Soccer Lover’s Best Ever Soccer Book Guide
This series will review and rate books that teach, describe and document the beautiful game. Look for a wide variety of books and helpful insight from players who have been there and done it on the pitch. Here is something different than our usual reviews on soccer coaching books, More Than Just a Game reminds us all of the power of soccer to unite.
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FOUR STAR RATING
By Chuch Korr and Marvin Close. Korr researched the Robben Island Archives and uncovered this incredible story and co-produced the documentary film. Close is a scriptwriter.
More than Just a Game is a drama about political prisoners playing soccer at Robben Island prison, where Nelson Mandela was held.
The story tells of soccer’s power to unite over adversity. No other sport in the world has this unique power.
With a preface by Sep Blatter, More Than Just a Game is a book for all soccer lovers. Gritty and real, the book explores Soccer vs. Apartheid: The Most Important Soccer Story Ever Told.
Soccer really does have the power to unite over adversity.
The book tells of the remarkable tale of inmates requesting to play soccer during their exercise period. Initially refused, the inmates eventually formed a pro-level league, the Makana Football Association, which was recently granted honorary membership into FIFA.
Former Robben Island inmate Nelson Mandela noted in the documentary FIFA: 90 Minutes for Mandela, “Soccer is more than just a game…. The energy, passion, and dedication this game created made us feel alive and triumphant despite the situation we found ourselves in.”
In the hell that was Robben Island, the inmates united courageously in an act of protest to play soccer, and their efforts became a passionate icon of the resistance against apartheid.
The book takes the reader inside the prison as the 1,400 inmates organize themselves into an eight-club football league with strict adherence to FIFA rules.
With players coming together from a broad range of political beliefs and backgrounds, this story once again shows us how soccer is the universal game that transcends everything. The prisoners refused to let their own political differences sway their devotion to the game, which allowed them to organize and maintain leadership in front of their captors.
Sad and daunting at first, it is well worth the read.
Visit the movie’s website
