Book 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

SYNOPSIS

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.

FROM THE CRITICS

Brian Reade - U.K.'s #1 sports columnist, The Daily Mirror