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Olé, olé, olé, olé.... The FIFA World Cup 2010 runs June 11 to July 11 in South Africa, and all this month, the Book Club is getting into the spirit of this huge sporting event — 32 countries, 31 days and a celebration of soccer that pulls in an audience of billions — with an in-depth look at the world's most popular game by one of Canada's finest journalists, John Doyle.

"Television has had a profound effect on international soccer tournaments, creating a vast global culture of celebration, joy, bittersweet feelings and, sometimes, despair. When the World Cup unfolds now, the planet is truly a global village."

In The World is a Ball: The Joy, Madness and Meaning of Soccer (Doubleday Canada), author and award-winning Globe and Mail television columnist John Doyle offers a richly detailed social history of "the beautiful game" and a thoughtful appraisal of its global impact in the 21st century.

Starting with an account of his boyhood love of the sport, growing up in Ireland in the 1960s, Doyle goes on to chronicle his travels to the major international tournaments and qualifying matches of the last decade with humour and insight. The World is a Ball covers everything from the action on the field of play to the colourful antics of diehard fans in the stands and the streets, and as a special bonus, includes a primer on the teams competing in World Cup 2010.

In his entertaining and informative new book, John Doyle shows that soccer is more than a game: it's a field of dreams that can buoy the pride of an underdog nation and an arena where fans of teams from opposing countries unite in a display of remarkable camaraderie.

Author Biography: At the age of 10, John Doyle won a gold medal for his debating skills in the Gaelic language, in his native Ireland. Years later, his gift for persuasion and for argument have made him into one of Canada's most popular and provocative columnists, as the Globe and Mail's television critic.

Doyle came to Canada in 1980 for Ph.D. studies in English literature at York University in Toronto. Eventually he abandoned his academic pursuits for freelance writing and after working briefly in radio and in television, he began writing for the Globe in 1990. He became its television columnist in 2000.

As a commentator on television and popular culture, Doyle has been widely published in Canada, the U.S., Britain and Ireland and has appeared on numerous TV and radio programs. His first book, the critically acclaimed memoir, A Great Feast of Light: Growing Up Irish in the Television Age (Doubleday Canada), was named to the cbc.ca's list of the top 25 books of 2005 and has been published in five countries.

Doyle's writing on soccer has appeared in the Globe and Mail, the New York Times and the Guardian online. Since 2002, he has covered the major tournaments (the World Cup and the Euro Cup) and has travelled the world to witness key qualifying games for World Cup 2010.

He describes his recently published second book, The World is a Ball: The Joy, Madness and Meaning of Soccer, as "a love story, with laughter and tears. It's about chasing this thing you love all over the world to be with it, to experience it and be delighted by it."

John Doyle lives in Toronto, not far from BMO Field, home to the city's professional soccer team, Toronto F.C.

Highlights from The World is a Ball: "...the World Cup and the continental national championships in Europe and South America have become events that transcend athletic competition. These tournaments are festivals, carnivals of revelry, pageantry and celebration..."

Some of the best moments from World Cup 2002, on and off the pitch

Excerpt: From the Introduction, "Meaning All the Rambling Boys of Pleasure":

"One night in Berlin during the 2006 World Cup, an elderly Brazilian journalist sat beside me on a bench as we both waited for a bus. Eventually we talked, which surprised me because the journalists from Brazil rarely interact with others. Brazil has the most important soccer culture on the planet so, you know, they don't need to pay the slightest bit of attention to anyone else. It's their thing. The journalist was bored, perhaps, and maybe he wanted to show that he was cosmopolitan and his English was solid enough to hold a good conversation. Also, I think he was amused to meet a journalist from Canada covering the World Cup. We talked of this and that. Of Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. Meandering, he told me that, in Brazil, the young players are sometimes told that the ball is symbolic. It represents Mother Earth, and when players stroke, caress and kick it, they are like gods, tossing the earth around. "They must respect it," he said. "It is the planet we live on." This was delivered to me as a profound truth, and one known mainly to Brazilians."

Read the first 17 pages of The World is a Ball...

Quotes:

Praise for The World is a Ball

"With grace, insight, and a very different view from any other sports journalist, Doyle lays out the political, cultural and very human importance of soccer. He takes us on an entertaining and hilarious journey from his Irish childhood to Canada's unsuccessful qualifying games leading up to the 2010 World Cup on a circuitous and highly rewarding path." — Bolen Books, Victoria

Praise for John Doyle's A Great Feast of Light: Growing Up Irish in the Television Age:

"A marvelous read, with keen insights and laugh-out-loud moments..." — Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Of course A Great Feast of Light is about considerably more than how a shy, naive, youngster with sticking-out ears saw the social and political sea changes of the '60s through the cool, blue crackle of the cathode-ray tube. Readers are treated to innocent but stinging impressions of the secular violence in the north, of the rude social hierarchy and of the subversive pop-culture tremors emanating from Britain which was so near and yet so far." — Canadian Press

"From the beguiling smile of the little imp on the cover to the very last page, this book is a delight.... [it is] beautifully written, both humorous and sad." — Montreal Gazette

"Brisk [and] witty...[A] delightful and original ramble; laconic, rueful and richly evocative of a time and place long gone and hardly lamented. [This] coming-of-age memoir, an intelligent and affable look at the vagaries of an earlier Ireland, is a book certain to win a wide and enthusiastic readership." — London Free Press

"[A] terrific book. Compelling, vivid and original." — Linden MacIntyre