I admit it, I really liked it. I don't know whether I would have done if I hadn't been an ardent football supporter of my local club through my teenage years (yes it is possible to be a horse riding girl who is also into football). It gets 3 stars for the book it is and another because I'm glad it launched Hornby's career.

Fell in love with nick hornby, now strongly considering becoming a football fan. Was not reduced to tears but it was a close call, which is saying something considering it's a book about Arsenal

No ranking because I'm not interested enough to form an opinion (though, if I had to, it would be 1,5 stars) - I mean that pretty much sums it up for me. But I'll just add a few things in case you're still, by some miracle, thinking of reading this book. Don't :) So I'm big on the "don't judge a book by its cover" thing, but...this one was written by a bald white man...and...it shows. Also, there's literally no plot since it's an autobiography. It basically only talks about football except for small intermissions every 70 pages where the author reflects on his misery (as he should). It was required reading but I finished it today because I just couldn't bear seeing it every day on my goodreads. Well, "reading", depends what you consider reading. Did a big amount of skimming as I simply cba to read about a substantial number of footie games that Arsenal lost 50 years go. My English teacher insisted that if we had an obsession we would be able to relate to Hornby. Uhm. Well, not exactly, no. Only thing Arsenal and 1D have in common is the fact that they're white British men. That's pretty much it. So yeah, not exactly relatable. Maybe Louis (Tomlinson) would like it but I doubt he's got such bad taste (no offence). Glad to be done with this one. Omw to bin it xxx

Growing up, I had quite a few Arsenal supporters in my family, including my dad, brother, uncles and cousins, and while I do like football and have a soft spot for Arsenal it's nothing compared to the passion shown by them, and even more here in this memoir, of which is pretty much an out and out obession for the Gunners. The avid Arsenal fan writes about how he fell in love with football and how it flowed through his veins from that moment on. Hornby,in 1968 as an 11 year old, went with his father to his first ever game at Highbury and felt a big connection towards the North London club, and through his teens and 20s he even disliked them for creating an addiction he just couldn't drop. The chapters in the book headline a different Arsenal match, and is as much a history of the club’s fortunes as it is the writer's own life around this time outside of the beautiful game. I could really identify with the emotional pull of not just the Arsenal fan but with supporters and fans of any team and how that sense of euphoria and bitter disappointment is really felt deep down to the core. Then, later on, he covers the day I won't ever forget, May 26, 1989, with most of my family glued to the TV for Arsenal's breathtaking match at Liverpool and the last minute goal to win the league title. One of the most dramatic finales in British sport ever, and probably the noisiest my old family home ever was. So yes, reading this book now no doubt gave me a warm and nostalgic feeling. Another thing to touch on reading this now, is just how much the game has changed. Not always pretty to watch, and with more mud than the nice green grass we see today. And there there is the problem of hooliganism, the stadiums and facilities that weren't in best of conditions for fans. Obvoiusly, today the money and materialistic side of the game is just unbelievable. A great book for any Arsenal fan but I'd like to believe there is something in here too for those non-football fans to identify with. I really enjoyed it. A book with a great heart and soul.

So, little bit of a football fan. But not in Nick Hornby's division.

There's not a lot out there that captures what it means to support a club. The agony. Followed by the disappointment. Followed by the pain. With the occasional moment of ineffable joy at the little flick sending a defender the wrong way. Hornby gets this. Was he wrong to ignore the prone body of his collapsed girlfriend and continue cheering the lads?

Absolutely not.

Because the team needed him. And this is what he explains in a memoir that captures a lifetime of football. The bizarre, masochistic, symbiotic (perhaps parasitic) relationship between a supporter and his club.

Too bad he supports the wrong one.

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GUNNERS



Mi innamorai del calcio come mi sarei poi innamorato delle donne: improvvisamente, inesplicabilmente, acriticamente.

Il libro che ha sdoganato i tifosi di calcio.
Quel tifoso che palpita per la sua squadra, conosce tutti e tutto a memoria, dati e date, quello che palpita urla gode e soffre, che vive passione ed emozioni piuttosto irrazionali e poco governabili. Come la musica, l’amore, il sesso.
Non il tifoso razzista squadrista nazista violento picchiatore magari spacciatore mafioso o affini.
Quell’altro tifoso, quello più pacifico, quello che fa simpatia, perfino tenerezza. Il cucciolone un po’ infantile che ha sostituito il pelouche con la squadra di calcio. Né hooligan né fight-club.


Colin Firth protagonista del film inglese del 1997.

