignant considerations that impact football murals everywhere; the fight against racism, the essential need to sing the praises of women's football, the 'cult of the coach' and the rocky, love-hate dynamic that constantly exists between fans and their clubs.
But the best thing about the artworks is how they elevate their depictions' status, and how they encompass the communities they appear in. This is football as historical wonder, and a mighty fine example of how both it and art can bring people together.
I can almost hear Laurence Fox spitting out his granola as he grimaces 'just...stick...to...football' at Gary Lineker on Match of the Day. Lovely stuff.
Brassell indulges in plenty of sharp, keen and often accurate analysis of the players' cultural import, from the greats to 'Cult Heroes' (one of the book's finest chapters). He also expertly examines the less flashy but just as powerful, poignant considerations that impact football murals everywhere; the fight against racism, the essential need to sing the praises of women's football, the 'cult of the coach' and the rocky, love-hate dynamic that constantly exists between fans and their clubs.
But the best thing about the artworks is how they elevate their depictions' status, and how they encompass the communities they appear in. This is football as historical wonder, and a mighty fine example of how both it and art can bring people together.
I can almost hear Laurence Fox spitting out his granola as he grimaces 'just...stick...to...football' at Gary Lineker on Match of the Day. Lovely stuff.
March 12, 2023
Enjoyable. I got this on Google Play Books and so I had not really looked through it before purchasing (it's hard to find the physical form of a book like this in a Kansas bookstore), so I was surprised that it was more essays and less pictures. But the essays were all good (though requiring some knowledge of soccer culture) and the photos of the murals were all nice to see.
June 2, 2024
This book is a love letter to football and its ever-present fandom.
Fabulous murals persist throughout the book, inspiring me to travel to see them all!
My only criticism of the book is that the book is less about murals, but more about football icons and various talking points within the sport, with the murals definitely just flavouring the book, rather than being the centre of the text throughout.
Fabulous murals persist throughout the book, inspiring me to travel to see them all!
My only criticism of the book is that the book is less about murals, but more about football icons and various talking points within the sport, with the murals definitely just flavouring the book, rather than being the centre of the text throughout.
January 1, 2025
I bought this for the murals. However the core of the book is the writing by football journalist Andy Brassell. I'm not even a fan of football particularly, but the stories are interesting, and really well written. There's not much written about the actual murals themselves, but generally the pictures are of famous footballers and managers, who then get written about, touching on their career history and memorable moments. All quality photos and well selected too.
May 11, 2024
Best book I have ever read!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews