BJ - Sports and Recreation

2007

BJ – Sports and Recreation

Fußball-Wörterbuch in 7 Sprachen: Wort für Wort; Kauderwelsch dictionary; Deutsch, English, français, italiano, español, português, türkçe [Soccer Dictionary in Seven Languages Word by Word. Jargon Dictionary for German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish]. Kaya Yıldırım. Bielefeld: Reise-Know-How-Verlag Rump, 2006. 160 p. ill. 15 cm. (Kauderwelsch, 203). ISBN 3-89416-372-0: EUR 7.90 [06-1-078]

The intended audience here is soccer fans, not libraries. The Fußball-Wörterbuch in 7 Sprachen expands on other soccer dictionaries by providing the terminology in seven languages, including Turkish. It claims to be limited to the 220 most significant soccer concepts, which makes one wonder why the author listed peripheral concepts such as “Beer,” “Bratwurst,” and “Interview” while leaving out subject-specific ones such as “Red and Yellow Penalty Cards.” There is also little humor or slang here. Despite these limitations, this is a useful ready-reference work for looking up soccer terminology in multiple languages, and the appendix contains a handy illustrated guide with significant terms given in all seven languages. [js/rg]

Klassiker und Wegbereiter der Sportwissenschaft. [Classics and Pioneers in Sports Studies]. Ed. Jürgen Court and Eckhard Meinberg. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2006. 472 p. 24 cm. ISBN 978-3-17-018616-3: EUR 35 [07-1-180]

Klassiker und Wegbereiter der Sportwissenschaft is one example of a recently published work that has helped to legitimize the study of sport as an academic discipline. Chronologically organized, this volume portrays 50 of the most predominant authors in sports, from the establishment of the German Reich in 1871 through 1979. Entries include a short biography, a listing of the person’s works and information on their reception, and a bibliography.

The volume focuses not only on sports scholars, but also on philosophers, psychologists, pedagogues, and sociologists whose writings have influenced the study of sport, for example Ernst Cassirer, José Ortega y Gasset, Norbert Elias, and Arnold Gehlen. The inclusion of these non-sports writers is of special note, as their works have only been cursorily examined as to how they relate to the field. All contributors to the volume are known specialists in their field, and their credentials and publications are listed fully. A thorough name index makes this volume particularly easy to use.

In sum, the editors and contributors have produced an important, sound, easy-to-read compendium for the study of sport. [mk/bwv]

Enzyklopädie des DDR-Fußballs [Encyclopedia of GDR Soccer]. Hanns Leske. Göttingen: Verlag Die Werkstatt, 2007. 590 p. ill. 25 cm. ISBN 978-3- 89533-556-3: EUR 34.90 [07-2-492]

The historically closed era of GDR soccer has been discussed in several works published in this past decade. See, for example, Andreas Baingo and Michael Horn’s Die Geschichte der DDR-Oberliga [History of the GDR’s Premier League] (Göttingen, 2003), Hanns Leske’s Erich Mielke, die Stasi und das runde Leder: der Einfluß der SED und des Ministeriums für Staatssicherheit auf den Fußballsport in der DDR [Erich Mielke, the Stasi, and the Round Leather: The Influence of the Stasi and the Ministry for State Security on Soccer in the GDR] (Göttingen, 2004), Michael Horn & Gottfried Weise’s Das grosse Lexikon des DDR-Fussballs [Comprehensive Encyclopedia of GDR-Soccer] (Berlin, 2004), and less recently Fußball-Auswahlspieler der DDR: das Lexikon [GDR All-Star Soccer Players: The Encyclopedia] (Berlin, 2000). These authors are all former GDR sports journalists. Hanns Leske has followed up on his doctoral dissertation (Freie Universität Berlin, 2005) with this encyclopedia, aimed at a broad public.

The work under review here contains around 4,000 detailed biographical entries about soccer players, coaches, administrators, and sports journalists in the former GDR. Although it aims to list every important date in their athletic careers, basic biographical details (such as the dates of birth and death) are often lacking. The book also presents information about approximately 200 teams, which, however, do not rate their own entries but are incorporated into articles about individual players and can therefore be challenging to find. The index of sports organizations located at the back is very helpful for this purpose. The bibliography points to the author’s heavy use of GDR archives. The volume concludes with several synopses in tabular form, such as “Home Games of the National Team” and “The National Players of the GDR.” [sh/as]

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