Well I sat down on Friday evening to watch the draw for euro 2012 (european football championship) .So as the numerous ins and outs of the draw were explained how each team was put in each bag and how when the matches are to be played decide .So I sat there hoping our draw would be easy and looking forward to next summer and yet again living the dream of an english victory .So as I did two years ago I m going to tie up a number of posts in june to focusing on each country and the team and writers from each country and my memories of the teams playing . I did same two years ago with some of the world cup teams in 2010 .I want to use this as a way to get men reading and boys ,As a shocking stat today from the literacy trust in the uk showed that an estimate 3.8 million children don’t own a book ,I know from other such surveys that most of these will be young boys that will grow up to be young men that don’t interact with books so again I m using football of a way of promoting literature in translation and books in general in a fun way .Using football pics and players names to help get people there via google search for these terms .So I was fairly happy with our draw and felt we did about as good as we could with the middle in competiveness of the groups as one group fairly easy group A and one very hard group which is group B ,well enough of the football talk, here are the groups –
Group A
Poland
Greece
Russia
Czech Republic
Group B
Holland
Denmark
Germany
Portugal
Group C
Spain
Italy
Republic of Ireland
Croatia
Group D
Ukraine
Sweden
France
England
So maybe if the FA in the uk could hand the English players a Steig Larson ,Andrey Kurkov and Jean Echenoz novel and Kids watch could see Rooney or Wiltshire reading them and asking why and they could say it is to help the players learn about the teams there playing and maybe we could start a debate on books and reading around our players and the young kids watch could be inspired to read like their hero’s where doing ? Anyway my question for some help is some choices from Croatia ,Poland and Ukraine that you may have read ,I ve read a few from each but would love some extra books and writers to include in June .Also on reading european fiction may I mention Rose city readers European reading challenge for next year to get you in the mood .I d like to wish my readers from round europe all the best I know some of you may have been disappointed with draw .
I’m on the opposite side I read, but don’t like football, which is strange as part of my job is running a football session, but true.
I think boys football and books are something people should work on ti get people working ,all the best stu
Nice piece and nice try. Same thing here; most readers are female.
I wonder why football players always sound stupider than other sportsmen. Is it because they can make a living out of it and thus drop out of school earlier?
PS: I’ve seen an athletics coach with a David Lodge in hand; I’m not sure I’ll catch my son’s football coach with literature. I hope I’m wrong.
I know they have all the money yet sometimes seem to have not spent any on improving there mind ,I know a few over years do break mould and read Boban the former AC Milan player and Cantona are two that spring to mind that mention books Cantona seagull quote was a paraphrases of a lit piece name escapes me at mo ,all the best stu
This is a great idea, Stu! Have you heard of the author Mal Peet? He has written two YA novels with football as a central theme.
This is a fantastic idea Stu. I may try to do the rounds (at least one book from each group!). Maybe you should organise a proper challenge for the month…
Great idea Stu – it will certainly be a challenge – but knowing your love of European books I’m sure you’ll be up for it
Stu, Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate might fit the bill region-wise (Grossman was born in what’s today’s Ukraine)…but I’m not sure whether it would do the trick football-wise. Good luck with your project anyway!
Athletics + Lit. This is a great mash-up. Looking forward to your selection of books for each “team”.
Here’s a rec for a quick, light read about a young soccer player in Tendele, Africa. Ermila Moodley’s Under the African Sun. It’s not Nick Hornby, it’s a lighter touch which on occasion is like choosing fish over roast.
http://www.amazon.com/Under-African-Sun-Ermila-Moodley/dp/1592862675/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323660837&sr=1-9
Stu, your idea of players reading books is wonderful. I’m only aware of Polish poets. My favs are Milosz and Symborska (sp?). Africa also holds CAN 2012 this January so lots of football to watch and to write about. Going to be an excited year!