Rugby: Talking A Good Game
Rugby: Talking A Good Game

Author: Ian Robertson

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Published: 2018-11-15

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 1473694663

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Ian Robertson joined the BBC during the golden age of radio broadcasting and was given a crash course in the art of sports commentary from some of the greatest names ever to sit behind a microphone: Cliff Morgan and Peter Bromley, Bryon Butler and John Arlott. Almost half a century after being introduced to the rugby airwaves by his inspiring mentor Bill McLaren, the former Scotland fly-half looks back on the most eventful of careers, during which he covered nine British and Irish Lions tours and eight World Cups, including the 2003 tournament that saw England life the Webb Ellis Trophy and "Robbo" pick up awards for his spine-tingling description of Jonny Wilkinson's decisive drop goal. He reflects on his playing days, his role in guiding Cambridge University to a long spell of Varsity Match supremacy and his relationships with some of the union code's most celebrated figures, including Sir Clive Woodward and Jonah Lomu. He also writes vividly and hilariously of his experiences as a horse racing enthusiast, his meetings with some of the world's legendary golfers and his dealings with a stellar cast of sporting outsiders, from Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor to Nelson Mandela. It is a hugely entertaining story that begins in a bygone rugby age, yet has much to say about the game in the here and now.

Doddie's Diary
Doddie's Diary

Author: Doddie Weir

Publisher: Black & White Publishing Ltd

Published: 2021-10-12

Total Pages: 299

ISBN-13: 1785303716

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'I never set out to take the lead. It just happened - like MND itself. But we are making a fight of it.' DODDIE WEIR In the five years since Doddie Weir's MND diagnosis, he has continued to live life to the max. He's raised millions for research and support for his fellow sufferers with the help of some incredible charity fundraisers, celebrated his 50th birthday and been awarded an OBE. And throughout it all, Doddie has tackled life head on, like the mad charging giraffe he has always been, both on and off the rugby pitch. Now, join Doddie as he lifts the lid on what his life with MND has really been like, both in public and in private. Being Doddie, there's always lots of laughter and an incredibly positive attitude, but it's also a rollercoaster of emotions. It's a battle Doddie will continue to tackle with his trademark dignity and legendary humour. And it's a fight he remains determined to win.

Talking Balls
Talking Balls

Author: John Bishop

Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa

Published: 2012-08-05

Total Pages: 293

ISBN-13: 1770222928

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Who has the worst swing of any successful golfer? Which novice helped Bruce Fordyce win his first Comrades? How will Eskom improve Bafana Bafana’s chances in the 2010 FIFA World Cup? Which Springbok rugby personality sidestepped Australian passport control ... twice? Talking Balls answers these questions, and more, in a collection of entertaining writings by some of South Africa’s top sports journalists – and a few enthusiastic gatecrashers – about the lighter side of sport. Edward Griffiths, Andy Capostagno, Peter Roebuck, Neil Manthorp, Dan Nicholl, Lungani Zama, Ben Trovato, Ray White, John Bishop and the late Peter Robinson are among those featured alongside such sports personalities as John Smit, Graeme Smith, Trevor Immelman, Mark Andrews, Makhaya Ntini, Bakkies Botha and Hashim Amla. Covering a variety of sports, Talking Balls offers insight into sporting life both on and off the field, from the drugging of Nick Mallett and the Proteas’ spoiling of Australia Day in 2009 to the hilarious antics of professional soccer players and behind-the-scenes banter. Light-hearted and playful, the stories in this collection capture the unique spirit of the sporting world and are guaranteed to amuse, inform, uplift and entertain.

