Tag: Ronny Blaschke
A timely and interesting book on the football-racism nexus
In Football and Racism: How Colonialism Shaped the Modern Game (Pitch), journalist Ronny Blaschke digs for the truth in this groundbreaking study of racism in football and its roots spanning five continents, assessing the role played by colonialism and how a misguided notion of European superiority still persists. Jan Andre Lee Ludvigsen has read a timely and well-researched book about the causes of racist structures and thinking in football, with a bottom-up focus. A book not only for readers interested in football, but also in post-colonialism, and anti-racism initiatives.
Football, economics, and politics in Europe and the Middle East
Ronny Blaschke’s Power Players: Football in Propaganda, War and Revolution (Pitch Publishing) exposes the political abuse of football. Dictators present themselves in stadiums as representatives of the people. But 'ultras' defy them and fight in revolutions on the front line. Historian Mats Greiff is in two minds about the book – with its geographical breadth and wealth of data it's immensely instructive, but Blaschke fails to tie up the loose ends with an overarching analysis of it all.
