The greatest game you've never heard of.
Who was the best Brazilian footballer of all time? Easy – Pelé. Argentina? Maradona or Messi. Portugal? Ronaldo. England? Bobby Charlton.
But who was the greatest Jewish footballer ever? That’s a question to send even the most historically literate football nerds into an uncharacteristic silence.
And yet, before the Holocaust, Jewish talent was at the very heart of European football. Jews were among the superstar players who drew tens of thousands to stadiums – as well as the visionary coaches revolutionising tactics, the administrators professionalising the modern game, and even the elite referees, not to mention the hordes of passionate fans.
Digging Deep excavates a destroyed civilisation to reveal the untold stories of men who were icons one minute and marked for extermination the next. Setting exhilarating sporting triumphs against the harrowing backdrop of twentieth-century history, it restores eleven forgotten greats to their rightful place in the football pantheon.
More than a sports book, this is a journey through the prism of the magnificent game to find the human stories within the savage reality of the Holocaust.
About the Author :
David Bolchover is an author and commentator. His most recent book, The Greatest Comeback: From Genocide to Football Glory, a biography of the football coach Béla Guttmann, was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year.
He has also written three business books, including the bestselling 90-Minute Manager, which explored the various management styles of the great football coaches.
David has written for number of leading newspapers, including The Times, the Telegraph and the Financial Times, and has frequently appeared on the BBC, Sky and other broadcast outlets.
He has an MBA (Finance) from Cass Business School and a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics.
Review :
“A team of
forgotten heroes and a series of careers that have become secret histories.
David Bolchover has written an enthralling, harrowing, uplifting book that
follows some of the greatest Jewish players in football history to their fates
and, by telling their stories so vividly and meticulously, brings them new
life.” – Oliver Holt, chief sports writer, Daily Mail
“David Bolchover
has reshaped my view of Jews, of football and of murder. Don't miss this book.” –
Daniel Finkelstein, associate editor, The Times
“Meticulously
researched and elegantly crafted, Digging Deep serves both as a profoundly
moving tribute and as a salutary reminder - at this dangerous moment of rising
antisemitism - to keep the memory of these murdered Jewish players alive.” – Oliver
Brown, chief sports writer, The Telegraph
“An eye-opening
account of the pivotal role Jews played in the history of European football -
and of how the Holocaust erased not only so very many lives, but also an entire
sporting legacy from memory.” – Toby Young, associate editor, The
Spectator
“Amid the
trademark detail of Bolchover's passionate writing, one thing emerges above
all: that Europe is a diminished continent without its Jewish communities.” – Jonny
Gould, TV and radio presenter, journalist and commentator
“More than a
sports history, Digging Deep restores to public memory a
generation of Jewish athletes whose extraordinary achievements – and whose
lives – were nearly erased from history.” – Steve Linde, Jewish
News Syndicate
“Digging Deep makes
for extraordinary reading, chronicling as it does an entire generation of
footballing talent.” – Andrew Pulver, Jewish Renaissance
“Bolchover’s book
is at once a celebration, a lament, and an indictment. His footballers leap off
the page as if springing for a header, varied in their talents, their
personalities, their backgrounds.” – David Bennun, The Jewish
Chronicle