Fringes
Fringes

Author: Ben Mercer

Publisher: Outlier Press

Published: 2021-07-24

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 191500103X

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Updated edition of the #1 Amazon Bestseller LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR PRIZE 2020 Sports books tend to detail extraordinary achievements, triumphs against the odds or commemorate World Cup winning captains. This book does not do that. For many, playing professional sport is the Dream Job. Few manage it, very few make it to the top and for the rest, life is very different. This is their story. In Fringes, Ben Mercer invites you to witness life at the outer edges of professional rugby. This is a first hand account of what life is like as a journeyman professional athlete. You play, but to the wider public you don't exist. You earn but you don't drive a flash car. You sometimes pack out a stadium but sometimes, you play in a deserted park. This is the story for the majority of sports professionals. Only the minority taste the top, only one person gets to lift the cup or win the medal, only 15 get to play for England at any one time. For the rest, that’s not the case. Ben Mercer is a former professional rugby player who after becoming disillusioned and uninspired plying his trade in the English Second Division, accepted an offer out of the blue to go to France and do something different - help an amateur team turn professional. This is a first hand account of what life is like in the lower reaches of professional sport - where your employment status is as precarious as your health and barely anyone will know your name. It's about how it feels to live year to year, with teammates constantly on the move. It's about how professionalism irreversibly changes the French club Stade Rouennais as they move up the divisions, about the tension between progress and identity in a rugby team. It's also about how it feels to actually be out there on the field, how it feels to occasionally do something extraordinary and how it feels when this is no longer enough for you to make the sacrifices that you need to make to keep playing. There's no ghostwriting, it's an unmitigated meditation on how it feels and what it means to play rugby for a living, to dedicate yourself to an uncompromising but occasionally beautiful game. If you've wanted to know what life is really like as a professional athlete, on the Fringes, away from the glitz and glamour of the international game then look no further.

Tales From A Second Hand Wand Shoppe: Book 2 - Gnomes, and Halflings, and Assassins! Oh My!
Tales From A Second Hand Wand Shoppe: Book 2 - Gnomes, and Halflings, and Assassins! Oh My!

Author: Robert P. Wills

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2013-12

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 1304673162

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Aution lay in ruins. Charred, smoldering ruins. The Gnomes, Rat, and Nulu make their way to Big Julie's School of Magic. They're looking for a place to hide out until things cool down. News hasn't spread about Grimbledung being responsible for the town-wide fire and they want to keep it that way. Julesville is founded around Julie's school and everything seems to be moving along smoothly until a newly-unemployed Werewolf and Haberdashery owner show up. With Akita and Pozzuoli in town, things aren't looking good for Grimbledung! Fortunately for him, the impending Halfling invasion gets everyone's attention. When a contingent of battle-hardened Halflings arrive in town and declares Martial Law, things look dire. To make matters worse, the Halfling Army masses on the other side of the Anti-Ogre wall. Working together, the gang tricks the Halfling soldiers into leaving Julesville (intact even), repels the Halfling invasion, and restores peace to The Lands. Well, not really those last two...

The Highlights
The Highlights

Author: Frank Keating

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Published: 2014-05-13

Total Pages: 227

ISBN-13: 1783350202

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Frank Keating's work adorned the Guardian for four decades from 1973 until shortly before his death in early 2013. In his heyday Keating's fizzing wordplay and sheer joie de vivre thrilled readers. They saw him not just as a journalist but as a fan who shared their own delight in sport for its own sake and in the stars who made it watchable. He also had a special rapport with many of the greats such as Barry John and Ian Botham. From the 1970s to the 1990s he attended nearly all the great sporting events. Later he became a nostalgist with a matchless gift for bringing the past to life. But his happy, rosy, sunlit view of sport was always subject to magnificent outbreaks of literary bad temper, especially when confronted by committee-room idiots and officious gatemen. The Highlights includes much of his best writing in the Guardian on a huge range of sport plus extracts from his work elsewhere, including The Observer, The Oldie and The Spectator - and from his books, including the autobiography Half-Time Whistle and his classic account of the 1980-81 England tour of the Caribbean, Another Bloody Day in Paradise. Edited by his friend and colleague Matthew Engel, The Highlights is a lasting record of the work of a very special writer.