Rock 'n' Roll Soccer: The Short Life and Fast Times of the North American Soccer League (Paperback)

Ian Plenderleith (author), Rodney Marsh (foreword)

£8.99

Paperback 448 Pages / Published: 05/05/2016

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Synopsis

Superstars, hype, cheerleaders, razzmatazz - the North American Soccer League in its 1970s heyday was a league way ahead of its time. It lured the biggest names of the world game, like Cruyff, Best, Beckenbauer and the greatest of them all, Pele, to play football as it was meant to be played - without inhibition, to please the fans.
It experimented with rules and innovations that upset purists, and liberated players from the negative tactics of the muddy, hooligan blighted grounds of Europe; then it crashed back down to earth like a rock star's private jet, bankrupt but laughing all the way.
Acclaimed football writer Ian Plenderleith reveals in all its glory the colour and chaos of the world's first truly international league.

Publisher: Icon Books Ltd
ISBN: 9781906850852
Number of pages: 448
Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm

MEDIA REVIEWS

'A compendious but vividly entertaining history of the League.' -- Independent on Sunday
'Rock 'n' Roll Soccer is a compelling yomp through the tales that really made the NASL unique, from the 35-yard-line shootout tiebreaker to the Minnesota Kicks' legendary tailgates. There's been nothing like the NASL since, and Plenderleith captures it very well indeed.' * Inbedwithmaradona *
'A brilliant and necessary read.'
'Ian Plenderleith's rip-roaring Rock 'n' Roll Soccer is an account of the 1970s North American Soccer League which serves as a warning of what happens when football chooses to be simply a branch of a global entertainment industry and forgets where it came from on the way.' -- Mark Perryman * Beyond the Froth *
'This gem of a book is an excellent cultural document of sports and deserves to be read widely (and enjoyed) by even the most jaded of footy fans.' -- Cliff Shepard * Bertrams Magazine Review *