Hornby ci racconta la sua vita attraverso capitoli che sono racconti distinti e collegati: ciascuno è un momento della sua vita, una ricorrenza familiare, un incontro felice, un evento personale. Ma tutti sono agganciati e collegati a un gol, una vittoria, un match, una posizione in classifica. È come se la sua squadra, che è l’Arsenal di Londra, la più importante tra le quattordici società calcistiche professionistiche della capitale inglese: quella che è nella serie A inglese (Premier League) ininterrottamente da più tempo di tutte, quella che ha vinto di più in ambito nazionale ma pochino in quello internazionale dopo Manchester e Liverpool.
A me ricorda un po’ quel club di Torino con la maglia bianconera che in Italia spopola, ma quando si confronta in Europa diventa timido, più bianco che nero, e moscietto. La cosiddetta signorina del calcio italiano. Anche se ormai sono sempre signore, signorina è rimasta solo la Franca Valeri.


Il remake americano del 2005, in originale sempre “Fever Pitch”, in italiano è diventato “L’amore in gioco”. La squadra di calcio diventa di baseball, i Boston Red Sox.

Esaltazioni e depressioni, manie, ossessioni, esagerazioni, riti scaramantici, occhi coperti come davanti a un film horror, urla sfrenate, salti di gioia, lacrime di disperazioni. Seguendo un pallone che passa da un piede all’altro, da un piede a una testa, a uno stop di petto, palleggio, tiro, goal, parata, fuori…
Anche se Hornby regala l’impressione che la sua vita sia regolata e sostanzialmente dominata dal calcio e dal tifo, direi che il suo libro è il trionfo di chi tifa ed è spettatore più che del giocatore, del campione, della stella calcistica. Ci racconta quello che succede in campo, ma la vita vera sembrerebbe essere quella sugli spalti.
E dagli spalti si passa alle strade, alla stanza da letto, ai pasti in famiglia, alla classe scolastica: attraverso il pallone, passando per chi lo guarda correre di qua e di là sul rettangolo verde del campo di calcio, Hornby racconta se stesso, e il suo divertimento libro diviene un’autobiografia che si trasforma in romanzo di formazione.

Febbre a 90° è tutto quello che mi piace di Nick Hornby.
Ironico, sagace, cinico, mai superficiale, tagliente, tenero e sopratutto interessante.
Consigliatissimo se volete capire che cosa c'è dentro la testa di vostro padre, vostro zio, vostro marito o il vostro amico che per prendere un appuntamento con voi deve avere il calendario delle partite sotto mano...
Onestamente non me la sentirei di consigliare il libro a chi non è minimamente interessato al gioco con il pallone, è comunque un libro che parla solo di quello... a queste persone consiglierei di leggere tante altre cose di Nick, perché comunque lui è uno scrittore da non perdere di vista.

“I fell in love with football as I was later to fall in love with women: suddenly, inexplicably, uncritically, giving no thought to the pain or disruption it would bring with it.”

“Absurdly, I haven't yet got around to saying that football is a wonderful sport, but of course it is. Goals have a rarity value that points and runs and sets do not, and so there will always be that thrill, the thrill of seeing someone do something that can only be done three or four times in a whole game if you are lucky, not at all if you are not. And I love the pace of it, its lack of formula; and I love the way that small men can destroy big men … in a way that they can’t in other contact sports, and the way that the best team does not necessarily win. And there’s the athleticism …, and the way that strength and intelligence have to combine. It allows players to look beautiful and balletic in a way that some sports do not: a perfectly-timed diving header, or a perfectly-struck volley, allow the body to achieve a poise and grace that some sportsmen can never exhibit.”

Finally, someone gets it.

I read this in memory of my dear friend - a 5 star person and more. Unfortunately I don't share his love of football...

I picked this up because I am a fan of Nick Hornby's fiction (and because, OK, I have seen the movie version), but admittedly many of the British football references went over my head -- both because they are from the 70s and 80s, and because they pertain to a sport that I know very little about. The book, which is part autobiography, is also a sort of an examination of the way an intense fandom can impact a person's life (schooling, relationships, priorities, etc). As would be expected, the writing is great and the author is appropriately self-mocking, given the topic. But I think I would have enjoyed it more if I cared more about the primary topic (namely, Arsenal in the 70s and 80s).

I've only recently discovered Nick Hornby and I'm really enjoying his books, very readable.

Three stars.

I got this much elusive book from an online store which keeps old books, big thanks to my dear friend who helped me here :-)

This book is a perfect depiction of a fan's obsession with his/her beloved team! It is a real funny autobiography in which the writer's life is measured not in years, but in seasons - not by the Gregorian calendar, but by the Gunners(Arsenal Football Club) fixture list. I've read no better account of what being a fan really means :-)

The best part in the book is the "connection". All fans and supporters of any team or club will identify with every tiny experience and emotion described by Hornby – the lack of control over something we invest so much of ourselves in, the strong sense of belonging with an institution whose fortune and performance makes us sad and happy and bounds us with millions of strangers who are fans just like us!