The Fine Cotton Fiasco by Peter Hoysted Pat Sheil

$34.99 AUD

Category: General | Reading Level: 6 Sport

Brisbane, 1984. It all started with a simple plan to secretly swap a mediocre horse with a faster one, and rake in the cash with a few well-placed bets. What could possibly go wrong? In The Fine Cotton Fiasco, Peter Hoysted and Pat Sheil brilliantly tell the scarcely believable tale of how - through a combination of horrendous mismanagement, terrible judgement and comically bad luck - the scheme gradually unravelled. How did a horse with white painted socks dripping onto the turf come to hold the hopes of punters across Australia and beyond? How was a supposedly secret plan so widely advertised that even the Queensland Commissioner of Police placed a bet? And how much of a cover-up ensued in the aftermath of this absolute debacle? The story of Fine Cotton is the stuff of Australian legend. It features hardcore crims, likeable rogues and a supporting cast that ranged from the hapless to the hopeless - with some entirely innocent bystanders thrown in for good measure. Not every crazy scheme cooked up by a couple of inmates in Boggo Road Gaol would culminate in a story that will be told across the nation for the next hundred years. But this one did. ...Show more

Trackrider: My Life with Bart (PB) by Joe Agresta

$29.99 AUD

Category: General

Barty: Power and Glory (Ash Barty) by Ron Reed

$29.99 AUD

Category: General

For a variety of reasons, Australian sport needed an uplifting, inspirational, feel-good story in 2019. The year was only little more than half over before one had well and truly arrived - one of the best ever, in fact. Tennis star Ashleigh Barty captured the public's imagination and admiration by not o nly winning a major tournament for the first time, the French Open, and ascending to the world No 1 ranking, the fi rst Australian woman to do so for 46 years, but by the humble, modest, gracious and yet iron-willed and fiercely focussed way she went about it. In all she did, she was the defi nition of the word classy. In short, she made Australia proud. Among those watching intently was one of Australia's most experienced and respected sportswriters, Ron Reed, who decided that Barty's breakthrough into the very top echelons of one of the nation's favourite sports needed to be recorded in forensic detail - the wins, the quotes, the processes, the reactions of others, the team behind her, the background and the many reasons why she is such a true-blue Australian that she could never be mistaken for any other nationality. Barty: Power and Glory is the result. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ron Reed's 50-plus years in sports journalism include decades as a columnist and feature writer for Australia's biggest-selling daily newspaper, the Herald Sun, as well as two stints as Sports Editor of that paper's predecessor, The Herald, and one as Editor of the old Sporting Globe. His work has earned many awards and accolades, including Australian sportswriter of the year and a lifetime achievement award from Sport Australia, formerly the Australian Sports Commission. He has covered most of the world's major sports events - many of them multiple times - in more than 30 countries, and is a tennis aficionado, having been a fi xture at the Australian Open as well as many Davis Cup ties. He is the author of the only book ever written about the legendary Frank Sedgman, Game Sedge and Match. ...Show more

How To Be An F1 Driver by Jenson Button

$29.99 AUD

Category: General

Learn how to be the best F1 driver with champion Jenson Button.

Stoked!: Winners and Grinners from Our Sporting Life by H. G. Nelson

$19.99 AUD

Category: General | Reading Level: 6 Sport

There’s nothing Australians love better than a sporting hero, except perhaps giving that hero a gentle ribbing for having the temerity to outstrip the rest of us. From the Jumping Doc and his ‘Peltzer flinch’ to late nineteenth century fashion on the field (knitted jumper, anyone?), th e great H.G. ‘battered sav’ Nelson heads trackside once more to scrutinise the efforts of some of Australia’s finest athletes. In this broad-reaching commentary, readers will join him to speculate about the complex rules of roller derby, reminisce fondly about the good old days on the Hill at the SCG and delight in a rare snap of that most famous of underground sports, shotgun tennis. Alongside H.G.’s incisive commentary are images of some of Australia’s finest sporting achievements from the National Library’s vast Pictures Collection and obscure truths about Australia’s national pastimes. Did you know that completing a 2,000 metre rowing race is the physiological equivalent of playing two basketball games back-to-back? That many ballet positions are derived from those of fencing? That, in 1952, one cheeky wrestler slid down the gilt banister of the main staircase in Buckingham Palace while visiting the Queen? A mix of facts and humourous observations, this book will educate readers a little and amuse them a lot. ...Show more

Grand Finals Vol. III - 1979-2017 by THE SLATTERY MEDIA GROUP (EDIT

$45.00 AUD

Category: General

Grand Finals Volume III is a comprehensive account of Premiership deciders spanning the last five decades-a time of momentous changes in the the game, its administration and its reach. Within ten years of Carlton's stirring 1979 triumph over Collingwood,a struggling 12-team League representing Melb ourne's suburbs had morphed into a national sporting and media juggernaut with teams dotted all over Australia. From Wayne Harmes's immortal boundary line lunge of the 1979 Grand Final, right up to Richmond's fairytale rise to claim the 2017 Cup, this compendium revels in the brilliant and bizarre-from Helen d'Amico's infamous 1982 confrontation with Carlton's silent and stoic champion Bruce Doull and Gary Ablett snr's heroic and forlorn nine goals of the spellbinding 1989 decider, to Dustin Martin's unprecedented domination in 2017.This period covers the various golden eras of Melbourne-based powerhouses Carlton, Essendon and Hawthorn, but also charts the rise of a truly national competition, from Mick Malthouse's West Coast and Malcolm Blight's Adelaide sides of the 1990s, to Leigh Matthews's fearsome Brisbane Lions team of the new millennium. In the process, readers will celebrate the feats of players and coaches whose greatness was confirmed when it mattered most: on that final Saturday in September. ...Show more

