Books : Tor!: The Story of German Football

Rating: - Fantastic
I read this cover to cover in about a week, and enjoyed every word - this has got to be one of my favourite football books ever. So much so that I now see Rudi Voller in a completely different light, Lothar Matthaus in exactly the same light and now (this is the most bizarre bit) feel sorry for Oliver Kahn after his 'mare in the 2002 World Cup Final.

The shambles that was German national football, incredible as it seems, is explained in full as is football's position within the Nazi regime.

If you have any interest in football, or Germany, buy this book, it's fantastic. Perhaps if you're one of the 'no surrender' brigade, don't bother but get your kids to read it as they'll grow better for it!

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Rating: - excellent insight into German football
First off, you need to be into football in a pretty big way to take in the content of this book. Also the author is German himself, so sometimes makes reference to things I did not totally understand - although his English is first-rate.

As you continue through this feast of information and stories about great German teams (international and club) and anecdotes concerning noted figures and important events in football's hundred-year history in Germany, a clear picture is built up about the neuroses, cheating, rivalries, politics, egos and the contrasting fortunes which has led the game to evolve into what we see today.

The author often tries to explain away some prejudices about Germans which foreigners perceive, and gives good arguments for his defence, but also deliberately and justifiably rubbishes other aspects of the German psyche and footballing habits which would often not be observed easily by outsiders.

I would particularly recommend this book to English readers. Scots are fairly indifferent to Germany in a footballing sense ("Yay, they beat England again!") so I think it might be an even more enjoyable read for and England fan who wants to know their enemy or, dare I say it, gain a fresh perspective on a superior footballing power?

The book is fair, honest, enjoyable, informative and well-written. If you like Germany or football you should buy it.

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Rating: - The story of German Football
I couldn't believe how good this book was. It tells you everything you ever wanted to know about German football. It's origins, how it progressed, developed into the Bundesliga.

It's written in such an entertaining style and is so informative. There are loads of stories, from the stories behind team names such as Energie Cottbus and Carl Zeiss Jena, to detailed looks at significant figures in German football history from Franz Beckenbauer to Lothar Matthaus, from Gerd Muller to Rudi Voller. Then there are the tales of German football during the Nazi Era, from players who went missing and those whose fate was all to obvious.

There is a detailed account of football from the old East Germany. It is divided into a different section, as it should be, from the West German football league. Then came reunification and the players who found bigger fame once they moved to the West from the East, Jens Jeremies and Sebastian Deisler being two such players.

This is not just a straight, German football history book. It's too well written for that. It is one of the best football books I've read and I've read many. There are many lighter moments in here too, you will be laughing out loud to. Sehr gut und Einfach klasse!

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Rating: - Superb & Very Readable History of German Football
I bought this book on the recommendation of a friend. This was an excellent decision. Cheers Stumpy...

This history of football in Germany is well written, funny and tragic. There were so many things that I learnt from this. From the way teams were named and originated to stories that just make you laugh out loud and others that reduce you to tears.

As an example there is the story of a player signed by a team who said "They wanted to give me a third of the gate receipts. I told them No Way. I won't accept less than a quarter."

To think that the Germans had no professionalism or national league until 1963. The way that the national federation controlled the game and looked on professionalism as a disease to be fought off is unbelievable to us.

This book proves that there is more to German football than Bayern Munich. It shows how team rose and fell and how the game developed from an "unpatriotic" and "foreign" one into a world beater. This teaches us about the German people and their view of us and other countries.

They are bemused at our image of them and do not understand our rivalry and obession with the War that pervades the meetings between our countries.

I highly recommend this to every who wants to gain an insight into the history and development of the game in Germany.

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Rating: - Ausgezeichnet!
Can't recommend this strongly enough. I gave a copy to a German friend of mine and even he found nuggets of interesting information. Every German-bashing English football journalist and broadcaster deserves to be given this for Christmas. Just imagine if those horrible and inaccurate clichés relating to German efficiency and predictability began to disappear in favour of something altogether more intelligent . . .

The author produces a few contentious assertions (Jupp Derwall Germany's worst-ever manager? Germany "the most ludicrous team" at the 1998 World Cup? I don't think so!), but these are, I guess, part and parcel of football writing and are easily excused. More disappointing was the absence of an explanation as to why "Bayern Munich" are so called (instead of either Bavaria Munich or Bayern Muenchen). Or is that just me?