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Editorial 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
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
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... more info
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... more info
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.
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... more info
