TITLE = Morbo: The Story of Spanish Football AUTHOR = Phil Ball PRICE = 14.99 pounds list, Euro 18.65 (HardBack) SIZE = 253 pages YEAR = 2001 SOURCE = www.amazon.co.uk RATING = 4 1/2 stars
Brit expatriate journalist Phil Ball has written a superb book on Spanish
futbol. The title illustrates the theme of his work, morbo being an
untranslatable term meaning rivalry, although that doesn't really capture
the essence. On the other hand, after reading his book, you'll have a
better understanding of it all. Well written with a decent but not
overbearing sense of humour, this book is easy to read, and you won't be
able to put it down. Not surprisngly, he has a slight pro-Basque outlook,
since he lives in San Sebastian, but not to the point to be uncritical.
Naturally, major chapters on Real Mardrid and Barcelona, but he also
includes Real Huelva (Spain's first club), Athletic de Bilbao, Sevilla
etc. He probably could have added 100 pages and covered areas left out,
such as Galicia (Deportivo, Celta), Valencia, Canary Islands. This is
really the only weak point.
He wraps it up with a section on the miserable failures of the
national squad, and touches on the influence of foreign players.
Ball's style is very accessible, never dry and humorous. His understanding
of the Spanish game is quite impressive.
I wanted to give the book 5 stars, but I had to mark him down for ignoring
my beloved Celta de Vigo, which deserves a chapter at least
as long as those worthless Sevilla teams :)
Otherwise, highly recommended!