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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Ball games
This is not a book about cricket. It is the story of a man who just happened to play cricket at the highest level. Through Fire is at times a brutally honest and always fascinating work of introspection and critique that provides readers with unrestricted insight into the mind and heart of one of South Africa’s most interesting and charismatic national captains. There is the public persona of the tattooed, fashionable, mentally tough, immensely popular and yet at times, misunderstood Du Plessis. And then there is the authentic Faf. Du Plessis reflects on his growth from being a youth with a questionable moral compass outside of cricket, to becoming a leader known for his integrity, values, honesty, and empathy for his teammates and country. He reflects on how influential leaders such as Gary Kirsten, Stephen Fleming, Mohammed Moosajee, Russell Domingo, Ottis Gibson, and MS Dhoni moulded him as a man who leads with grit, purpose, and a love of people. But he also explores destructive relationships, providing his perspective, in devastating detail, on his final years of international cricket. Neither the changing room nor the boardroom is ever off limits. Through Fire is a no-holds-barred autobiography offering exceptional insight into the core being of an elite sports personality.
Eight-year-old Teko Modise didn’t mean to compete with his father, it was just that he was a soccer natural and everyone could see it. His father, in a fit of childlike jealously, kicked him out of the house, and when Teko tried to come back he kicked him out again. So little Teko made a plan. Every day he attended school as normal, and at night he slept out on the streets with other homeless children. This book is the true story of his rise to fame, to becoming ‘the General’, one of the best footballers South Africa has produced, and will allow readers to understand the story behind ‘the Curse’. At the peak of his career the world seemed filled with Teko. His face was on every major billboard, TV advert and magazine cover in the country. Little boys from suburbs to townships everywhere were lining up at barbershops asking for The Teko haircut. With a house in Sandton and driving an Aston Martin, Modise was about to make history in the upcoming Soccer World Cup of 2010. He had gone beyond being football royalty, he became a super star. The tabloids have called him an abusive lover, a cheating ex-husband, a neglectful father and an alcoholic egotistical footballer. But beyond these headlines is a story about a boy who played his way out of poverty on talent alone. Be inspired by this story of a young man with a resilient spirit who kept moving forward chasing his dreams, who not only survived, but made it, and made it big. The Teko Modise story is proof that anything is possible.
An astonishing 94.6% of businesses fail to sell, closing at an enormous cost to the owner, their family, their staff and the economy. It’s a shocking realisation to many business owners that after all the courage it took to start, the creativity and care it took to build, every business faces only two possible ends: a sale or closure. So you’ve got to build to $ell. Sweat, Scale, $ell shares real business-building stories about how ordinary business owners changed their fate using the Asset of Value™ method, a practical approach to building a winning business. With Pavlo Phitidis, they Sweated to reshape their business to be relevant to a changing world; they built a solid foundation for Scale; and then they pressed hard on the accelerator to ramp up growth in preparation for $ale to create a business any buyer would want. Phitidis draws on 25 years of direct experience in conceptualising and building businesses across four continents. He has developed and brought to market business assets in excess of US$300 million through a combination of business start-ups, turnarounds, sales and acquisitions. Phitidis started, built and sold 12 businesses in nine years and took the lessons from the two failures, two IPOs and eight sales to build a business that builds businesses. As a co-founder of Aurik he has worked with over 1 500 established businesses across most sectors in the economy, including family businesses, partnerships and lone business owners. PAVLO PHITIDIS is the resident entrepreneurial and business growth content contributor for Radio 702 and CapeTalk, the presenter and host of The Growth Engines for Business Day TV, as well as a speaker at both local and international business conferences.
A vivid story of the men and women who took a stand when sport mixed with politics. In 1971, when the racially selected all-white Springbok rugby team toured Australia, it became a nation at war with itself. There was bloodshed as tens of thousands of anti-apartheid campaigners clashed with governments, police, and rugby fans - who were given free reign to assault protestors. Queensland premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen declared a state of emergency. Prime minister William McMahon called the Wallabies who refused to play 'national disgraces'. Barbed wire ringed the great rugby grounds to stop protestors invading the field. Pitched Battle recreates what became of the most rancorous periods in modern Australian history - a time of courage, pain, faith, fanaticism, and political opportunism - which ultimately made heroes of the seven Wallabies who refused to play, played a key role in the later political careers of Peter Beattie, Meredith Burgmann, and Peter Hain, and ultimately led to the abandonment of apartheid.