Never Say Die: The Hundred-Year Overnight Success of Australian Women's Football by Fiona Crawford; Lee McGowan

$32.99 AUD

Category: General

The inspirational story of the past, present and future of Australian women's football - its players, fans, and the game they love.Australian women's football rides high on the sporting landscape now, but this book shows that success has been one-hundred years in the making. It shares stories of triumph in the face of overwhelming odds, and tales of heartbreak and obstacles that seem insurmountable. But it is also about community, endurance and collective success.Eye-opening and celebratory, it tells the story of amateur women kicking a ball around a century ago to Australia's national team being one of the best in the world. The Matildas are forty years old and no longer have to wear hand-me-down men's kits, pay for their own medical insurance and do it all for love not money. But there have been no free kicks along the way as they have faced prejudice and even outright hostility.Never Say Die takes in dusty archives, rainy pitch-side evenings and heart-breaking and heart-warming interviews -- including with FIFA and FFA board members, Matildas past and present, W-League coaches and players, state and club administrators. But at its heart are fans from every level of the game who could not love it more. ...Show more

Church of the Open Sky by Nat Young

$34.99 AUD

Category: General | Reading Level: 3 Biography

What makes for a surfing life? With a blaze of groundbreaking performances and a swag of titles claimed from all over the world to his name, Australian world champion surfer Nat Young might know. His seventieth birthday inspired some reflection on exactly that, and on the waves and characters that have marked his remarkable life - Miki Dora and Midget Farrelly to name a few. But surfing for Nat Young - and so many like-minded surfers - has never been about winning, never been about the sport. It's a calling, an endless quest, a philosophy, a religion. Most of all, surfing is a way of life that has underpinned his other identities as board shaper, film producer, writer, raconteur, conservationist, activist, pilot, husband, father. Candid and wryly observed, Church of the Open Sky explores what it means to be a surfer, with a collection of true stories of Nat's surfing life - and the friends, foes and heroes he's met along the way. ...Show more

Rugby World Cup 2019 TM by COLLINGS, SIMON

$29.99 AUD

Category: General

The Rugby World Cup 2019 Japan: The Official Book is the must-have companion to world rugby's biggest event. For the first time ever, a nation outside the Six Nations or Rugby Championship, Japan, is hosting the tournament, and this book contains everything fans will need, from venue guides to detailed information on every team in the finals, key players, playing strengths, coaches, past form and a prediction of teams' hopes of success. In addition to reports on the qualifying tournaments and the fill-in Rugby World Cup Japan 2019 fixture schedule, famous games are recalled in special features, together with biographies of the men most likely to light up the tournament in the way the 2019 hosts did when they shocked South Africa in England in 2015. The Rugby World Cup's glorious history and tournament records are also fully covered making Rugby World Cup 2019 Japan: T ...Show more

Winx Collected Edition of Every Race by Ray Thomas

$29.99 AUD

Category: General

Follow Winxs journey from cover to cover, or open the book at any page. Its one champion writing about another and readers are the winners. During myriad visits to courses to cover all facets of the sport; from midweek meetings to Melbourne Cups, Cox Plates, Golden Slippers and The Everest, Ray Thomas c hanced upon Winx at her first two runs in 2014. As this book of stories about her show, he knew early on he was glimpsing a champion but kept a tight rein on making that prediction. As Winxs career began to blossom, Ray Thomas started to expand his writing to include insightful stories on Chris Waller and his training methods, the owners and how the horse has affected their lives, and how the public has reacted to the new phenomenon of the turf. Rays vast racing knowledge and ability to engage with trainers, jockeys, owners, bookmakers, farriers, strappers, form analysts, administrators and others involved in the industry have allowed him to bring all aspects of horse racing to the page and the reader. ...Show more

You Are the Ref by Paul Trevillion (Illustrator)

$19.99 AUD

Category: General

Could you be the man in black and make the right decisions? Do you think you know the laws of the game better than the officials? Test your football knowledge with this collection of 300 dilemmas from legendary artist Paul Trevillion's famous 'You Are The Ref' series. With expert text from the referees' referee Keith Hackett and an array of bizarre and entertaining scenarios for you to adjudicate on, this is an engrossing and entertaining read. With a special in-depth section on the controversial rules around the VAR system and questions covering everything from mid-game bust-ups and unexpected intrusions on the pitch to bitter disputes about penalties, these sporting conundrums will give even the biggest football fan a run for their money. ...Show more

Golf: Fairway Fables by Simon Drew

$14.99 AUD

Category: General

Simon Drew has produced this book in much the same way he played golf. In the dim distant past he would attempt to drive a ball straight down the fairway only to see it fly off at a tangent in a direction the ball had chosen all on its own. Now he finds his drawings behave in a similar manner; whatever the intention, you never know what the end result will be. This book will poke fun at almost anyone who loves golf and a few who don't. Most of the verses and word plays are by Simon Drew though a couple of well-known quotations were too good to ignore. It includes the Ballad of the Lost Ball, which turns golf into pantomime: something that happens to most golfers sooner or later. ...Show more