Steve Menary’s book Outcasts!: The Lands That FIFA Forgot is a fascinating read. In the book, Menary reports on the far flung “countries” that FIFA doesn’t recognize. Steve Menary sat down to speak with me recently about writing Outcasts and the issues his book raises. Menary told me that he got his start writing for several magazines, including World Soccer, When Saturday Comes, and Sport Business before he wrote Outcasts, his first book.

Steve Menary (photo: Play the Game)

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Greenland is an autonomous province of Denmark with a population of around 50,000. The Faroe Islands are an autonomous province of Denmark with a population of around 50,000. The Faroe Islands belong to FIFA; Greenland does not. A reasonable person might wonder why the Faroes are given membership into the international soccer governing body while Greenland is excluded. Such a reasonable person would not come up with anything resembling a reasonable answer. Greenland is one of the “countries” featured in Steve Menary’s new book Outcasts: The Lands That FIFA Forgot. The book is a whirlwind tour of forgotten lands scattered throughout the globe. During his visits with teams from places as diverse as Greenland, The Falklands, Northern Cyprus, Zanzibar, and Occitània, Menary introduces us to players, coaches, and officials struggling for international soccer recognition for their countries which, according to FIFA, don’t exist.

The Tibetan national team (photo: Kaos Pilot)

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Happy New Year to readers of Culture of Soccer. I also want to point out that this is, more or less, the one year anniversary of this blog (well, I did a few posts in the fall, but then got too busy with graduate school applications until after Christmas). I am honored to have obtained a regular readership and although I’m not always able to respond to all of your comments, please know that I appreciate the how insightful they are. I wasn’t able to post as much in the fall due to starting graduate school, but I’m hoping that I’ll be back on a more regular schedule from now on. Again, Happy New Year and thank you.

Throughout history, soccer teams have been founded for many reasons. Many of the most prominent teams today were begun by groups of friends eager to find a source of amusement.

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During the last two weeks in which I spent doing research on migration in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, I think I annoyed my fellow students by excitedly pointing out every time I saw a soccer field or game. Obsessed is the word I often heard my classmates use to describe me. I can’t say they were wrong.

During the two weeks, I took some pictures of soccer fields and games being played in all sorts of locations. A selection of the best are below.

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For those of you waiting patiently for updates, there won’t be any until after Christmas. I’m currently taking part in a research project in Oaxaca, Mexico and won’t be posting until I return to Gringolandia.