Rassie Erasmus is al geniaal genoem. Hy is al roekeloos genoem. Nog sy lewe lank het hy dinge anders gedoen. Nou sal Rassie op sy kenmerkende openhartige manier gesels oor sy lewe vol voorspoed en teëspoed, op en weg van die rugbyveld – as Springbokspeler, provinsiale afrigter, en as die hoofafrigter wat die nasionale span na die Rugbywêreldbeker-sege in 2019 en ook in die aanloop tot 2023 se Wêreldbeker gelei het. Hy sal terugkyk op sy loopbaan as speler en afrigter, iemand wie se ingebore rugby-instink, vermoë om ’n wedstryd anders te lees en aptyt vir harde werk hom nog altyd onderskei het, en gelei het tot omstredenheid en mislukking, maar ook dawerende sukses. Rassie werk saam met die bekende joernalis David O’Sullivan om sy lewensverhaal te vertel. David is ’n bekroonde skrywer en omroeper.
4 World Champions. 3 Priceless Points. 2 Cups Back-To-Back. 1
Phenomenal Journey
"Dié seun is vir groot dinge bestem . . ." Só het sy afrigters by Boland Landbou sedert sy hoërskooldae geglo. Toe hy op die bloedjong ouderdom van 19 die Curriebeker vir die Blou Bulle verower én die skopkoning Naas Botha se eindstrydpunterekord verbeter, het dit gelyk of sy pad na roem en rykdom geplavei was. Maar toe begin die dobbelstene verkeerd val vir die liefling van Loftus. Harsingskudding, Kamp Staaldraad, beserings en toé ’n allesverterende pilverslawing het hom laat steier. Sy sprokies-huwelik is verwoes en sy beroepslewe en geldsake is in ’n warboel gelaat . . . Dié boek onthul staaltjies oor sy rugbydae maar ook vriende en vertrouelinge se vergeefse pogings om Derick uit die kloue van verslawing los te wikkel. Dit is ’n diep menslike verhaal wat wys hoe dun die lyn tussen sukses en mislukking is en hoe maklik selfs die grootste helde tot op hul knieë gedwing kan word.
Rassie Erasmus has been called a genius. He’s been called reckless. All his life, he’s done things differently. Now, with his trademark candour, Rassie will talk openly about his life of adventure and misadventure both on and off the rugby field – as a Springbok player, a provincial coach, and as the head coach who led the national team to win the 2019 Rugby World Cup, including the lead-up to the RWC 2023. He will reflect on his career as a player and coach, someone whose innate rugby instincts, ability to read a game differently, and appetite for hard work have set him apart, and have led to controversy and failure, along with resounding success. Rassie is working alongside well-known journalist David O’Sullivan to bring his story to print. David is an award-winning writer and broadcaster.
‘You only need to win a game by one point.’ – Jacques Nienaber after
South Africa’s tournament opener against Scotland in the 2023 Rugby
World Cup.
Business tycoon Patrice Motsepe is never shy to shake up the status quo. He has always followed his instincts to stay ahead of the curve. An icon of corporate South Africa, he is as much known for his leadership in the world of football as for his philanthropy. He was a top lawyer when he followed his dream of being an entrepreneur, making a deal with Anglo American in the late 1990s that marked the beginning of a series of unique relationships which today define his African Rainbow Minerals empire. As the owner of Mamelodi Sundowns, he led it to becoming one of the most accomplished clubs in Africa. Then came the powerful seats of president at the Confederation of African Football and vice-president of FIFA, football’s global governing body, in 2021. Yet questions linger about his political ambitions because of his close links to the ANC and particularly his brothers-in-law, Cyril Ramaphosa and Jeff Radebe. In this unauthorised biography, best-selling author and journalist Janet Smith mines public archives, academic papers and international media to find what lies behind this hugely successful, intensely private man, and what may lie ahead.
