Twenty years of professionalism has seen rugby union undergo dramatic transformations, from changes to everyday training cultures to the growth of the Rugby World Cup into one of the largest global sporting events. The Rugby World in the Professional Era is the first book to examine the effect that professionalism has had across a number of different aspects of the game and the wider socio-cultural significance of these changes through case studies from across the globe. Drawing on contributions from scholars from across the rugby-playing world, the book explores the role of rugby's professionalisation through a number of social-scientific lenses, including: labour migration race and indigenous populations the globalisation of the game mega-event management male sexualities media representations of rugby - from broadcasting matches to rugby in museums and on stage and screen Offering insights into under-researched areas of the sport, such as the growth of Rugby Sevens into an Olympic sport, and providing the most up-to-date recent history of the sport available, The Rugby World in the Professional Era is essential reading for anyone with an academic interest in rugby, and any student or scholar with interests in sports history, sports sociology, sport management or the economics of professional sport.

Contemporary sports coaching studies have moved beyond simple biophysical approaches to more complex understandings of coaching as a set of social relationships and processes. This is the first book to examine what that means in the context of one major international sport, rugby union. Drawing on cutting-edge empirical research in the five most powerful rugby-playing nations, as well as developments in pedagogical and social theory, the book argues for an holistic approach to coaching, coach development and player and team performance, helping to close the gap between coaching theory and applied practice.

With player-centered approaches to coaching, such as Game Sense and Teaching Games for Understanding, at the heart of the book, it covers key contemporary topics in coach education such as:

• Long term coach development
• Experience and culture in coaching practice
• Positive coaching for youth rugby
• Improving decision-making ability
• Collaborative action research in rugby coaching

Informed by work with elite-level rugby coaches, and examining coaching practice in both the full and sevens versions of the game, this book encourages the reader to think critically about their own coaching practice and to consider innovative new approaches to player and coach development. It is essential reading for all students of sports coaching with an interest in rugby, and for any coach, manager or administrator looking to develop better programmes in coach education.

Mud, Blood and Studs is a special story of sporting excellence passed from generation to generation. An alcoholic father abandons his family in Troon, Scotland, and sails for America, but against the odds his offspring prosper, as his four boys have natural athletic ability. Oldest son, Jim, travels to America to track down his father and finds a country in the throes of the Great Depression. However, his superb soccer skills win him selection for the 1930 US World Cup team. In 1932, he signs for Manchester United, and later for Spurs. Jim passes his skills on to his son, George, who becomes a USA All-Star and USMNT player. Jim's brothers, John and Tom, shake up Scottish football, and John hands down his sublime hand-to-eye coordination to sons Peter and Gordon, who make their mark in international rugby. Then there are Peter and Gordon's cousins, the Lambies, who impact South African rugby. This fascinating book brings you the inside track on a remarkable family who overcame adversity to thrive at the top level of sport.

The most capped All Black in history speaks for the record about his storied career, spanning four World Cups, nine Super Rugby finals and 153 appearances in the black jersey.

After making his debut for New Zealand in 2010 at the age of 21, Samuel Whitelock was selected for the 2011 Rugby World Cup campaign. He played in all seven matches and emerged victorious with the nation's first trophy since 1987. Four years later he played in all seven matches of the 2015 tournament, becoming one of an elite group of players to win back-to-back World Cups.

Whitelock was instrumental in the most successful period of All Blacks rugby in the modern era, and in his retirement year he topped off his domestic career with a performance for the ages, and a record run of championships for the Crusaders.

In this autobiography, Whitelock speaks in his own words about physical and mental toughness, leadership and coaching, friends and foes on the footy field, tradition, darkening the jersey and how family and farming provided the bedrock for global success.

View from the Second Row is an inspiring story and a journey like no other, and the epitome of what makes New Zealand rugby special.

