Kuhn Gabriel - Soccer vs. the state: tackling football and radical politics

There is no sport that reflects the place where sports and politics collide quite like soccer. Athlete-activist Gabriel Kuhn has captured that by going to a place where other sports writers fear to tread. Here is the book that will tell you how soccer explains the world while offering means to improve it.

Dave Zirin, author of Bad Sports

In an era when football appears captured by the forces of money and power, straitjacketed by the needs of corporations and international bureaucracies, Gabriel Kuhns Soccer vs. the State is a wondrous reminder of all the times and ways and places where football has slipped its chains and offers what it always promised: new solidarities and identities a site of resistance, a celebration of spontaneity and play.

David Goldblatt, author of The Ball Is Round: A Global History of Soccer

The personal commitment and experiences that Kuhn brings to the text, combined with his accessible prose, make this book appealing to a large and diverse audience of sports academics from multiple disciplines and to a general public of radical fans and non-fans alike.

Melissa M. Forbis in Journal of Sport History

Kuhn is impressive in his global and historical scope, and in acknowledging gender and sexuality questions as well as those of class and race, as he looks at issues ranging from the exploitation of African players to the way the World Cup has been abused politically.

Tom Davies in When Saturday Comes

In 1971, my sister Meredith and I successfully disrupted the Australia vs. South Africa rugby encounter at the Sydney Cricket Ground as anti-apartheid activists. This demonstrated not only the intrinsic relationship between sport and politics but also the significance of sport as a vehicle for political protest. Soccer vs. the State shows how activists and players alike have made use of this in football, the worlds most popular and most beautiful gamean encouraging and inspiring read!

Verity Burgmann, professor of political science, Melbourne University

Gabriel Kuhn has written the program notes for the most important match of all, The Peoples Game vs. Modern Football.

Mark Perryman, cofounder of Philosophy Football

If you are a soccer fan, this book is a must, especially if your politics lean left.

Ron Jacobs in Counterpunch

if, for example, you consider yourself part of Occupy movement, but are also wondering where you can catch the Arsenal game, youll truly enjoy this book.

Mark Dober in Maximumrocknroll

What writer Dave Zirin has done to reclaim US sports as a radical issue, Gabriel Kuhn has done for the most popular sport in the world.

Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy

One to pick up if you think theres more to footy than replica kits and official snackfoods.

Sport Magazine

Amazing journey through the history and politics of football from a radical perspective.

Canny Little Library

This is a passionate book with an intriguing angle that adds importantly to the new literature on the sociology of the game. A funny, extremely informative and highly recommendable read!

Aina Tollefsen, Institute for Social and Economic Geography, Ume University

An indispensable, global guide to radical football and radical politics. At a time when so much about the beautiful game has become ugly, Kuhn provides us with a timely reminder that indeed, football can be part of the revolution. Read it and resist!

Dale T. McKinley, cofounder of South Africas Anti-Privatisation Forum

Soccer vs. the State is an informative and thought provoking read that could be easily read by those with or without in-depth knowledge of football. It is essential reading for the football fan with an interest in politics, or the radical political thinker with an interest in football. Highly recommended.

Hereford Heckler

Kuhn knows soccer and is a fan of the game. His book will help you understand why soccer is and can be more than simply a corporate spectacle. Another soccer is possible!

Shaun Harkin in Socialist Worker

Id just read a book by Gabriel Kuhn called Soccer vs. the State and Id realized that wed been running our brewery as an anarchist collective for nearly five years.

Donavan Hall

Soccer vs. the State: Tackling Football and Radical Politics

Gabriel Kuhn

PM Press 2019

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be transmitted by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published by:

PM Press

PO Box 23912

Oakland, CA 94623

www.pmpress.org

Cover by John Yates/Stealworks

Interior design by briandesign

ISBN: 9781629635729

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018931524

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This edition first published in Canada in 2018 by Between the Lines

401 Richmond Street West, Studio 281, Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3A8, Canada 18007187201

www.btlbooks.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be photocopied, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher or (for photocopying in Canada only) Access Copyright www.accesscopyright.ca.

Canadian cataloguing information is available from Library and Archives Canada.

ISBN 9781771133807 Soccer vs. the State paperback

ISBN 9781771133814 Soccer vs. the State epub

ISBN 9781771133821 Soccer vs. the State pdf

Printed in the USA by the Employee Owners of Thomson-Shore in Dexter, Michigan.

www.thomsonshore.com

The first edition of this book came out eight years ago. In broad strokes, the world of soccer still looks the same: there is an increasingly commercialized game of professionals at the top, managed by corrupt administrators and greedy corporations, and a grassroots game at the bottom that provides millions of people with joy, confidence, and a sense of community. This book looks at the contradictions within the world of soccer and the efforts to bring out the best in it. Football occupies the minds and hearts of millions of people, and even for those who dont share this passion, the sport is too big and influential to be ignored. Football is a beautiful game, but the dreadful economic, social, and political realities we live under cast dark shadows over it. Football cannot change the world, but it can be part of the process.

Except for the correction of a few factual errors and misspellings, no changes have been made to the original text. The notes have been updated. A 67-page appendix covers important developments since 2011. Further bits of information are woven into the outline of the chapters below.

I owe great thanks to everyone who contributed texts, photos, and artwork to this book. All interviews and reprints are listed under Inserts; all photographers and artists, as well as relevant information about their contributions and their work, can be found under Images. Resources includes information about books, magazines, films, music, and online resources of relevance for the political soccer fan. The section has been updated for this edition.