Liechtenstein finished their 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign with no points. They lost all eight of their matches and were the only team in Europe not to score a goal. Yet while in most countries such a dismal record would result in a national outcry, Liechtenstein's football folk were delighted with their team's showing. For when your nation is so small it could fit inside Luxembourg sixteen times and has a population equivalent to that of a small market town in East Anglia, football success tends to be measured in different ways.
In Stamping Grounds, Charlie Connelly follows the eleven representatives of the principality of Liechtenstein on their quest for the 2002 World Cup. He finds a team whose centre-forward plays in Italy's Serie A and whose left back is a schoolteacher. It's a national side whose goalkeeper plays in the Champions' League, whose centre-half is a bank manager and whose captain has to miss World Cup matches when the wine he makes for a living is at a crucial stage.
On his travels Connelly gets to know the players and officials of this remarkable team and discovers what motivates a squad that has not scored a competitive goal for three years, whose supporters are so apathetic that it's a major talking point when one fan travels to an away game.
Between watching his first game as a lonely spectator and finishing the campaign travelling on the coach with the team, Connelly learns to appreciate how a 0-3 home defeat to Israel can be regarded with satisfaction and why losing 0-5 in Spain is a marvellous achievement.
In addition, he explores the history, culture and people of this unique nation, meeting a range of Liechtensteiners from the richest ruling monarch in Europe to a man married to a eagle.
As well as bringing to life this curious little nation, Stamping Grounds provides a vivid, humorous portrayal of life at the bottom of the football ladder, a place where it really is the taking part that counts.
