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Football for Dummies, UK Edition
Whether you want to impress friends and colleagues with new-found football wisdom, brush up on details you're unsure about (the offside rule, anyone?) or improve your practical skills, this is the book for you! Covering all the basics of the game, rules and tactics, as well as giving an in-depth history of the sport and how it has evolved to the present day, this indispensable guide will get you up to speed on the most popular game in the world in no time. With dream team formations, tips on football betting and supporting, essential coverage on the World Cup, and stats on current teams, players and managers both at home and abroad, football expert and "Guardian" journalist Scott Murray keeps it fun, fresh and knowledgeable to get you through the major tournaments and beyond."Football For Dummies" PART 1: KICK OFFChapter 1: The bare essentialsChapter 2: A rich historyChapter 3: Get your boots on - the gear you needPART 2: PLAYING THE GAMEChapter 4: Laying down the lawsChapter 5: Positions and tacticsChapter 6: Honing your skillsChapter 7: Talented trainingChapter 8: Coaching, managing and leadershipChapter 9: Putting it all into practicePART 3: THE WORLD OF FOOTBALLChapter 11: The World CupChapter 12: The international sceneChapter 13: The British club sceneChapter 14: Taking on the worldChapter 15: Women's footballPART 4: FANS ENCLOSUREChapter 16: Going to the matchChapter 17: Read all about it...Chapter 18: Compulsive Football on TV (and film, and DVD...)Chapter 19: Joining in (sort of...)PART 5: THE PART OF TENSChapter 20: Great playersChapter 21: Great managersChapter 22: Great matchesChapter 23: Bad behaviourPART 6: APPENDICESAppendix 1: Appendix Honour BoardsAppendix 2: GlossaryAppendix 3: Key Football Organisations
- GenresNonfictionSports
404 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 2, 2010
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 8, 2013
Before reading this book, I knew nothing about football. I didn't know about the off-side rule, or any rules for that matter. All I knew was that the ball goes in the net and it has to stay on the pitch. Luckily, after only the first half a chapter, I felt like I knew a lot more.
I've been wanting to know more about football for quite a while (about five or six years), but nobody wanted to take the time to explain the game. My father recently took me to a live football match (Manchester United vs. Chelsea) and I really enjoyed it even though I didn't really understand it, and now I've actually taken the initiative to buy this book on the topic to learn more!
I really enjoyed learning about the history of the game. I was actually going to skip this part of the book but after glimpsing that the Chinese was the earliest civilisation to invent something close to football, I read on. Admittedly, I did find it a bit strange that one of the earliest footballs was a blown up pigs bladder coated with deer skin...
Chapter three was very interesting too. I have no interest in trying to play the game myself but I was interested in knowing what was what equipment wise. This chapter was more than informative, it told me everything I could have possibly wanted to know about each item. For example, it tells you the item name, what it's used for, the average price range for each type of quality, the pro's and con's of buying a more expensive one, who uses it and where it goes on the person or pitch. Wow.
If you wanted to learn how to do some fancy football tricks, this book is still useful. It has a whole section on the book dedicated to this and shows the main tricks with diagrams and a step-by-step method on how to do each (and what not to do in some cases!). I thought this was a rather nice touch because some people may want to give these a go but not know how to go about it!
There's a very informative section about the divisions, leagues and major football competitions around the world. Very interesting! The author tells you who can take part, how many teams, what part of the world it's from and the history behind its creation. To me (someone new to football) this chapter was invaluable. When the football is on at work I now know which teams are in which league or division and the difference between the competitions. This used to confuse me, but this book explains it in really simple terms for the absolute beginner to football. Priceless.
Thank God! The section on the players was very informative. I always wondered "what makes a striker a striker?" or "why is a midfielder a midfielder?", it may sound quite dumb to someone who knows about football, but to me curiosity was too much. This book is brilliant for this, it explains what attributes (ideally) each player should have in what position and why, what they can and can't do, famous players through the ages for each position and so on. I like that they describe why each player is important to the team and why it's needed.
I could go on forever listing why I love this book, I've given it five stars after all. I can now watch a football match and understand the offside rule! This book is highly recommended to people who are new to football or want to know more. It's well laid out and easy to use.
Happy reading!
For more of my reviews please visit http://a-novel-start.blogspot.com/
I've been wanting to know more about football for quite a while (about five or six years), but nobody wanted to take the time to explain the game. My father recently took me to a live football match (Manchester United vs. Chelsea) and I really enjoyed it even though I didn't really understand it, and now I've actually taken the initiative to buy this book on the topic to learn more!
I really enjoyed learning about the history of the game. I was actually going to skip this part of the book but after glimpsing that the Chinese was the earliest civilisation to invent something close to football, I read on. Admittedly, I did find it a bit strange that one of the earliest footballs was a blown up pigs bladder coated with deer skin...
Chapter three was very interesting too. I have no interest in trying to play the game myself but I was interested in knowing what was what equipment wise. This chapter was more than informative, it told me everything I could have possibly wanted to know about each item. For example, it tells you the item name, what it's used for, the average price range for each type of quality, the pro's and con's of buying a more expensive one, who uses it and where it goes on the person or pitch. Wow.
If you wanted to learn how to do some fancy football tricks, this book is still useful. It has a whole section on the book dedicated to this and shows the main tricks with diagrams and a step-by-step method on how to do each (and what not to do in some cases!). I thought this was a rather nice touch because some people may want to give these a go but not know how to go about it!
There's a very informative section about the divisions, leagues and major football competitions around the world. Very interesting! The author tells you who can take part, how many teams, what part of the world it's from and the history behind its creation. To me (someone new to football) this chapter was invaluable. When the football is on at work I now know which teams are in which league or division and the difference between the competitions. This used to confuse me, but this book explains it in really simple terms for the absolute beginner to football. Priceless.
Thank God! The section on the players was very informative. I always wondered "what makes a striker a striker?" or "why is a midfielder a midfielder?", it may sound quite dumb to someone who knows about football, but to me curiosity was too much. This book is brilliant for this, it explains what attributes (ideally) each player should have in what position and why, what they can and can't do, famous players through the ages for each position and so on. I like that they describe why each player is important to the team and why it's needed.
I could go on forever listing why I love this book, I've given it five stars after all. I can now watch a football match and understand the offside rule! This book is highly recommended to people who are new to football or want to know more. It's well laid out and easy to use.
Happy reading!
For more of my reviews please visit http://a-novel-start.blogspot.com/
Displaying 1 of 1 review