Rugby On This Day revisits many of the sport's most magical and memorable moments which might otherwise have slipped under the radar. Here are over 700 unusual and hilarious highlights, all mixed in with a maelstrom of quirky anecdotes and legendary characters to produce an irresistibly dippable rugby union diary - with an entry for every day of the year. Apart from the usual rousing title wins and stupendous tries, every fan has their favourite rugby memories, be they moments of inspiration on the pitch, streakers or 20-man brawls. As well as recalling events that will make you laugh, cry, or shake your head in disbelief, Rugby On This Day also benefits from brilliant research which delves deep into the game's history, gathering together so many original stories and tit-bits to create a snapshot of the diverse and often bizarre world of rugby union.

Not All Mud and Scrums is about rugby union before professionalism. The book begins and ends with the historic Scotland-England Grand Slam match at newly-opened Murrayfield in 1955. There are men, matches and moments here, seen from the press box and the terraces with an eye for the odd and a feeling for the past. It will be of a special interest to those who, like the author, were introduced to the game in simpler times.

In Animated by Uncertainty, Joshua D. Rubin analyzes South African rugby through the lens of aesthetic politics. Building on 17 months of ethnographic research with rugby coaches, players, and administrators, the author argues that rugby is a form of performance and further that the qualities that define rugby shape the political ends to which the sport can be put. In this respect, Animated by Uncertainty demonstrates that theories of sporting politics cannot afford to overlook the qualities of the sports themselves, and it provides a theoretical approach to illustrate how these qualities can be studied. The book also analyzes the ways that apartheid and colonialism inhere in South African institutions and practices. Drawing inspiration from the observation that South Africans could always abandon rugby if they chose to do so, Rubin highlights how the continuing significance of rugby as a form of performance brings traces of South Africa's apartheid and colonial past into the country's contemporary political moment.

Twenty years of professionalism has seen rugby union undergo dramatic transformations, from changes to everyday training cultures to the growth of the Rugby World Cup into one of the largest global sporting events. The Rugby World in the Professional Era is the first book to examine the effect that professionalism has had across a number of different aspects of the game and the wider socio-cultural significance of these changes through case studies from across the globe. Drawing on contributions from scholars from across the rugby-playing world, the book explores the role of rugby's professionalisation through a number of social-scientific lenses, including: labour migration race and indigenous populations the globalisation of the game mega-event management male sexualities media representations of rugby - from broadcasting matches to rugby in museums and on stage and screen Offering insights into under-researched areas of the sport, such as the growth of Rugby Sevens into an Olympic sport, and providing the most up-to-date recent history of the sport available, The Rugby World in the Professional Era is essential reading for anyone with an academic interest in rugby, and any student or scholar with interests in sports history, sports sociology, sport management or the economics of professional sport.

Crafted in his signature flair-for-detail and humorous writing style, veteran sports journalist Liam Del Carme takes rugby fans and Springbok supporters on the ride of a lifetime in this behind-the-scenes account, Winging It: On tour with the Boks. With more than 25 years’ experience as an insightful sports writer, Del Carme has travelled to six of the seven continents as part of the press corps who follow and write about the national rugby team in all its iterations at international level. His anecdotes will have you wide-eyed with wonderment and chuckling appreciatively at his talent for telling a funny story.

Winging It: On Tour With The Boks is an insider’s view of life on tour from one of South Africa’s most enduring sports writers, Liam Del Carme, while he follows the much-cherished national rugby team, the Springboks.

Del Carme takes the reader across continents and time zones as he shares the helter-skelter atmosphere of meeting looming writing deadlines while finding ways to maintain his sanity. The book explores the ebb and flow of touring with one of rugby’s iconic teams since 1996, including three Rugby World Cups, various Tri-Nations and Rugby Championships, as well as end-of-year tours, in destinations all over the world. He explores the characters, destinations and his travel companions while sharing his highs and lows of covering great rugby moments.

In the book, the reader gets to see the personal side of prominent sports personalities, including Nick Mallett, Harry Viljoen, Gcobani Bobo, Jake White, Eddie Jones, Joost van der Westhuizen, Clive Woodward, Peter de Villiers, Graham Henry, Jean de Villiers, Naas Botha, John Hart, Owen Nkumane, Chester Williams, Allister Coetzee, Heyneke Meyer, Rudolf Straeuli, Os du Randt and Dick Muir.

