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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Ball games
In the 1980s and early 1990s, David Campese thrilled spectators both in Australia and overseas with his footloose, crazy-brave style of free running. This book tells the story of his rise from humble beginnings to the very top of a global sport.
As a rugby player, David Campese seemed to operate on cross-grained pure instinct, one that left many a defender clutching at him in vain, stranded in the slipstream of his audacity. Hailed as the 'Bradman of rugby' by former Wallaby coach Alan Jones, and the 'Pele' of rugby by others, Campese was a match-winner. The refrain 'I saw Campese play' now speaks to much more than wistful reminiscences about a player widely regarded as the most entertaining ever to play the game of Rugby Union. It has come to represent a state of chronic disbelief that the Wallaby ascendancy of Campese's era has been seemingly squandered.
Campese occupies a unique intersection in rugby's history: one of its last amateurs, and one of its first professionals. He had shown, too, that coming from outside the traditional bastions of rugby - the private schools and universities - was no barrier to reaching the top. Indeed, he challenged that establishment and unsettled it, warning in the early 1990s that the code risked 'dying' if more was not done to expand its appeal.
David Campese revolutionised how the game was played and appreciated. His genius, most visibly manifest in his outrageous goosestep, captured the national and sporting imagination. The rigid, robotic rugby of today appears incapable of accommodating a player of his dash and daring.
Treat yourself to Second Helpings and more choice cuts in the style
of Simon Brown's much lauded first volume of memoirs, Playing off
the Roof & Other Stories. Exuberantly revisiting his early
years in National Service, at Oxford and as a young barrister, Lord
Brown recalls matters grave and trivial from his time at the Bar
and on the Bench, along the way regaling us with tales of
Paddington Bear, Nigel Lawson and Mozart at the Warsaw opera. He
also has something to say about the current legal scene and
considers such thorny problems as the 2019 prorogation judgment and
whether trial by jury might be dispensed with in order to clear a
mounting backlog of criminal cases. Drawing witty lessons from a
life of trials, Lord Brown finds time to muse on when a judge might
choose to change a sentence already imposed, what to say after
dinner and why the game of golf is strictly for the birds!
Arguing about the merits of players is the baseball fan's second
favorite pastime and every year the Hall of Fame elections spark
heated controversy. In a book that's sure to thrill--and
infuriate--countless fans, Bill James takes a hard look at the
Hall, probing its history, its politics and, most of all, its
decisions.
Murrayfield, the Calcutta Cup, March 1990. England vs. Scotland -
winner-takes-all for the Five Nations Grand Slam, the biggest prize
in northern hemisphere rugby. Will Carling's England are the very
embodiment of Margaret Thatcher's Britain - snarling, brutish and
all-conquering. Scotland are the underdogs - second-class citizens
from a land that's become the testing ground for the most unpopular
tax in living memory: Thatcher's Poll Tax. In Edinburgh,
nationalism is rising high - what happens in the stadium will
resound far beyond the pitch. The Grudge brilliantly recaptures a
day that has gone down in history when a rugby match became more
than a game. This is the real story of an extraordinary conflict,
told with astounding insight and unprecedented access to key
players, coaches and supporters on both sides (Will Carling, Ian
McGeechan, Brian Moore and the rest). Tom English has produced a
gripping account of a titanic struggle that thrusts the reader
right into the heart of the action. Game on. Fully revised and
updated, this special hardback edition is published to mark the
thirtieth anniversary of Scotland's most storied rugby season.
The Masterful, Definitive History of Argentinian Soccer Lionel
Messi, Diego Maradona, Alfredo Di Stefano: in every generation
Argentina has uncovered a uniquely brilliant soccer talent. Perhaps
it's because the country lives and breathes the game, its theories,
and its myths. Argentina's rich, volatile history-by turns sublime
and ruthlessly pragmatic-is mirrored in the style and swagger of
its national and club sides. In Angels with Dirty Faces, Jonathan
Wilson chronicles the operatic drama of Argentinian soccer: the
appropriation of the British game, the golden age of la nuestra,
the exuberant style of playing that developed as Juan Peron led the
country, a hardening into the brutal methods of anti-futbol, the
fusion of beauty and efficacy under Cesar Luis Menotti, and the
emergence of all-time greats. Praise for Inverting the Pyramid
"Here, for the first time in decades, is a top-notch soccer book on
how soccer is actually played on the field." -Simon Kuper "An
outstanding work...The soccer book of the decade." -Sunday Business
Post
There is only one Arsène Wenger - and for the very first time, in his own words, this is his story.
In this definitive autobiography, the world-renowned, revolutionary football manager discusses his life and career, sharing his leadership principles for success on and off the field. At Arsenal, Wenger won multiple Premier League titles, a record number of FA Cups, and masterminded the historic 'Invincibles' season of 2003-2004. He changed the game in England forever, popularising an attacking approach and changing attitudes towards nutrition, fitness and coaching methods - and towards foreign managers. The book charts his extraordinary career, from his rise in France and Japan where he managed Nancy, Monaco and Nagoya Grampus Eight - clubs that also play in red-and-white - to his twenty-two years at the helm in north London.
A must-read not only for Arsenal supporters but football fans everywhere, MY LIFE IN RED AND WHITE illuminates the mystique surrounding one of the most respected managers in the world's most popular sport.
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