Title: One Football No Nets
Author: Justin Walley
Publsiher: Bennion Kearney
Pps: 340 including closing photos
Price: ??
ISBN: 978-1-910515-64-8
I had my doubts when I was offered a copy of this book to review but I thought the underlying concept, of an amateur football coach becoming the national team manager of Matabeleland in 2017, sounded intriguing, particularly given the promised involvement of Bruce Grobelaar, the one-time Liverpool goalkeeper who effortlessly creates a stir wherever he happens to go.
It is actually quite well written, as a combination of unifying narrative and diary entries detailing the journey from an extremely unpromising start (a clue is in the title) to the CONIFA World Football Cup in London in 2018 (not a competition of which I have ever heard but featuring also the Isle of Man and Tibet, the latter of which, we discover, has been screwed over by Yorkshire).
But - and this is where my doubts about its being another self-publishing venture re-awoke - when you use the word 'peddle' instead of 'pedal' as the author does on page five (I found myself cycling home, so tired I could barely peddle'), it suggests a certain element of basic illiteracy in regard to two different words on behalf of the author or of whoever edited the book. A shame, because that puts me right off. Exacerbating matters is an unfortunate formula of words on page six in which the author says 'I would return there this year to aid the dire plight of the elephants'. I can work out what he means but it is clumsy to say the least.
These howlers are a shame, as Walley's description of the religious Colditz (his exact words) in Macedonia where he accidently finds himself on retreat with a group of young men who could be bona fide ex-prisoners or on the run, is gripping.
The chapter titles show a level of wit and ability to grab the reader's attention (If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans; Aim low and work upwards; WIndolene smuggling; Frogger; 17 players and a truck) and the story itself is strong enough to persuade the reader to continue. Walley is good at word pictures, of that there is little or no doubt. En passant, he paints a portrait of the economic collapse of Zimbabwe and the third world challenges faced by people who are little more than children losing parents.
I can, hand on heart, recommend giving it a go, but without knowing the price I can equally say hand on heart that I don't know whether it represents value for money. I have looked everywhere you would expect it to be but just can't see it.
