England Rugby Heroes

England Rugby Heroes
Author: Julian Bennetts
Publisher:
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2015-08
Genre:
ISBN: 9781780976723

England Rugby Heroes is the official illustrated RFU celebration of England's greatest rugby players. Drawing on more than 150 years of rich rugby heritage, each carefully crafted biography describes the player's career, his highlights, and his special skills--such as David Duckham's pace and swerve, Martin Johnson's strength and leadership, and Jonny Wilkinson's kicking and tactical acumen--that elevate him above the rest. Written by respected England rugby authority Julian Bennetts, England's Rugby Heroes is illustrated with more than 150 color and black and white photographs and is a unique record of the greatest players to sport the famous Red Rose of England.

England Rugby: 150 Years

England Rugby: 150 Years
Author: Phil McGowan
Publisher:
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2021-02-02
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9781913412098

In March 1871 the first international match took place between England and Scotland at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh. Donned in all white the fledgling England team lost that day 0-1 but it was the start of remarkable history. This Rugby Football Union (RFU) product is written by the curator of the World Rugby Museum, Phil McGowan, and recounts the story of how the England team (and rugby itself) grew from an amateur collection of public schoolboys playing in a 'Home Nations Championship' into the globally recognised team they are today, watched by 80,000 at Twickenham and millions on television.

European Heroes

European Heroes
Author: Pierre Lanfranchi
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2013-09-13
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1135238987

Historians of popular culture have recently been addressing the role of myth, and now it is time that social historians of sport also examined it. The contributors to this collection of essays explore the symbolic meanings that have been attached to sport in Europe by considering some of the mythic heroes who have dominated the sporting landscapes of their own countries. The ambition is to understand what these icons stood for in the eyes of those who watched or read about these vessels into which poured all manner of gender, class and patriotic expectations.

For Poulton and England

For Poulton and England
Author: James Corsan
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2009-11-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781848762107

An outstanding leader and personality in every respect, Poulton captained England to what is now called a 'Grand Slam' in 1914 – the last season before the First World War. Once war was declared he spent seven months training in England with his battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment before crossing to Belgium via France at the end of March 1915. Five weeks later he was shot dead by a sniper in the trenches, still aged only twenty-five.

My Sporting Heroes

My Sporting Heroes
Author: Ian Botham
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2011-03-11
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1845969030

In My Sporting Heroes, one of the country's great sportsmen, Sir Ian Botham, draws up his template of what he believes makes a true sporting hero. Botham singles out the ten qualities he believes are the basic elements in any true sportsperson - bravery, passion, composure, determination, skill, leadership, instinct, dedication, humour and compassion - then highlights the sportsmen and women who he believes best demonstrate each quality, backing up his selection with personal anecdotes of his time spent with them or watching them in action. Covering a wide variety of sports and discussing admired athletes of both the past and present, from Ian Woosnam, Paul Gascoigne and Jonathan Davies to Joe Calzaghe, Lewis Hamilton and Andy Murray, My Sporting Heroes is a lively celebration of exactly what makes a true sporting legend - from someone who knows a thing or two about it!

A Very English Hero

A Very English Hero
Author: Peter J. Conradi
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 434
Release: 2013-08-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1408830922

Modest, handsome and a fine poet, eccentric Englishman Frank Thompson made an unlikely soldier. Brother of E. P. Thompson and lover of Iris Murdoch, Frank was an intellectual idealist, a rare combination of brilliant mind and enormous heart. Of his wartime experiences, Frank wrote prodigiously. His letters, diaries and poetry still read fresh and intimate today - and it is from these that Peter J. Conradi brings vividly to life a brilliantly attractive and courageous personality. Aged just twenty-three, Frank was captured, tortured and executed in Bulgaria. A soldier of principle and integrity, he fought a poet's war; a very English hero from a very different era.

Rugby Heroes

Rugby Heroes
Author: Gerard Siggins
Publisher: The O'Brien Press Ltd
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2018-02-12
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1788490363

It looks like Eoin Madden's busiest term ever! He's Castlerock College's star player and he's been called up for Ireland in the Under 16 Four Nations - how will he juggle sport and school work? But his biggest challenge of all goes way beyond his own concerns and right to the heart of Irish rugby. When his oldest and best ghostly friend calls for help, can Eoin and his band of heroes solve their deadliest mystery yet? Take a dive into history –with some help from rugby legends of the past!

Voices from the Back of the Bus

Voices from the Back of the Bus
Author: Stewart McKinney
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2011-01-25
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1907195815

Voices from the Back of the Bus provides a rare behind-the-scenes look at international rugby at the height of a golden period. Recounted with genuine warmth and much humour, over a hundred players recall the scrapes, the games, the laughs, the glory and the gritty reality of the pre-professional game. Packed with true rugby tales from the days when men played purely for the love of the game and of their nation, and multimillion-pound contracts and sponsorship deals were unheard of, this refreshing, revealing and often hilarious collection will inspire sports fans of all generations.

The Iron Duke

The Iron Duke
Author: Bobby Windsor
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2011-01-18
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1907195793

Lions legend Bobby Windsor has enjoyed triumphs beyond the dreams of most international players but has also suffered personal tragedy. His rugby career as the best hooker in the British Isles during the second golden era of Welsh rugby in the 1970s is a turbulent tale of blood and thunder on the pitch. There are riotous incidents off the pitch, including unscheduled fights with professional boxers, revelations about illegal payments during the so-called amateur era and what Windsor did to upset the Establishment and become blackballed by one of the most famous clubs in the world. Windsor's irrepressible sense of humour comes shining through on every page, except when he gives chapter and verse on the personal crisis that drove him to plan suicide. The Iron Duke is the no-holds-barred, warts-and-all story of a working-class Welsh folk hero who rose from humble beginnings to become a permanent member of the greatest Lions team in the history of rugby union.

Exe Men

Exe Men
Author: Rob Kitson
Publisher: Birlinn Ltd
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2020-11-26
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1913538028

Winner of the Telegraph Sports Book Awards Rugby Book of the Year Among the best stories in modern British team sport has been the rise of Exeter Chiefs. How, exactly, did an unfashionable rugby team from Devon emerge from obscurity to become the double champions of England and Europe? What makes them tick? What are their secrets? Exe Men is a compelling story of regional pride, fierce rural identity, larger-than-life local heroes, remarkable characters, epic resilience, big city snobbery, geographical separation, steepling ambition and personal sacrifice which will strike a chord with anyone who enjoys a classic underdog story. This is not any old rugby book, it is the inside story of Exeter's incredible journey from the edge of nowhere to the summit of the English and European club game.