{"title":"Jim Haner","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"soccerhead-book-jim-haner-9780865477339","title":"Soccerhead","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSoccerhead\u003c\/i\u003e is youth soccer coach Jim Haner's investigation into the origins of soccermainia\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e On July 10, 1999, 100,000 Americans, mostly women, did something they had not done before, at least not in such numbers. They showed up to watch a soccer match.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Their attendance at the 1999 Women's World Cup Final took the world by surprise, forcing it to recognize much about itself that it had been in denial of for quite some time. Who were these soccer fans? Where had they come from? Why had no one noticed them before?\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Award winning journalist Jim Haner asks these questions, and others, as he sets off in search of the origins of the American passion for soccer, uncovering the game's roots in an early industrial Northeast and following them up through the transcontinental suburban present. But Haner is by no means a passive historian of the game; he is the coach of the Hornets, a rag-tag team of ten nine-year-old boys and one determined little girl. Haner provides us with an intimate view of his team's struggles and successes over the course of season, and of his own transformation from reluctant soccer dad to authentic 'soccerhead'.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Seamlessly weaving personal and historical narrative threads, \u003ci\u003eSoccerhead\u003c\/i\u003e is both an enticing memoir and a cultural inquiry of the first-order--enlightening, entertaining, and informative--shedding new light on a little known chapter of American history.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49534058889489,"sku":"GOR005362888","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50025585148177,"sku":"CIN0865477337VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52858344964369,"sku":"NIN9780865477339","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0865477337.jpg?v=1751140078"},{"product_id":"soccerhead-book-jim-haner-9780865476943","title":"Soccerhead","description":"\u003cp\u003eA YOUTH SOCER COACH'S INVESTIGATION INTO THE ORIGINS OF SOCERMANIA\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBefore his son enlisted for a season of Youth Soccer at the neighborhood Boys and Girls Club in College Park, Maryland, Jim Haner was just your typical white, middle-class, suburban father. And as an award-winning journalist for \u003ci\u003eThe Sun \u003c\/i\u003e(Baltimore), he was more likely to write about scoundrels than soccer. But his son caught the bug, and before long, Haner was giving pep talks to nine-year-olds in shin guards and cleats and the game had become an all-consuming obsession.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDigging deep into the historical record, Haner sets out to document the soccer craze from the bottom up, tracing the rises and falls in the game's popularity in the decades since Mob Ball fever was spread by the influx of immigrants on our shores, up to the current wave of soccermania. The result is a rollicking and timely read.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Haner's] enthusiasm and good humor is infectious, the history is genuinely interesting, and anyone who doubts that soccer games between nine-year-olds can be chronicled with the same verve and intensity of professional or collegiate sports need look no further . . . Belongs with Franklin Foer's \u003ci\u003eHow Soccer Explains the World \u003c\/i\u003e(2004) as a must-read for people puzzled by soccer's popularity. --\u003ci\u003eBooklist \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53508876763409,"sku":"CIN0865476942G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53531774124305,"sku":"CIN0865476942VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780865476943.jpg?v=1778155294"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-jim-haner.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}