Known to thousands of rugby fans as a knowledgeable, passionate and witty broadcaster, and as an entertaining and popular after-dinner speaker, Phil Steele's confident demeanour and humorous disposition mask a life-long battle against depression and anxiety heightened by heartbreak and tragedy in his personal life. Nerves of Steele is a remarkable story and reveals the real Phil Steele, a man known only by his very closest friends and family.The Cardiff-born 'Ely Boy', who dreamed of playing for Wales, suffered his first bout of debilitating clinical depression when he saw his promising rugby career with Newport RFC wrecked by injury at only 23, just as his eye-catching performances had earned him a call up to the Wales B squad.The curse of mental illness and its malevolent twin, chronic anxiety, hung over Phil for years, who describes his suffering as 'like living under a cloak of constant unease' and at times even sapped his will to go on living. His vulnerability was repeatedly tested by losing both patents whilst still in his twenties, his younger sister to alcoholism and his beloved wife Liz who died from a brain tumour aged 48, only a month after being diagnosed.Nerves of Steele is, however, an uplifting story of how, despite all the mental anguish and personal tragedy, Phil's determination, strength of character and infectious personality has enabled him to conquer his condition and live a full and rewarding personal and professional life. With mental illness believed to affect one in every four people, Nerves of Steele will resonate with those that have experienced it themselves as well as their loved ones who've also been affected by it - and offer them all real hope for the future.

John Kendall-Carpenter was a truly extraordinary man. He captained the England rugby team in the early 1950s, when he was widely regarded as one of the cleverest and most tactically astute players in the world. At the same time he launched out on a career in education which saw him not only hold the headmastership of three well-known public schools but also play a prominent role in the Headmasters’ Conference in its negotiations with the Labour Government in the 1970s to ensure the continued independence of that sector. In addition, the first Rugby World Cup simply would never have happened without him. President of the Rugby Union in 1980, he was then elected as England’s representative on the International Rugby Board where his role was to defend the amateur code which was coming under increasing pressure from professionalism. His conversion to the cause of international rugby and the commercial potential of the Word Cup, with his subsequent passion and energy, was instrumental in getting the first World Cup in 1987 off the ground and also paved the way towards the professional game. He then threw himself into the planning of the next World Cup but sadly died just a year before it started in 1991. John Kendall-Carpenter was remarkable man with many friends – and a few enemies! – not only in sport, but in education, the theatre, among politicians and writers. He is still a legend in Cornwall – his adopted home. This biography will appeal to every dedicated rugby supporter as well as those interested in sport in general and how rugby emerged from the fields of English public schools to the huge commercial sporting event it is today.

Relaunched in 2006 this edition includes: all the facts and figures from the major international competitions, such as the Six Nations, Tri Nations, World Sevens Series, Women's Rugby World Cup and Americas and Asian tournaments; a review of the season and feature articles on key issues in the game over the past year by the world's leading rugby writers; and a preview of the 2007 World Cup in France, as well as fixtures for the 2007 season.

Firsts, Lasts & Onlys is a rugby fan's delight, chock-full of astonishing events, time-honoured anecdotes and distinctly unlikely facts. Beginning in 1823 with an event that probably didn't happen, the book charts the history of the sport to the present day. Did you know that Wasps were not included at the formation of the Rugby Football Union because their representative went to the wrong venue and got drunk? Or that the first international was won by Scotland because the umpire, a Dr Almond, adjudged: 'When an umpire is in doubt, I think he is justified in deciding against the side which makes the most noise. They are probably in the wrong'? Do you know which was the first novel to mention rugby? When the last 20-a-side rugby match was played? Or why a fan cut off his testicles to celebrate a win? All this, and so much more.

This brand new edition, redesigned in hardback for 2019, makes the perfect gift for the rugby obsessive in your life.

