About four months ago, the publishing house Hachette contacted Novy Kopadia to undertake a project he had considered for years. The idea was to write a book on the FIFA World Cup. Although Kapadia had dedicated his entire life to football, the answer came easily to him. He refused.
“I never thought I could finish it. There was little time to finish the book. But upon insistence, I changed my mind,” reveals the author of “The Football Fanatic’s Essential Guide” — an eminently readable collection of stories, trivia, statistics and more from, arguably, the biggest show on earth.
Faced with the imposing challenge, Delhi-based Kapadia spent two hours daily from end of January for a couple of months to deliver the story of the World Cup. “It mainly required me to reorganise thoughts. And considering the scale of information on offer, the toughest job was to compress it.” Kapadia acknowledges his task was lessened by the wonderful research carried out by his copy editor, Sharda.
The journalist’s visits to seven World Cup tournaments in the past, though, skewed the challenge unfavourably. “It was difficult to write less about the matches I had watched inside the stadium,” says Kapadia.
Essentially, the book presents each World Cup edition in four parts — the qualifiers, stories from the tournament, best matches and star players. And an underlying theme connects all the World Cup tournaments. “We think it’s a great, phenomenal event. But the World Cup has grown through trial and error. FIFA has employed absurd tournament formats in the past.”
These stories are augmented by the trivia that appears in bubbles at the end of each competition. Stories that didn’t fit in the tournament’s narrative but still deserved a mention are displayed under the ‘Extra Time’ section.
The book, though, offers more, says Kapadia. The quiz and statistics sections are intended to attract a certain type of football fan to the book.
To top it off, this comprehensive guide includes a ready reckoner for the 2014 World Cup. Its highlight is an article on the goal-line technology that will be used for the first time at this level.
Finally, Kapadia also spared some space for a subject that is close to his heart — Indian football. While India’s non-appearance at the 1950 World Cup has achieved a mythical status due to the popular tale of its barefooted footballers, Kapadia provides clarity on the issue. “Players from Hyderabad and Bangalore wore boots. The then captain Sailen Manna admits, Olympics was more important for Indians than the World Cup. I think it was a big mistake to not travel to Brazil. The Brazilian Government was keen to welcome us there due to the prevailing anti-colonial sentiment in both countries.”
