Hundreds of football titles are published each and every year. Most would fall into the run-of-the-mill category, but The Ugly Game: How Football Lost Its Magic and What It Could Learn from the NFL by Martin Calladine is certainly not one of them. This title exhibits true “outside the box” thinking, something that is truly refreshing.
People have all kinds of ideas on how to improve and grow the beautiful game, but I have to say that none have gone so far as to suggest going the way of the NFL. The NFL, not unlike FIFA, has had their share of scandals (Ray Rice, concussions, Deflategate, Adrian Peterson, the list goes on and on). But at the same time the NFL is a billion dollar enterprise that has done a lot of things right.
I’m sure many football traditionalists would consider this read very controversial, but it certainly does its job by opening some eyes and generating discussion.
Calladine showed why he is a proponent of revenue sharing, a draft, and (gasp!) a hard salary cap. These are all staples of the NFL and it seems worthwhile to see if these would work elsewhere. UEFA put together the Financial Fair Play rules, but a salary cap and a full-blown would make things really interesting.
The book and the essays within are best described as quirky, but at the same time incredibly enjoyable. We loved the cover art and all of the photos and graphics throughout the book; they complemented the content and discussions perfectly.
The style of writing is very conversational, something that works well. It doesn’t feel like work when you are reading this one; it is truly a joy to behold.
