NARCOBALL Book Review

redandbluedave

June 19

Info

Written By: David Arrowsmith.

Published By: Cassell / Octopus.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a physical copy of the book and thanks also to Random Things Blog Tour for adding me to the tour.

Overview

Narcoball uncovers the incredible story of Colombian football during the early 1990s - shaped by drug lords, rivalries, and ambition. With untold insights from the players and politicians, it uncovers a football empire backed by cartels - where victory was a currency of its own, and defeat, a matter of life and death.

This is a different story of Pablo Escobar and his rival.
A tale of clandestine deals that reshaped Medellin's football clubs, where fortunes were won and lost. It unveils the extraordinary bonds that Escobar forged with football's luminaries and why his influence reached unprecedented heights, leading to the astonishing 5-0 victory over Argentina in Buenos Aires, the murder of referees, and the ruthless coercion of officials culminating in the killing of Andres Escobar - the Colombian defender who paid the ultimate price for an own goal in the 1994 World Cup. It is also an examination of a people's relationship with both the sport and the nefarious leaders that brought both pride and terror to their communities.
Set against the U.S War on Drugs, international threats, and government clampdowns, this is a gripping exploration of Colombian club football under Escobar's rise and fall.

Review

I've always had a keen interest in criminal history more so gangs in their many different guises, my other interest in life has always been football and in this book David Arrowsmith has brought the two together as we explore the dark world of corruption and drugs cartels as they tightened their grips on the game of football in Columbia that would get tighter and tighter as the power struggles increased between the cartels.

The book goes into great detail of the rise of one of the most famous drug cartel bosses in history one Pablo Escobar, detailing his younger life up to his criminal later life. It details how Pablo lived a luxurious life where money was the answer to everything and the way he began to think that everyone and everything could be bought.

It was later on in his life that the football world becomes a part of Pablo's life in a major way taking ownership of his much loved local team of Atletico Nacional where he began funneling his drug money into enabling him to acquire the best footballing talent he could turning his local Medellin side into one of Columbia's footballing powerhouses. It was around the similar time that Pablo's rival in the drug game Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela took control of rival team America de Cali strengthening the drug cartel's vice like grip on Columbian football.

I enjoyed the pace of the book and thought that David Arrowsmith did a good job in taking the reader deep behind the headlines and legend and gives you the real story of how the drug cartels influenced more than just the criminal world and almost became Robin Hood style good guys that uses their ill gotten gains to put back into the community. I love reading about criminal history and football and this book perfectly brings the two together creating a fascinating journey into a dangerous and corrupt world that opened my eyes to a dark period in football that potentially changed the path of Columbian football we know today.

The book took me on a journey through a time where grew up (I was an 80's child) and although I grew up miles away in the relative safety of Great Britain I remember the name Pablo Escobar and knew of the corrupt nature of the Columbian football game but I never knew how entwined the drug cartel's were in the football game. Thanks to the influx of drug money the Columbian football had a resurrection locally in the leagues but also internationally but corruption was never too far away.

Summary

Time now then for me to put my thoughts into a summary, overall I enjoyed the reading experience of the book and felt like a I learned lot about the cartels and the corrupt nature of the Columbian game. David Arrowsmith has a relaxed writing style that doesn't overload the reader with the information but takes you on a journey that educates you and excites you at the same time. Having an interest in the cartels I found this book fascinating and enjoyed finding more out about the infamous Escobar name.

Verdict-Out of 5 ⭐

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

EXCELLENT

I give Narcoball: Love, Death and Football in Escobar's Columbia an excellent top marks score of 5 ⭐ a fascinating journey into a corrupt and dangerous albeit passionate world. If you are a football fan or have an interest in the cartel story then you definitely need to pick this up.

Narcoball: Love, Death and Football in Escobar's Columbia is available now from all good book outlets.

Note on the author

David Arrowsmith was the Director of Development at leading UK factual TV producer Zig Zag Productions.

He has worked in television for over 20 years - developing unscripted ideas and acting as Executive Producer on key projects for companies such as October Films, DSP, Channel 5, Granada Television, and the BBC. He is passionate about history, and just some of his key commissions include '1966: Who Stole the World Cup?', 'Britain's Bloodiest Dynasty', '8 Days That Made Rome', and 'Adolf & Eva: Love & War'. He was also involved in the development of the award-winning, Nobel Peace Prize-nominated documentary 'Sri Lanka's Killing Fields'.

David was born and raised in London but is proudly half-Colombian. In fact, he is the great-grandson of a former president and directly descended from four more. He has played football for over 35 years and has no plans to stop just yet.

This review was part of the Random Things Blog Tour, please check out the other bloggers on the tour.