Enthrallingly told. Exhaustive and amusing

A riveting and often hilarious book. A wonderful journey into nostalgia

A coach transported to the field in a hearse as he played dead. An English manager taken at gunpoint to an Argentinian jail after trying to sign that country's World Cup captain. The hero of 1966 who talked his team out of going on strike on the eve of a title decider. All are part of the British professionals' story of life in the North American Soccer League in the 1970s and early 1980s, when everyone - from star turn to unsung journeyman - had the chance to play alongside Pele, Cruyff, Beckenbauer and Eusebio in the greatest galaxy of world stars ever assembled in one league. To mark the 20th anniversary of the NASL's final season in 1984, "Playing For Uncle Sam" recalls the British players and coaches who were part of an organization that changed the face of football with its shoot-outs, new offside rule and wacky marketing methods. It began with the likes of Stoke and Wolverhampton Wanderers spending a bizarre summer posing as the Cleveland Stokers and Los Angeles Wolves in 1967. And it reached its peak in the late 1970s when the NASL, run by a former Welsh international, drew crowds of 70,000 and featured such famous names as Banks, Moore, Hurst and Ball. Rodney Marsh pitched his tent in America by declaring famously that English football had become a grey game, while George Best used the NASL as an escape from the fishbowl of his life in Britain. Typically, the pair delighted and exasperated teammates and coaches in equal measure. Through interviews with many of the British contingent who accepted the offer of the Yankee dollar, "Playing For Uncle Sam" recalls one of the most fascinating episodes in football history: the remarkable rise and chaotic collapse of the NASL.

A coach transported to the field in a hearse as he played dead. An English manager taken at gunpoint to an Argentinian jail after trying to sign that country's World Cup captain. The hero of 1966 who talked his team out of going on strike on the eve of a title decider. All are part of the British professionals' story of life in the North American Soccer League in the 1970s and early 1980s, when everyone - from star turn to unsung journeyman - had the chance to play alongside Pele, Cruyff, Beckenbauer and Eusebio in the greatest galaxy of world stars ever assembled in one league. To mark the 20th anniversary of the NASL's final season in 1984, "Playing For Uncle Sam" recalls the British players and coaches who were part of an organization that changed the face of football with its shoot-outs, new offside rule and wacky marketing methods. It began with the likes of Stoke and Wolverhampton Wanderers spending a bizarre summer posing as the Cleveland Stokers and Los Angeles Wolves in 1967. And it reached its peak in the late 1970s when the NASL, run by a former Welsh international, drew crowds of 70,000 and featured such famous names as Banks, Moore, Hurst and Ball.

Rodney Marsh pitched his tent in America by declaring famously that English football had become a grey game, while George Best used the NASL as an escape from the fishbowl of his life in Britain. Typically, the pair delighted and exasperated teammates and coaches in equal measure. Through interviews with many of the British contingent who accepted the offer of the Yankee dollar, "Playing For Uncle Sam" recalls one of the most fascinating episodes in football history: the remarkable rise and chaotic collapse of the NASL.

David Tossell has more than 20 years' experience in sports journalism and is currently the head of European Public Relations for the National Football League (NFL). His previous publications include Seventy-One Guns and The American Match. He lives in High Wycombe.

2004-06-13 The rise and fall of the NASL

A book like this has been over due for years. It charts the rise and fall of the world game in the USA in the mid 70s to early 80s and lays the foundations for its recovery in 94 with the World Cup and the creation of the MSL in 96.

In 75/77/79 I was lucky enough to visit the US from the UK for the first times to visit family. It was a thrill a minute adventure to what seemed to be a technicolour land, compared to the relative drab of the UK at the time. The NASL reflected that vividness. Bright shirts, "uniforms", exotically named teams (Tulsa Roughnecks, Tampa Bay Rowdies, Vancouver Whitecaps) and some world class players (Cruyff, Pele, Best). The NASL really was a carnival like experience and where the quality of play was far higher than many people assumed it would be.

Sadly it all ended too soon with too many clubs ("franchises" in reality) over stretching themselves by paying too high wages to what, in many cases, were moderate players in cities with no historical roots or love of the game. But the NASL sowed a seed that helped lead to millions of Americans of both sexes playing the sport, a league in the shape of the MSL where profitability and having a core of local US players is a key factor and a national side that, in the 2002 World Cup in Japan, that really was a quality side and a surprise package with significant major future potential.

This book is very well written and David Tossell clearly did his homework with extensive interviews with a great many of the players and coaches of the NASL years, both the big names and the unknowns. The result is an excellent read for anyone interested in the NASL and the growth of the game in the US.