Springbok rugby public relations manager Annelee Murray was with the team for 244 matches, during which time she worked with seven national coaches and 21 Springbok captains. This is a celebration of her 20 year journey with the Springboks, she has unique stories to tell and most of the photographs in the book are her own images from her collection, many of which will be published for the first time.
In the autumn of 2010, a little-known New Zealander called Joe Schmidt took over as head coach at Leinster. He had never been in charge of a professional team. After Leinster lost three of their first four games, a prominent Irish rugby pundit speculated that Schmidt had 'lost the dressing room'. Nine years on, Joe Schmidt has stepped down as Ireland coach having achieved success on a scale never before seen in Irish rugby. Two Heineken Cups in three seasons with Leinster. Three Six Nations championships in six seasons with Ireland, including the Grand Slam in 2018. And a host of firsts: the first Irish victory in South Africa; the first Irish defeat of the All Blacks, and then a second; and Ireland's first number 1 world ranking. Along the way, Schmidt became a byword for precision and focus in coaching, remarkable attention to detail and the highest of standards. But who is Joe Schmidt? In Ordinary Joe, Schmidt tells the story of his life and influences: the experiences and management ideas that made him the coach, and the man, that he is today. And his diaries of the 2018 Grand Slam and the 2019 Rugby World Cup provide a brilliantly intimate insight into the stresses and joys of coaching a national team in victory and defeat. From the small towns in New Zealand's North Island where he played barefoot rugby and jostled around the dinner table with seven siblings, to the training grounds and video rooms where he consistently kept his teams a step ahead of the opposition, Ordinary Joe reveals an ordinary man who has helped his teams to achieve extraordinary things.
Eddie Jones is one of the most successful sports coaches of all time. From coaching three different nations to Rugby World Cup Finals and with a winning record with England of nearly 80%, Eddie Jones knows what it takes to lead and manage high performance teams. For the first time, Eddie Jones shows just what it takes to be a leader in a high performance and high pressure environment and how these lessons can be applied to every walk of life, from coaching the U9 rugby team to leading a multinational organization to simply doing your job better. As he explains the High Performance Cycle of Success at the heart of his philosophy, Eddie Jones reveals the lessons he has learnt from Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Pep Guardiola as well as from the founder of Uniqlo and Ron Adams from the NBA. He also gives a detailed analysis of his own performance as a coach as well as how he gets the best out of the players and coaches around him and what he saw in Tom Curry that no one else saw, which makes him think that he could be the next Richie McCaw. Drawing on stories of nearly thirty years of coaching, including the 2003, 2007, 2015 and 2019 World Rugby campaigns, the full story of England's 2021 Six Nations campaign as well as why it takes humour, humility and relentless curiosity to lead an eclectic mix of superstars from Maro Itoje to James Haskell, George Smith to Kyle Sinckler, to create teams that are relentlessly hungry to win, Leadership is the ultimate rugby book about what it takes to be the best. Written with Donald McRae, two-time winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award, Leadership is the book for anyone who wants to learn how to build and lead a team to success.
From the start of his glittering career in 1992, to his official retirement from all formats of the game in 2013, Shane Warne has long desired to tell his incredible story without compromise. No Spin is that very story. It will offer a compelling intimate voice, true insight and a pitch-side seat to one of cricket’s finest eras, making this one of the ultimate must-have sports autobiographies. Shane is not only one of the greatest living cricket legends: he is as close as the game has had since Botham to a maverick genius on the field and a true rebel spirit off it, who always gives audiences what they want. Despite being the talismanic thorn in England’s side for nearly two decades of regular Ashes defeats, he was also much loved in the UK where he played cricket for Hampshire. He’s also a much-admired figure in India and South Africa. Alongside his mesmerising genius as a bowler, Shane has often been a controversial figure, and in this book he's talk with brutal honesty about some of the most challenging times in his life as a player. Honest, thoughtful, fearless and loved by millions, Shane is always his own man and this book is a testament to his brilliant career.
