The writer goes into the various political problems faced by the game in Germany from how it was seen as a foreign English game under the Kaiser, dispite the support of his son the Crown Prince, to it's exploitation under the Nazis. The book is full of interesting facts like what the various German club names mean, Borussia, Schalke, Hertha etc but it is far from simply being a list of German clubs, teams and games. Walter was chosen by the German FA as the best ever German player which is quite an aceivement when they could have chosen players like Franz Beckenbauer, Uwe Seeler or Gert Muller.
The book ends with the 2002 world cup final and the death of Fritz Walter, who was the star of the 1954 world cup winning side. Herr Hesse-Lichtenberger has written a most informative book on the history of German football from it's rise in Imperial Germany to it's years of world dominance in the seventies and eighties to its relative decline in the nineties. It is a fascinating account of the history of football in Germany that does not hold back from examining all periods and is delivered in a well written and informative way. If you have any interest in Germany, German football, the Bundesliga, you must buy this book by the incomparable Uli Hesse, who writes terrific articles on ESPN as well. I've read Tor!, Morbo, Calcio, and Brilliant Orange and I'd rank them as follows:Ĥ: Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football As a side note, Germany won the 1954 World Cup before they had professional football or a nationwide league, a fact that I found amazing. By comparison, the Football League started up in the 1880s. Tor! takes you from the beginnings of football in Germany to how it was organised, how the clubs came into being, and why it was until the 1960s(!) that Germany had a national league, and it was the 1970s until there was full professionalism and no maximum wage. If only every book about football in other countries (Spain, Italy, Holland, France) was written more like this one then they'd be improved.
This is a brilliant book about German football, the chapter about the naming of German teams is worth the money alone.
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