For a different type of book, I chose this one in a challenge for reading a book with a grey cover. There is much more to this book than I expected - at times a bit too much but still one that I really enjoyed as it was an eye-opener. Here is my review of "Dark Goals"
Title/Author: “Dark Goals: How History’s Worst Tyrants Have Used and Abused the Game of Soccer” by Luciano Wernicke
Rating: 4 of 5 stars (very good)
Review: I usually chuckle when I hear
people say, whether verbally or on social media, that “sports and politics don’t
mix.” That is flat-out wrong and this
book by Luciano Wernicke proves that for just one sport – soccer.
Starting with Benito Mussolini. Wernicke discusses how many
of the world’s most vicious tyrants used soccer to either promote their form of
ruling, to make threats to players and coaches if they did not honor the
country or even order some killed simply due to the results of a soccer.
Most of the matches that are used for reference are from
the World Cup tournament or the Olympics, but there are some other means of
using the sport for political power as well.
The Spanish dictator Francisco Franco used soccer to “depoliticize” the
people of the country and therefore distract them from the terrible
conditions. Mussolini did not want Italy
to enter the first World Cup tourney in 1930 because he did not want to risk
having the team do poorly. But then he lobbied
for and hosted the next one in 1934.
That was to show off how well his country was doing while hiding the
brutal reality, much like Adolf Hitler did for the 1936 Olympics (which are
also covered in the book).
Other world leaders portrayed that used soccer as part of
their iron-clad ruling included Josef Stalin, Juan Peron (through his wife Eva)
and Pablo Escobar, the notorious Columbian drug lord. The writing in all
chapters on these people can be dense and hard to follow at times, especially
the chapter on Escobar. Nonetheless, it
is a very good look at not only soccer, but also the time period in the 20th
century when these dictators ruled both their countries and the game of
football.
I wish to thank Sutherland House books for providing a copy
of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The views expressed
are strictly mine.
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