'Only the second teenager to have scored a goal in a World Cup Final! Welcome to the club - it's great to have some company!' - Pelé This was the praise lauded upon Kylian Mbappé who, at just 19 years of age, led France to triumph at the 2018 World Cup. As golden confetti rained down, millions across the globe watched as the young man kissed the iconic trophy; the heir to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the best footballer in the world had announced himself. It was his crowning moment. In Kylian Mbappé: The Definitive Biography, Julien Laurens, the world's leading French football journalist, paints a vivid portrait of Mbappé's meteoric rise to global stardom. After a decade covering Kylian's career, Julien has had unprecedented access to the player's friends, coaches and teammates past and present. Exploring Mbappé's humble upbringing in the suburbs of Paris and schooling at the famed Clairefontaine academy, his peerless rise with AS Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain, as well as his dream move to Real Madrid where his career has reached new heights, this extensive biography crafts an intimate account of Kylian's life. Julien takes us into the inner workings of Mbappé's psyche, as we witness how becoming a world superstar at just 19 affected the young Parisian. From the complex relationship he had with his boyhood club and its hierarchy to valiantly losing against Lionel Messi's Argentina in the 2022 World Cup Final, and becoming the new face of Real Madrid's galácticos, Julien shows us how the Mbappé that stars for club and country today is unrecognisable from the one who won the World Cup with France in 2018.
As excitement builds in the run-up to the world’s greatest football competition, the official 2026 FIFA World Cup Kids’ Handbook provides the perfect World Cup companion for young football fans. This book is bursting with information about the host nations (USA/Canada/Mexico), providing an overview of the stadiums, FIFA World Cup facts, statistics, plus a rundown of top teams and star players and much more. As well as everything a young fan needs to know to become a World Cup expert, there are football puzzles, quizzes, games, wordsearches, dot-to-dots and other activities to keep them entertained. A fill-in progress chart lets young fans record match results as the tournament progresses, and makes this book a great personalized souvenir of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Wall Street Journal reporters Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg offer a deeply reported account of the intertwined sagas and legacies of two of the greatest soccer players of all time—Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo—examining how their rivalry has grown from a personal competition to a multi-billion-dollar industry, paralleling the stunning rise, overwhelming excesses, and uncertain future of modern international soccer. For over fifteen years, almost any conversation about international soccer has always come back to two players—Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo—undoubtedly the greatest of their generation but with styles, attitudes, and fanbases that couldn’t be more different. For millions of people around the world “Messi or Ronaldo?” isn’t simply a barroom argument, or an affirmation of fandom, so much as a statement of philosophy, of values, of what global soccer is today and of what it will be tomorrow. Now Wall Street Journal reporters and co-authors of The Club, Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg, unite the stories of Messi and Ronaldo into a single modern epic of global sports, detailing how one rivalry changed both the game and the business of international soccer—forever. Based on dozens of firsthand accounts and years of original reporting, Messi vs. Ronaldo weaves together the stakes, color, and characters at the heart of each man’s story, going inside the locker rooms and boardrooms where their legends were forged and revealing off-field drama as gripping as anything that happened on it. From their contrasting origin stories to their divergent career arcs and their conflicting reputations, these players have built their successes on opposite paths, yet each, in his own way, offers a riveting tale of triumph and excess. Taken together, their story embodies the astronomical growth of international soccer, how social media has revolutionized the power of sports celebrity, and how the desire to capitalize on the billions of dollars these players represent electrified some of the most storied clubs in Europe—Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Manchester United among them—and cost them almost everything. Updated with a new epilogue detailing Messi and Argentina’s remarkable victory in the 2022 World Cup, Messi vs. Ronaldo offers a deeply researched look at their legacy and grapples with the impact that their talents have had on the game for better and for worse. Much more than a retelling of the dual accomplishments of these great players, this is truly a biography of a rivalry, one that has become a crucial lens for understanding the past, present, and future of global soccer.