Rugby fans will delight in this astonishing collection of outlandish stories from the past 150 years of the game. Here you'll find, among many other curious events, the Irish international who arranged his marriage in order to play against England, the team of top soccer players who beat their rugby counterparts at their own game, the day the entire Wales team was sent off, and when in an astonishing turn of events underdog Japan trimphed and beat South Africa (and who doesn't love an underdog).

The tales in this book are bizarre, fascinating, and, most importantly, true.

Wayne Barnes – one of the most-experienced international referees in history and criminal barrister to boot – uniquely lifts the lid on a lifetime of trying to keep the biggest names in the sport on best behaviour.

There aren’t many people who can say they’ve been the thirty-first man on the pitch during a World Cup humdinger, Grand Slam decider or Premiership and European Cup final; listened to the sobs of a 20-stone prop as he tries to belt out his national anthem; heard the crunch of bones after some of the mightiest hits known to the game; or been yards away from the greatest players of the last twenty years, doing almost impossible things with a rugby ball – especially when you’re a working-class lad from the Forest of Dean, wondering how you ever got there in the first place.

Candid, humble and warmly told, Throwing the Book is a definitive account of what it means to be a rugby referee and a love letter to the sport that has provided Wayne with so much. Covering his childhood days, family life, career highs and lows, side-step into law, as well as what’s next in store for Wayne both on and off the pitch, this book reveals the man behind the referee for the very first time.

Serious when it needs to be, but also rich in good humour and humanity, Throwing the Book is a memoir to remember.

Rugby's long history is full of tales of inspirational courage. Yet there has never been a rugby player quite as remarkable, quite as jaw-droppingly brave, as Ian McKinley. On January 16, 2010, the young fly-half was one of Ireland's hottest rugby prospects. But his life was about to change forever. While playing for University College Dublin, a horrifying injury to his left eye saw McKinley's vision, his world and his future come crashing down around him. The injury left McKinley blind in one eye and bereft, forcing him into early retirement, his life plans scattered in the wind. After relocating to Italy to heal and rebuild himself as a youth rugby coach, a heartbroken McKinley battled on until, in the end, he vowed to do whatever it took to once again play the sport he loved. As he discloses in Second Sight in painstaking detail for the first time, McKinley poured his heart and soul into finding a way to play. He endlessly researched specialist goggles and he tenaciously fought his case against sceptical World Rugby bosses until finally, finally, he did the impossible - he came back. On November 11, 2017, against Fiji, McKinley became the first visually impaired man to ever feature in a Test match, playing at fly-half for Italy - his beloved, adopted nation. His efforts drew gasps of admiration from the crowd and tears of respect from teammates and opposition alike. In Second Sight, McKinley outlines how returning to rugby gave him the chance to highlight his skill at the highest level but, more importantly, how it helped him make peace with his injury and the unique way fate has intervened in his life. After eventually retiring for a second, and final, time in March 2021, in Second Sight McKinley tells an astounding sporting story like no other - and a tale that deserves to be heard, and applauded, around the globe.

'So powerful. This book might just change the way you think about sport forever' - Sir Clive Woodward 'As brave as they come' - Gareth Thomas 'I'm in my early forties. There are days when I don't remember the names of my wife and four kids . . .' In 2003, England won the Rugby World Cup. Steve Thompson was in England's front row, at the heart of the match, and at the heart of the scrum - one of sport's most violent battlegrounds. But triumph came at a cost. Today, he remembers nothing about playing in that final. In his words, watching the tape back is like watching a ghost. The years of hurt, and the culture of sucking up punishment and coming back for more, have taken a terrible toll. Steve has been diagnosed with early onset dementia, and serious progressive brain damage. Steve and his wife Steph had a happy family life planned, with decades ahead of them. Now he needs to capture these elusive memories for the sake of his children, before they disappear forever. With stories contributed by his world-cup winning teammates and his former manager, Sir Clive Woodward, Unforgettable is raw, powerful storytelling. This tale of hope and courage stands as testament to the ultimate strength of the human mind - and to a man no longer pushing himself to the limit for competition, but for his own place in the world.

