This book was released on March 9th and is part of the celebrations of the Australian Game of Football reaching its 150th year (website). The book is almost 400 pages and deals with the history of the game and is one of the best books I have seen and read of the game. A lot of Kick2Kick’s information comes from this book.

The one thing that I was personally skeptical about the book was that it would just focus on the game in Victoria and not focus as much on the game in the other 6 states and territories. A good example was that the top 50 done by Mike Sheehan only focused on VFL and AFL players (Kick2Kicks review of Mike Sheehans list). I was gladly proved wrong when I picked up the book.

The book indeed does focus on other states like Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia and along with Mikes Sheehans top 50, the 3 above states have a list of their top 10.

The contents of the book

• Foreward by Kevin Sheedy
• Introduction
• Section One: From the Beginning
  • Men of purpose
  • It starts with the Ball
  • A Grip of Victoria
  • A toast to Football
  • Border Crossing
  • Social Awareness
  • A Game goes National
• Section Two: The Game
  • More than a Game
  • Spanning Generations
  • A Life in Football
  • Cream of the Crop – Mike Sheehans top 50
  • Taking Flight
  • A Matter of Choice
  • Pulling the Strings
  • Tactics and Trends
  • The Men in Charge
• Section Three: The Passion
  • Our Game
  • Our Second Family
  • Road Trips
  • For Women, Too
• Section Four: Outside the Fence
  • The Fourth Estate
  • By Name and Number
  • Capturing History
  • A Time Capsule
  • The Business of Football
  • Men of Vision
  • Answering the Call
• Section Five: The Decades
• 1858 – 2007
• Glossary, Rules of the Game

I would recommend buying the book or at least spend some time looking at the book in your local library or Bookstore.

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