Everyman’s Game

In India football books are either tucked away behind the cricket section or simply over priced. With the World Cup starting in five days Ja...

In India football books are either tucked away behind the cricket section or simply over priced. With the World Cup starting in five days Jayaditya Gupta lists some essential football reading.

FEVER PITCH (NICK HORNBY
Briefly, the autobiography of an Arsenal fan. In detail, much, much more than that: an explanation of the entire culture of English football.So, to understand why your husband/ fiance/ boyfriend (or, increasingly, wife/girlfriend) will sit goggle-eyed in front of the telly, look no further. Arsenal fans love this book; surprisingly, so do many who hate the men from Highbury.

MANCHESTER UNITED RUINED MY LIFE (COLIN SHINDLER)
There are, believe it or not, two clubs in Manchester. This is the story of someone who supports the sky-blues of Manchester City. The title is drawn from the fact that on every occasion Man City have done something of any note, their neighbours have simply done better and hogged the limelight. But, like Fever Pitch, it has much more to offer than football. Life in a large, eccentric Jewish family; humour, human relationships. If the epilogue doesn’t leave you with a lump in the throat, stick to cricket.

PELE: MY LIFE AND THE BEAUTIFUL GAME (PELE AND ROBERT L FISH)
Maradona, Cruyff, Zidane…all stand on the second rung up there at the top, all on his own, is Edson Arantes do Nascimento. Pele or simply ‘O Rei’ (the king), he is unarguably the greatest ever. This is the story of his life, from a boy in a favela (slum) to a teenager who shook the world in his first World Cup (1958). This is all about dreaming big and achieving bigger.

BECKHAM MY WORLD: (DAVID BECKHAM)
Not merely a footballer, a one-man advertising industry, David Beckham is the consummate modern pop icon: fabulously wealthy, famously flash, hugely talented, married to a celeb.This book — half text, half photographs — shows off Becks in every avatar: at work, at play, in bed, with son and wife. Alas, no pictures of the wedding in an Irish castle but plenty of others to satisfy the voyeur in all of us. WARNING: Extreme envy is a possible side-effect.

MCILVANNEY ON FOOTBALL: (HUGH MCILVANNEY)
One of the sport’s best-known writers, this is his take on everything from his beloved Scottish teams to classic world cup matches, Robson to Romario, Muller to Maradona and the most serious issues facing the game. Forty years of quality writing packed into 300 highly readable pages. Football journalism at its best.