From the publisher:
In 1987, a Zvonimir Boban-inspired Yugoslavia won the World Under-20 Championships in Chile, and a blueprint for success seemed in place.
What nobody could have imagined was that there was to be no future for this team of supremely talented youngsters. Just a few years later, Yugoslavia was in the grip of a brutal civil war, the culmination of nearly a century of suppressed nationalism that tore the country apart.
Emancipation for Goalposts is a compelling examination of the bloody conflicts that ripped through Yugoslavia and an absorbing history of football in the region – inescapably intertwined with the country's destruction, but also a vital tool in ethnic reconciliation.
From Tito, Arkan and Maksimir, to Italia '90, Red Star Belgrade's European triumph and what could have been, Chris Etchingham has created one of the definitive accounts of the inextricable links between sport, society and politics.
The author:
Chris Etchingham is a football writer and podcaster. He has been featured in The Football Pink magazine and on websites including In Bed With Maradona. He hosts a weekly football podcast called Man On The Post in which he discusses both football matches as well as social issues within the world of football. A football obsessive, Chris will take in any game he can find. From the Premier and Champions League on TV, to far-flung leagues across the world on his laptop, to attending his local village team in person. He lives in Cornwall with his wife, two children and his dog Myles. This is Chris's debut book.
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