'I, Steven Paul Fenwick, have a revelation to make that may surprise many readers. My first international representative rugby union honours were playing for England. There I was, in the line-up up for the English national anthem, in full regalia and the red rose on my chest representing England. I know this may come as a shock and it still feels as odd now as it did all those years ago, but bear with me, don't judge me quite yet!' An icon of Welsh rugby and one of the stars of the great Wales team of the 1970s, Steve Fenwick won three Triple Crowns, two Grand Slams and played in all four Tests of the 1977 Lions tour to New Zealand. He is also one of the very few members of that illustrious team to not have told his story, until now. Witty and engaging with a very dry sense of humour, Steve Fenwick's autobiography tells the story of the schoolboy from Nantgarw who became one of the most celebrated players in the rugby world, and his hilarious anecdotes and recollections of a glittering career during a golden age of Welsh rugby will delight and enthral readers in Wales and beyond.

On December 4, 1815, 750 ba' players came together in a mighty contest on the field of Carterhaugh, near Selkirk in the Scottish Borders, for what was advertised as 'a Great Foot-Ball Match'. On December 4, 2015, two bands of dedicated ba' players descended on Carterhaugh to celebrate the bicentenary of the match by joining battle in another no-holds-barred contest. For anyone interested the true origins of the game of rugby in the centuries-old mass ba' games of the Scottish Borders and the North of England - still alive and kicking to this day - here are tales wonderfully told by historians of the game. Cracked crowns, furious duckings, acts of never-to-be-forgotten heroism and unforgivable betrayal - Ian Landles relives the dramas of the original 1815 Carterhaugh Ba' match, recalls Walter Scott's pivotal role in organising it, and in the process rewrites the early history of rugby. The late Hugh Hornby describes the enduring appeal of mass football games today. Billy Gillies explains why the Border ba' game is absolutely not just a game but a serious business, and gives a blow-by-blow account of the 2015 re-enactment. Historic images, verses and letters, alongside photographs by leading Scottish photographers, tell a story that has waited two centuries to be told.

'If we win today, for the rest of our lives we'll be blood brothers. Nobody can do it for us. We are the twenty-two players who can go out there and create history.' Stuart Duncan In 1999, Ulster - whose squad included builders, students and lorry drivers, as well as professional players - overcame the odds to become the first Irish champions of Europe. The Last Amateurs tells the story of how the team went, in just fourteen months, to a record-breaking 56-3 defeat to Wasps, to victories over French giants Toulouse and Stade Francais to secure their place in Irish history. Based on interviews with all the key members of the squad - including David Humphreys, Mark McCall, Simon Mason and Andy Ward - the book tells for the first time the remarkable story of the players and the team, and of the turbulent campaign that led to them being crowned kings of Europe.

Neath Rugby Football Club is the oldest senior club in Wale and the Welsh All Blacks have enjoyed a long and proud history. This is the second Images of Sport volume devoted to the development of Neath RFC and it covers the period from 1945 to 1996 - from the end of the Second World War to professionalism. Read how the All Blacks became the first post-war Welsh champions, the first to celebrate their centenary, the first to win the Welsh Cup, the first to win the Welsh League in its amateur form, and the first to win the League under professionalism. Read too how Neath took on - and so very nearly beat - world champions New Zealand, Australia and South Africa as the 'Thomas Revolution' set them on their way to dominance of the Welsh scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Many of the great names of Welsh rugby are featured, including the club's first British Lions, Rees Stephens and Roy John, Courtenay Meredith, Ron Waldron, Brian Thomas, Dai Morris, Elgan Rees, Paul Thorburn, Jonathan Davies, Allan Bateman and Gareth Llewellyn. It will appeal to anyone with an interest in Neath rugby (an integral part of the town itself) and will revive memories for the modern rugby supporter.

A history of Featherstone Rovers Rugby League Football Club