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Win or Else
0 - Default Title
Description
In the early 1920s, the Soviet press denounced football as a bourgeois sport that was injurious to both mind and body. Within that same decade, however, it blew up, becoming the most popular spectator sport in the USSR and growing into a fiercely competitive business with complex regional and national bureaucracies, a strong international presence, and a conviction that victory on the field was also a victory of Soviet supremacy. Writing as both historian and fan, Holmes focuses his study on the provincial Kirov team Dinamo from 1979 to 1985, when the club played at both its worst and its best. Spurred by a dismal 1979 season, the team's administrators and regional authorities had two options: obey Moscow's edict to reduce expenditures on professional sports or seek out new-and often illicit-funding sources to fill out a team of champions.
Drawing on rich archival materials as well as newspapers and interviews with former players, Win or Else reveals the foundations of Soviet sports culture-and the hazards that teams faced both in victory and in loss.
Product details
Binding:
Paperback
Number of Pages:
230
Release Date:
2024-04-30
Publication Date:
2024-04-30
Publisher:
Indiana University Press
Languages:
Original:
English
ISBN10:
0253069637
ISBN13:
9780253069634
GPSR Manufacturer Reference:
Weight:
338 g
Height:
150 cm
Width:
226 cm
Thickness:
15 cm
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