**Shortlisted for the 2018 General Outstanding Sports Book of the Year** One of the founder members in 1895 of what became the Rugby League, Batley was once a thriving centre of commerce, one of the bustling mill towns in the Heavy Woollen District of West Yorkshire. More than 120 years on, times have changed, even if the town's Victorian buildings remain, but one constant is the importance of the club as the centre of the community. And in 2016, the Batley Bulldogs brought more than their fair share of pride to the town. They were Underdogs, but gave their professional Super League rivals a run for their money in a season that surpassed all expectations. Given unprecedented access to the team - players, staff and fans - Tony Hannan charts a fascinating year in the life of a lower-league club, of labourers spilling blood and guts on to Batley's notorious sloping pitch before getting bruised bodies up for work on a Monday morning, of hand-to-mouth existence at the unglamorous and gritty end of British sport. And at their centre is the Bulldogs captain Keegan Hirst, the first rugby league player to come out as gay, and inspirational coach John Kear, just two men in the most colourful cast of characters. It was also a year when the town was plunged into tragedy by the brutal murder of local MP Jo Cox, a great supporter of the club. Underdogs is more than just a book about Batley though. It is the story of northern working-class culture, past and present, and a report from the front-line of a society struggling to find its identity in a changing world.

**WINNER British Sports Book Awards SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR** **Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award** Gareth Thomas had it all. He was a national hero, a sporting icon. He was a leader of men, captain of Wales and the British Lions. To him, rugby was an expression of cultural identity, a sacred code. It was no mere ball game. It gave him everything, except the freedom to be himself. This is the story of a man with a secret that was slowly killing him. Something that might devastate not only his own life but the lives of his wife, family, friends and teammates. The only place where he could find any refuge from the pain and guilt of the lie he was living was on the pitch, playing the sport he loved. But all his success didn't make the strain of hiding who he really was go away. His fear that telling the truth about his sexuality would lose him everything he loved almost sent him over the edge. The deceit ended when Gareth became the world's most prominent athlete to come out as a gay man. His gesture has strengthened strangers, and given him a fresh perspective. Gareth's inspiring and moving story transcends the world of sport to tell a universal truth about feeling like an outsider, and facing up to who you really are.

Huddersfield's importance to the game of Rugby League is immeasurable. Prior to the formation of the Northern Union in 1895, Huddersfield Cricket and Athletic Club had an active and ever-honourable life of thirty years or so.Then came the glorious era of the 1914/15 'Team of All Talents' as the Fartowners captured 'All Four Cups', the combination of unrivalled individualism enabling the Claret and Gold to sweep all before them. Other successes were enjoyed in the 1920s, '30s and '40s, with major trophies collected post-war until the early 1960s, although the club did secure divisional titles and promotions through into the 1990s. Success for a rugby club such as Huddersfield comes in many guises, it is not only cups, nor leagues won, or international caps gained - although these things are vitally important - it is a reputation for sportsmanship on or off the field, despite the trials and tribulations that come along. This book represents a pictorial journey of a great rugby league club through to the Super League era and Huddersfield's return to top-flight rugby league.

Forty years ago, a South African rugby tour in the United States became a crucial turning point for the nation's burgeoning protests against apartheid and a test of American foreign policy. In Flashpoint: How a Little-Known Sporting Event Fueled America's Anti-Apartheid Movement, Derek Charles Catsam tells the fascinating story of the Springbok's 1981 US tour and its impact on the country's anti-apartheid struggle. The US lagged well behind the rest of the Western world when it came to addressing the vexing question of South Africa's racial policies, but the rugby tour changed all that. Those who had been a part of the country's tiny anti-apartheid struggle for decades used the visit from one of white South Africa's most cherished institutions to mobilize against both apartheid sport and the South African regime more broadly. Protestors met the South African team at airports, chanted outside their hotels, and courted arrests at matches, which ranged from the bizarre to the laughable, with organizers going to incredible lengths to keep their locations secret. In telling the story of how a sport little appreciated in the United States nonetheless became ground zero for the nation's growing anti-apartheid movement, Flashpoint serves as a poignant reminder that sports and politics have always been closely intertwined.

'He's one of the best players I've ever played with. As a forward, I'd say he's the best.' Johnny Sexton Sean O'Brien does not come from a traditional rugby background. He grew up on a farm in Tullow, far from the rugby hotbeds of Limerick and Cork or the fee-paying schools of Dublin. But as he made his way up through the ranks, it soon became clear that he was a very special player and a very special personality. Now, Sean O'Brien tells the remarkable and unlikely story of his rise to the highest levels of world rugby, and of a decade of success with Leinster, Ireland and the British and Irish Lions.

In 2009, Warrington RLFC reached the nadir of their long-term, chronic underachievement, prompting one fan to write to the local newspaper questioning the players' commitment. He signed the letter 'Spirit of '55' - a reference to the year the club were last champions. Results began to improve dramatically, with back-to-back Challenge Cup wins followed by a League Leader's Shield - but still no championship. Spirit of '55 follows Warrington's quest to become champions in 2012, as seen through the eyes of their most passionate fan. But are the team cursed by the town's expectations, and the ghost of '55? Laced with terrace humour and tempered by the expert eye of a professional coach, the team's record of failure and the 'curse of hope' will strike a chord with all sports fans. The book builds to the climax of the play-offs where one team will achieve glory. But will it be Warrington?

The story of Leeds Rugby League Club, based on the historic venue of Headingly, which through a vivid pictorial account follows the tribulations and successes of the club from Northern Union days, through the golden thirties and up to the present day.

This book is part of the Images of Sport series, which uses old photographs and archived images to show the history of various local sports in Great Britain.

A book of stories about the amazing and often forgotten working-class heroes that gave Rugby League its reputation as a hard hitting egaletarian game. This is the story of when rugby league was a bruising tribal contest with local rivalries, muddy country grounds were packed with fans and the corporate juggernaut of today's game was a distant dream. It's a look at the days when footballers had 'real jobs', smoked cigarettes at half time and had a beer together after training. Days when your footy boots were a treasured possession - and rules and regulations barely mattered. Read about how legends were forged in steel by men who refused to countenance defeat. When back then, before fulltime professionalism, you might buy your bread or rabbits from someone you barracked for on Saturday; an uncommon hero of Rugby League.

Never before in the UK has a Rugby League man of Malcolm Reilly's legendary status issued such a full and revealling autobiography. Reilly has been a household name in Rugby League for over 30 years -three decades in which he strode like a colossus over the world of this toughest of team sports. He was a champion player, and a champion coach, in both England and Australia - and Reilly reveals one man's personal story behind many of Rugby League's most famous, and infamous, days of the last 30 years, told just as he played his football - with no holds barred. Malcolm Reilly developed a reputation as the most feared player in the game at a time when Rugby League was at its most brutal during the 60's and 70's. His book recalls that club career at home with highly controversial Lions tour in which he starred the last time a British team won the coveted Ashes. Rupert Murdoch's million dollar war to take control of the game, with Malcolm Reilly bang in the middle of it He also describes the fairytale triumph with his Newcastle team in Australia in 1997 followed by the drugs storm that broke around them less than a year later. Reilly has been adapted in this UK version with Harry Edgar, one of the most experienced writers on international affairs in the world of rugby.

This book is part of the Classic Matches series, in which long-term followers of various sporting clubs and teams look back on some of their finest moments. This book looks at fifty of Hull Rugby League Football Club's best matches.