Football in Sun and Shadow (Penguin Modern Classics)

Product Information

Additionally, the second part to Galeano’s quote highlights the tug and pull that these colonial conflicts create. This “all knowing breeze” Galeano describes is history itself. History has unfortunately seen these conflicts play out countless times throughout its long gaze. However, this history is by no means static, and therefore, there have been constant winners and losers as each side of the struggle has continued to push and pull and make their way into the general ledger of history. Have you ever entered an empty stadium? Try it. Stand in the middle of the field and listen. There is nothing less empty than an empty stadium. There is nothing less mute than stands bereft of spectators. Some people think that football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that."

In the sketch entitled “An Export Industry,” Galeano recounts how small clubs in modern soccer have no choice but to sell their players to larger clubs in Europe who are awash in money. Uruguay is used as an example of an export country due to the constant outflow of talented footballers. This leads to more mediocre domestic leagues, less interested fans, and ultimately less money for the local clubs and league. This process is an endless cycle. The wealth in Europe exacerbates the divide that was first rooted during imperialism, in which Europe extracted wealth and resources from the Global South, leaving the south with less and less and an inability to build.

Customer reviews

Galeano has a style of a great left half. He constantly switches the direction of play. His observations are acute. He delivers with an air of insouciance which cannot mask his mastery' Sport's answer to 'One Hundred Years of Solitude'. A journey through a universe populated by the fantastic and the eccentric, reality turned magical.'

Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2021-06-18 10:01:18 Boxid IA40138206 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier

However, the writer still retains some hope that all is not yet lost, thanks to the young & refreshing ideas of upcoming coaches who aim to emerge victorious while entertaining the crowds. In a moment of self-realisation, Senor Galeano confesses that "Years have gone by and I've finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good soccer. I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: 'A pretty move, for the love of God.' And when good soccer happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don't give a damn which team or country performs it." And he concludes the book on a nostalgic note, his final thoughts echoing that of every avid football lover - "soccer is a pleasure that hurts, and the music of a victory that gets the dead dancing is akin to the clamorous silence of an empty stadium, where one defeated fan, unable to move, sits in the middle of the immense stands, alone."