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Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football
by: David Winner

List Price: £7.99

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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780747553106
ISBN: 0747553106
Label: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Number Of Pages: 260
Publication Date: March 19, 2001
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Studio: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Sales Rank: 19440

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Editorial Review:

Amazon.co.uk Review:

"1974 was actually very painful to us all," says Dutch psychoanalyst Anna Enquist. "We can't admit to ourselves that something can be so important. But it matters very much. There is still a deep, unresolved trauma about 1974. It's a very living pain, like an unresolved crime."

En Vincent zag het koren
En Einstein het getal
En Zeppelin de Zeppelin
En Johan zag de bal

(And Vincent saw the corn
And Einstein the number
And Zeppelin the Zeppelin
And Johan saw the ball)
--Dutch cabaret song

The intellectualisation of football has always foundered on a simple problem--the players. Doing all your most rewarding thinking with your feet seems to dull the philosophical impulse. Unless, of course, you are Dutch. According to legend, Europeans played a moronic, muscular version of the world's game, until Holland proclaimed its vision of total football in the 1974 World Cup, and enlightenment dawned.

In Brilliant Orange--the neurotic genius of Dutch football, journalist David Winner explores his personal fascination with the land that gave the world Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Johan Cruyff--searching for reasons why such a tiny country has produced some of football's most intelligent, enigmatic and unfulfilled teams.

Winter talks with the players, past and present--including Johnny Rep and Ruud Krol from the losing World Cup Final sides of 1974 and 1978--uncovering their personal experience of the public triumphs and disasters. But it is the breadth of his enquiry into what it may mean to be Dutch--reconciling a colonial past with a multi-cultural present; living with the memories of wartime occupation and collaboration; the tensions between a fiercely individualistic, libertarian spirit and the principles of communality--that makes this such an extraordinary and wonderful book. --Alex Hankin

Observer:
'Winner paints a suitably glowing picture...Ambitious and impressive'

World Soccer:
'An excellent book'

Independent on Sunday:
'Ambitious and illuminating'

The Times:
'Original and unconventional...Fascinating and individualistic, Brilliant Orange beguiles you like a Cruyff turn.'

Independent on Sunday:
'Ambitious and illuminating.'

World Soccer:
'An excellent book.'

observer:
'Winner paints a suitably glowing picture...Ambitious and impressive.'

Total Football:
'Lavishly written...Brilliant Orange captures your imagination with real charm.'

Book Description:
The Netherlands has one of the World's most distinctive and sophisticated football cultures. From the birth of Total Football in the sixties, through two decades of World Cup near misses to the exiles who remade clubs like AC Milan, Barcelona, Arsenal and Chelsea in their own image, the Dutch have often been dazzlingly original and influential. The elements of their style (exquisite skills, adventurous attacking tactics, a unique blend of individual creativity and teamwork, weird patterns of self-destruction) reflect and embody the country's culture and history.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- For sure!
I liked this book.

I was expecting, and hoping for, a training manual on 'total football' and an insight into how Dutch football is planned and structured. Although it didn't really meet my expectations, it did give a fascinating view on the history and resulting style of their beautiful game. With a little more depth on coaching philosphies and styles this book would have been perfect.

The idea behind Hollands inability to fulfill the hype and win trophies and their inevitable ability to choke at the crucial moment is nothing more than fascinating. The country as a whole seems to acknowledge this and almost expects failure, something I can only wish England fans could grasp.

I can't say I agree with all ... Read More:

Rating:

- Much more than just a football book!
If the originality of the cover of this book is what attracted you to David Winner's excellent football book, then that is just a taste of what to expect. Surprisingly original and at times very abstract, Winner has managed to craft a book of spectacular inventiveness, combining examninations of Dutch architecture and insightful looks at Dutch football, Winner has created not only a dazzling look at Dutch football, but Dutch society aswell by using football as a looking-glass. I can't rate this book highly enough. An essential purchase.

Rating:

- Simply Brilliant
Solely by looking at the title of this book, 'Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football', you notice that this book simply could not have been written by Dutchman. The Dutch are often too polite to give themselves compliments, let alone write a whole book about how 'neurotically genius' and beautiful their own football is. That is why I'm so thankful that David Winner, the author of this book, admires Dutch football as much as I do and has dared to write a book about it.

Much of the beginning of the book consists of why Dutch football might be the way it is. Winner tries to find parallels between Dutch society, and the way they play football. Dutch football is based around the principle of collectivism and totality; everybody ... Read More:

Rating:

- Brilliant Orange - Is Brilliant
Brilliant Orange - The neurotic genius of dutch football.

This fascinating book goes way beyond football. The main aim seems to be to explain Holland's fantastic footballing skills and how they still fail to deliver on the big stage.

David Winner takes the reader from the first developments in dutch football through to explaining or at least trying to explain the idea of total football, the great tensions between Holland and Germany and the in fighting of most dutch teams. All this is intertwined by deep discussions relating to Holland's place in the world, its art, economy and politics.

The book does touch on complex and debatable issues but that is what makes it. This is certainly not recommended for information ... Read More:

Rating:

- Insight into the heart of all Dutch fans
For years my friends have wondered why I was so obsessed about the Dutch and their football (I'm a Malaysian living in England!). I struggled to make them understand but this book explains why so brilliantly. The Dutch play football so breathtakingly (when things are going well) but have so little success to show for it. Strangely, it is this frustrating underachievement that makes them so fascinating. In many ways, their well-documented self-destruction is very much a reflection of their culture (not just the footballing one). There are sections in the book where Dutch football legends would say "if only the Dutch had this , if only they had that...on top of their skill...they would be perfect footballers". But that would take away their Dutchness...
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Books : Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football