When first published in 1994, this deservedly won the William Hill sports book of the year award - so, if you haven't read it already, that should be incentive enough to do so now. It was then reissued, with some minor updates, in 1996. It is entirely unclear why the publishers feel it should get a third run five years later, as I could find nothing new here. Still, Kuper's treatise on the relationship between politics and football remains a fine, thought-provoking achievement. "My first question, then, was how football affects the life of a country. My second was how the life of a country affects its football." He found some startling, funny and worrying answers.