Product Description

The Netherlands has been one of the world's most distinctive and sophisticated football cultures. From the birth of Total Football in the sixties, through two decades of World Cup near misses to the exiles who remade clubs like AC Milan, Barcelona, Arsenal and Chelsea in their own image, the Dutch have often been dazzlingly original and influential. The elements of their style (exquisite skills, adventurous attacking tactics, a unique blend of individual creativity and teamwork, weird patterns of self-destruction) reflect and embody the country's culture and history. This book lays bare the elegant, fractured soul of the Dutch Masters and the culture that spawned them by exploring and analysing its key ideas, institutions, personalities and history in the context of wider Dutch society.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12205 in Books
• Published on: 2001-03-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 260 pages

Amazon.co.uk 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

Review
'Original and conventional Fascinating and individualistic, Brilliant Orange beguiles you like a Cruyff turn' The Times

World Soccer
'An excellent book'

Customer Reviews

Quite brilliant
Firstly let me get one thing straight - I'm not a football fan and I have no real interest in the Dutch. But with Brilliant Orange, David Winner seems to have cast these minor inconveniences aside and written a masterful analysis of the Dutch psyche, using football, (and specifically the 1970's team of Cruyff, Kieser, Rep et al) as a counterpoint to their particular and sometimes peculiar ways. Winner has really done his research - he brings in subjects as far and wide as "art and architects, cows and canals, anarchists, church painters, rabbis and airports", and deftly weaves them into the rich tapestry of footballing history. His real skill, however, is in bringing the matches to life and demonstrating the artistry of the game. I wasn't even born when the Cruyff team of 1974 lost against the German's in the World Cup final, but how I want to go back and see the match now.

Winner manages to explain the Dutch flair, their inventiveness, their spatial awareness, their internal wranglings and their inevitable defeat at the hands of lesser opponents. (take their losing to the Italians in last night's semi-final as a perfect example) There's something of the grace of the Dutch footballing style in Winner's writing too; a light anecdotal touch by turns endearing, personal and very funny, which enables him to really engage the reader. Even if you're not a Dutch loving football-aficionado, this is a must read!

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.

Much of the beginning of the book consists of why Dutch football might be the way it is. Winner tries to find parallels between Dutch society, and the way they play football. Dutch football is based around the principle of collectivism and totality; everybody is expected to perform little tasks, and if they don't then they let down the whole team. If a left-back for example decides to join the attack, a midfielder is expected to momentarily take his place in the defense. If he doesn't, he leaves the defense vulnerable to attack, hence letting down the whole team.

Winner argues that this type of collectivistic attitude in football can be traced back to when the Dutch first started reclaiming land and building dikes. These were massive ordeals that could only progress smoothly when everyone flawlessly worked together. If one person didn't carry out his/her task properly, a large part of the country would be at risk of being flooded. Hence it required intense concentration and collaboration, characteristics which can both be seen in Dutch football.

Secondly, Dutch invented 'Total Football' is also based around the concept of manipulating space to your advantage. When in possession, you want to make the spaces as big as possible by playing to your wingers and standing far apart. This makes it extra hard for the opposition to defend. When not in possession, you want to make spaces as small as possible by standing very close together making it difficult for the opposition to penetrate. Winner argues that this concept derives from the fact that the Dutch live in such a small geographical area with so many people they always had to make the most efficient use of their space.

Towards the end of the book, Winner tries to investigate why the Dutch have always been 'underperformers' in football. Judged solely on the quality of their players, Winner argues that they should have won at least four World Cups (namely in 1974,1978, 1990, and 1998). However, Winner argues that they simply don't have the 'winning' mentality and they believe that playing attacking and attractive football is actually more important than winning. The Dutch team has also often been plagued by internal conflicts. Since the Dutch team is based so much on the collectivistic nature as explained before, internal conflicts can be fatal. They are also a quite common occurrence as Dutch players (or Dutch people in general) find it very hard to take orders from an authoritarian figure (coach). These often spark conflicts and cause the Dutch team to disintegrate.

Arrogance also plays a factor in their underperformance. Winner argues that before the Dutch even start a football game, they believe that they deserve to win because their footballing style is so much superior to that of the rest of the world. When they are leading a football game, such as in the World Cup final in 1974 against Germany, they make the mistake of believing to have already won it. Instead of pressing for another goal, they started mocking the Germans by outplaying them with their superior 'technical' skills, but failed to press for another goal. This aggravated the Germans, and forced them back into the game, eventually winning with 2-1.

Futhermore the book also explains the origins of the intense rivalry between the Dutch and the Germans. It also gives a brief overview of the most important international games played by the Dutch team. It sincerely deserves 5 stars, and is a suggested read for any football fan.

BRILLIANT ORANGE? BRILLIANT BOOK
This is quite simply one of the finest football books written in years. The first indepth study of football in Holland and the pecularities and style of that football so quintessentially Dutch. Winner examines the finer points of Dutch football (without being side-tracked by the Ajax Academy) and what makes Dutch football so different, so unique, by examining it in its historical and social context as well as its sporting context. Ajax, Johan Cruyff, Rinus Michels, the heartbreak of the 1974 World Cup Final, the Dutch football mentality and the Dutch national team's record at taking penalties (which, incredibly, is worse than England's) are all examined thoroughly yet succinctly. The interviews with Johnny Rep, Ruud Krol and Dennis Bergkamp top off a fascinating book that is very rereadable.