The football World Cup is the most watched sporting event on the planet. It has become a global obsession: 211 nations initially entered the 2022 edition. It has been running for almost a century. Yet there is no comprehensive history of the tournament: based on fresh interviews and meticulously researched this book will change that. By 1930, football had outgrown the Olympic Games. A new competition, run by Fifa, would take international football to the next level. After a shambolic start to the first cup in Uruguay - an incomplete stadium, shoddy refereeing and physios accidentally injuring players - the thrilling final saw Uruguay take on Argentina, beating them 4-2. From those chaotic beginnings grew the modern World Cup, a cultural phenomenon that draws the world together like nothing else, and that gives it a profound importance. Ask a random person on a random street to name a moment in the history of Senegal and they may well say Pape Bouba Diop's winner against France in the 2002 World Cup, a goal not only against the defending champions but against the former colonial masters. The World Cup has political significance. West Germany's success in 1954 was a moment of reintegration into global society. Progress to the semi-finals in 1998 gave a huge boost to Croatia's sense of national self. But football is an unpredictable sport. In the so-called Soccer War of 1969 tensions between El Salvador and Honduras were ignited by a World Cup qualifier. More recently, the focus for governments seeking to political gain has been hosting the tournament, with the World Cups in Russia and Qatar clear examples of sportswashing, staging a tournament to project an image of a thriving society. There has never been a comprehensive history of the World Cup that has considered not only the matches and goals, the players and coaches, the tales of scandal and genius, the haggling and skulduggery of the bidding process, but has also placed the tournaments within a socio-political framework. The story of the World Cup is also the story of the world; this book tells its definitive history.
We all know South Africa has problems; we read about them in the newspapers, we see them on the streets and many people experience them in their daily lives. Fortunately, many of these problems can be solved using innovation and science. Innovation takes a look at inventions - developed in South Africa by South Africans - to address issues in the areas of healthcare, energy, environment and industry. Some of these inventions, such as a tea bag created to filter water for communities in rural areas, can save lives; others, such as a unique way to beneficiate titanium, could spell a new era of industry in the country. The book is broken down into sections on environment, health, energy, industry and education, and in each of those parts are examples of South African innovations, from a satellite system to map fires to the concept of sterilising mosquitoes to stop the spread of malaria. These have been developed by numerous organisations and institutions and showcase South Africa's excellence.
The definitive illustrated guide to the biggest FIFA World Cup ever! FIFA World Cup 2026: The Official Guide is the essential companion to the world's biggest sporting event. With 48 nations competing in 16 cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico, the 2026 tournament promises to the most exciting, competitive and spectacular edition yet. Inside the Official Guide, you'll find everything you need to follow the FIFA World Cup, including:
Packed full of facts and statistics, and illustrated with superb photography throughout, this is the only handbook you'll need to follow all the action at FIFA World Cup 2026.
As a young, soccer-mad boy living in rural KwaZulu-Natal, Robert Marawa listened to the commentary of local football derbies on a small, crackling FM radio. As a teenager, he spent hours practising his presenting skills on his family’s home video recorder, reading from newspaper clippings his mother had carefully kept for him while he was at boarding school in Hilton. Marawa’s dream was to be a sportscaster who would be beamed into the homes of South Africa’s footballing fans. Robert Marawa’s career has exceeded his wildest imagination. ‘Madluphuthu’ has become arguably South Africa’s most popular and most recognisable sports broadcaster. With his quick turn of phrase, his baritone voice and his direct, no-nonsense approach, he has earned a loyal following on radio and television over the past two decades. In Gqimm Shelele, his signature sign-off phrase, Marawa shares his broadcasting journey from hosting World Cups and interviewing presidents to his multiple firings, controversial suspensions and what he believes are the political forces behind attempts to end his career. He confronts the cabal that has repeatedly driven him off air, the tabloid reports about his personal life and his multiple near-death experiences and health scares. With his trademark passion, Marawa addresses issues of transformation, sports administration, mentorship, political leadership and why Bafana Bafana keeps failing to win. He also shares his insights on what has made him a successful and popular radio and television broadcaster, giving a much-anticipated, behind-the-scenes look at his career.
