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Fifa 192: The True Story Behind The Legend Of The Brunei Darussalam National Football Team | 
 enlarge | Author: Stanley Park
Publisher: Universal Publishers
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $25.81
You Save: $0.14 (1%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 2102673
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 292
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9
ISBN: 1581125089
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN: 9781581125085
ASIN: 1581125089
Publication Date: September 30, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new book! Delivered direct from our US warehouse by Expedited (4-7 days) or Standard (usually 10-14 days but can be longer). Expedited shipping recommended for speedier delivery. Over 1 million satisfied customers
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Product Description
This is the true story behind the legend of the Brunei Darussalam National Football Team, almost but not quite, the worst international team in the world. Stanley Park, the alter ego of a desperate and disillusioned sporting romantic abroad, needs the Jamaican Bobsleigh Team of world soccer to bring him financial and moral salvation. Set in the alien cultural maelstrom of a near-bankrupt and comically corrupt Islamic despotism, Stanley's travails as the teams media manager illuminate football for what it truly is: a spherical, hand-stitched universe of heaven and hell. Kick or be kicked is football's moral imperative. A true Scouser, armed only with a yellow anorak and a war cry of "Giblets," Stanley Park's fight for justice in Brunei is a veritable sporting Jihad. "Better than Fever Pitch: more balls, more laughs, more giblets. The universal truths of football as uniquely revealed by Stanley Park." --Brian Reade, U.K.s #1 sports columnist, The Daily Mirror
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 Stan's Yer Man! July 2, 2008
I can wholeheartedly endorse this book as real footy fan's novel. As stated by Dun, parallels with Nick Hornby's 'Fever Pitch' will be made but 'Our Stanley' is much more the anti-hero, which makes this Scouse Ras-Skal-nickoff more my cup of Tetley's tea than some Cambridge Perignon Don faking it. With Panglossian panache, our man hurtles from near-miss to catastrophic last minute sitter all in the hope of penalty shoot-out redemption... sport as the metaphor of life, with bitter-sweet laughs puntuating every chapter. The denouement is both touching and rather tragic: the loser becomes the winner, but was the cost to self and family worth the romantic punt on Fifa's worst national team?
With some really intriguing asides revealing the reality of expat life in Asia, Stanley Park succeeded in getting me onside with his personal crusade as well as cheering on his no-hope team of Bruneian kampongers. Look out for the lump in the throat at the end after all the belly-laughter: totally unexpected, as is this veritable sporting treasure hidden within the tiny anachronistic sultanate, Brunei Darussalam. To quote Stan: "Smashin'!"
 Left Outside if you're not In the Squad September 25, 2007
Nick Hornby Lite? How about Hornby model light railway....perfect working scale model...but much smaller and less powerful than the original. Been to Brunei? Worked for "The Charity"? Know "Chuck"? Know anything about Malaysian football? You need to answer Yes to most of these questions..otherwise the joke is not so funny. A typical Mat Salleh ex-pat book...Stanley Park fluffs his Malay ...Talag is not divorce, Talak (or Talaq) is....Saya Isteri means "I am a wife" not "my wife"..."jangan" means do not", not "forbidden (di larang)....mind you, Stan did work for the Charity as a language teacher so he couldn't have been much of a linguist. Stan's not too hot on geography either. Negeri Sembilan's state capital is unilaterally changed by Stan to Paroi (it is in fact, Seremban)...bit like a foreigner visiting London to watch a football match and later insisting that the capital city of the UK is called Upton Park! Recent events and history are also not Stan's forte...Mahathir Mohammed the former egomanical prime minister of Malaysia is promoted by Stan to President of Malaysia - in one fell swoop Stan turns Malaysia from a monarchy to a republic obviously! "Could do better Stan, must try harder!" The Malaysia Cup and Malaysian soccer was so dreadfully corrupt during the era this book is set in...but Stan alludes only in passing to his bookie and passes off crap refereeing as motivated by Malaysian chauvanism against plucky little Brunei. Perhaps the surprising triumph of the Bruneians in the Piala Malaysia would provoke too many questions if the corruption angle was pushed?
Some nice vignettes though. The early days of the Chelsea renaissance under Dreadlocked Dutchman are recounted as the Blues visit the sleepy Borneo outpost. Denis Wise is portrayed as a complete ignoramus psycho...Ruud isn't flattered much either. An interesting raffle that Stan tried to rig to pay off his debts. Stan also has his way with stereotypical SE Asian luscious fantasy girl, saving him lots of trips to Thailand, yet still manages to save his family abandoned by him early in the piece. Never quite got the "revenge" rationale for the strange leave wife and kids in UK strand of the story...and I know it's a dish best eaten cold...but Stan's revenge left me cold and rather perplexed actually.
A mid-life crisis book for ex ex pats from Brunei. Quite funny and about a 100 pages too long.
Amusing January 16, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Brunei football team and their coaches deserved more credit than what Mr Park wrote in FIFA 192. The people of Brunei showed him hospitality unparalleled anywhere in the world. Amusing read anyhow...
THE BOOK as antidote to World Cup Hype; true soul of football. June 11, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Bought my copy at Kinokuniya on Orchard Rd, S'pore... recommended by a fellow football nut. The overkill surrounding Premier League soccer (and I'm English) does my head in and unfortunately S'pore is rocking to the strains of 'Inger-lund', 'Inger-lund' as I write. Stanley Park debunks the 'beauty' of the world game and gets down to brass tacks with the Brunei National Team... it's the best football book I've read and Tiger Beer have just adopted Fifa 192 as their official book for this WC & the EPL 2006-07.
Hope to see Brunei get the same exposure as Brazil one day... their players deserve it!
Truly Stanley's "Magnum Opus" May 9, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Read and learn. This is Football's answer to Anthony Burgess' "Devil of State - also banned in Brunei.
Passion, corruption, hypocracy they are all here in capital letters.
Anyone who has ever lived in South East Asia will love it!
So will anyone who has never lived in South East Asia and who has a sense for truth being stranger (and funnier) than fiction.
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