The autobiography of New Zealand and All Blacks legend, Sonny Bill Williams, one of rugby's most entertaining and complicated figures. As a shy part-Samoan boy growing up in the suburbs of Auckland, Sonny Bill Williams thought about footy constantly. For him, the dream of playing professional NRL was so big that nothing else ever came close. Fast forward to 2004, and eighteen-year-old Sonny Bill's dream was coming true. Making his first-grade debut for the Canterbury Bulldogs, he would become an integral part of their premiership-winning team and be named Rookie of the Year. The league culture was train hard, play hard and then party hard. Alcohol, drugs, women - it was a slippery slope for a naïve teen looking to find his place. Too soon, the joy of winning a premiership gave way to an emptiness that not even footy could fix. Struggling, Sonny made a decision that for many was unforgivable. He walked out on the Bulldogs and flew to France. Scathing headlines, subpoenas and threatened lawsuits followed. But so too would come the realisation that he couldn't run from the man in the mirror. In this powerful, open and honest memoir, Sonny Bill shares the triumphs and missteps of his extraordinary sporting life and reveals how faith and family have made him the man he is today. Compelling and searingly honest, You Can't Stop the Sun from Shining is essential reading for any sports fan.
This is the story of Papwa Sewgolum, who rose from humble beginnings to challenge the might of the golfing titans on an equal footing. Papwa Sewgolum, against all odds, won the Dutch Open playing in only his second ‘white’ tournament, and a total of three times in four attempts. Then, after being allowed to play in the Natal Open, he demolished a top field but was presented with his trophy in the rain. At the same time, the other players watched from the clubhouse, igniting a worldwide backlash leading to South Africa being banned from the Olympics, whilst Papwa became the symbol of the anti-apartheid sport movement. Again allowed to play in the Natal Open, he beat the world number 1, Gary Player, head-to-head, only for the apartheid government, after a failed assassination attempt, to ban him from all tournaments in South Africa, and then withhold his passport to prevent him from playing abroad. This book is written in a popular, conversational style. It’s easily understood by those who don’t know much about golf, yet the book’s message is one of hope and perseverance, and in so doing, it creates a black golfing hero to inspire the youth.
The major new memoir from Sir Alex Ferguson, filled with never-before-seen photographs and memorabilia from his private archives. Twenty-one games. One extraordinary life. Sir Alex Ferguson is widely regarded as the greatest football manager of all time. In this intimate and heartfelt memoir, he tells the unique stories of twenty-one defining matches in his career, revealing fresh insights into his incredible journey from working-class Glasgow to the summit of global football as manager of Manchester United. Reaching far beyond the trophy cabinet, Sir Alex relives seventy years of footballing history – from his first medal as a schoolboy in 1956 to watching United's 2024 FA Cup victory from the stands – to reflect on the relationships, rivalries, life lessons and moments of adversity that forged his character and his teams. Written with Sir Michael Moritz, Games of My Life is a masterclass in leadership, persistence, and the enduring power of teamwork, told through the raw, unforgettable drama of the beautiful game. Shedding new light on the real stories behind the headlines, it is a true celebration of Sir Alex and his legacy. 'I’ve selected 21 football games which are particularly meaningful to me – games that take me back to different points in my life. Some of these games are not in any television archive. They are just memories. But, in my mind, I am watching them now – in vivid colour' – Sir Alex Ferguson
Now filmed as INVICTUS directed by Clint Eastwood, and starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela. SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2008 As the day of the final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup dawned, and the Springboks faced New Zealand's all-conquering All Blacks, more was at stake than a sporting trophy. When Nelson Mandela appeared wearing a Springboks jersey and led the all-white Afrikaner-dominated team in singing South Africa's new national anthem, he conquered the hearts of white South Africa. Playing the Enemy tells the extraordinary human story of how that moment became possible. It shows how a sport, once the preserve of South Africa's Afrikaans-speaking minority, came to unify the new rainbow nation, and tells of how - just occasionally - something as simple as a game really can help people to rise above themselves and see beyond their differences. |
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