Footy Dogs: The Dogs of Australian Rules Football (Craig McGill & Susan Elliott)

Footy Dogs: The Dogs of Australian Rules Football

Craig McGill & Susan Elliott

Blurb: Behind every great Aussie Rules player, you're likely to find that a good dog helped him succeed. Footy Dogs features over 100 players from all sixteen AFL teams and over 210 stunning photos of their loyal woofers. Along the way, the mutts and purebreds are interspersed with short essays by Ron Barassi, Trisha Broadbridge, Sam Kekovich, Michael Millett, Lynda Carroll, Diego Maradogga and many more.

Find out which player's dog wears pink nail polish, who peed on the photographer and discover the identity of the player who guzzled the church's altar wine.

Footy Dogs is a photographic journal of stunning photos and great yarns - created all for the love of dogs and footy.

ISBN: 0958085633 (Hardback)

Year: 2005

Publisher: A Giant Dog Book

Pages: 280 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Official website of the book

2. Buy from QBD

3. How to find AFL players and coaches

4. Wikipedia page for Aussie Rules

5. Review of the book

Carn the Crows (Lorraine Wilson, Paul Harvey, David O'Brien)

Carn the Crows

Lorraine Wilson

Illustrated by Paul Harvey & David O'Brien

Blurb: I barrack for the Crows. I think all of South Australia barracks for the Crows. 

ISBN: 1863917640 (Paperback)

Year: 1995

Publisher: Reed

Pages: 24 (Fiction)

Links

1. Author's official site

2. Google books page

3. Official website of the Crows

4. List of other books in the series

5. Article on the author

Go Dockers (Lorraine Wilson, Paul Harvey & David O'Brien)

Go Dockers

Written by Lorraine Wilson

Illustrated by Paul Harvey & David O'Brien

Blurb: Fremantle is the newest club in the AFl. Many of our players come from local teams. I've joined the Kid Dockers Club. Sometimes KDC members are invited onto the oval after training.

ISBN: 1863917632 (Paperback)

Year: 1995

Publisher: Reed

Pages: 24 (Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Bookworld

2. Google books page

3. Official website of the Fremantle Football Club

4. Wikipedia page for Freo

5. Follow the team on Twitter

Plugger and the Mighty Swans (Jim Main)

Plugger and the Mighty Swans

Jim Main

Blurb: This is one of those special books. Warm but revealing. Taking you into the boardroom, the change rooms, the private boxes... the centre of the Sydney Cricket Ground at midnight and a strange, strange ritual.

Jim Main is a passionate - 'yes, obsessed' - Swans fan. He's also one of Australia's top football writers and sports authors. In Plugger and the Mighty Swans he takes you behind the scenes of the Swans' all but unbelievable run to the 1996 Grand Final.

You're there as the Swans nearly die and are only saved by a rival club (Collingwood) which doesn't want another club (Carlton) to sneak an unfair advantage. You're there for the dash to sign goal king Tony 'Plugger' Lockett. You're there in the 1960s, 50s, 40s, 30s, way back to the 1860s. 

ISBN: 1863502297 (Paperback)

Year: 1996

Publisher: Wilkinson Books

Pages: 292 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Libraries across Australia where you can get the book from

2. Buy from Oz Books

3. Wikipedia page for the author

4. Football magazine the author writes for

5. Official site of the Sydney Swans

Learning from Legends - AFL (Bruce McAvaney)

Learning from Legends - AFL

Interviews by Bruce McAvaney

Blurb: Following the success of Learning from Legends Sport, Business and Australian Cricket, the fourth in the series, Learning from Legends AFL, shifts its leadership focus to the country's biggest professional sport, Australian football, and delivers further insight into the thoughts, experiences and opinions of AFL Legends both past and present. 

Based on extensive interviews conducted by pre-eminent sports commentator Bruce McAvaney, Learning from Legends AFL explores leadership with nearly 50 of the game's greatest ambassadors. The Legends tell McAvaney about their earliest influences, the most inspiring leaders they have played for and with, their key leadership lessons and much more.

The leadership insights presented in Learning from Legends AFL will inspire, motivate and inform all who read it. Although the names are familiar, the insights are unique, and each Legend has contributed in the hope that others may learn from their experiences and triumphs. 

ISBN: 9781921486128 (Hardback)

Year: 2009

Publisher: Fairfax Books

Pages: 255 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from QBD

2. Buy from Angus and Robertson

3. Wikipedia page for the author

4. An interview with the author

5. Learn more about the AFL

Kouta (Anthony Koutoufides with Tony De Bolfo)

Kouta

Anthony Koutoufides with Tony De Bolfo

Blurb: I can, I will, just watch me.

Carlton fans adored him for his ability to win games off his own boot; opponents admired him for his seemingly superhuman feats. And today, AFL coaches still scour the fields for rookies of his ilk. But there's only one Anthony Koutofides.

For sixteen years, Kouta's name echoed throughout the stands and for good reason - his speed, strength, skill and aerial ability epitomised the modern game. His one-handed pick-up brought him to the attention of his coach, but his strong mark, beautiful kick and sheer athleticism won over all the fans. A premiership player and twice All-Australia, Kouta certainly found success but his career hasn't always been a fairytale. Chronic injuries restricted his game, personal tragedy left him reeling and when he was made captain, he had to lead the club through some of its darkest days.

As he farewells the game, Kouta tells all - the pressures of mounting expectation, club politics, drug allegations and the changing face of football. He recounts his journey from the early days in Lalor (when all you needed was a game of kick-to-kick in the street) to the big lights and pay packets of a national league, where controversy pops up at the slightest provocation. Insightful and entertaining, Kouta is a candid look at out beloved game from perhaps the greatest player of his era.

ISBN: 9781740665407 (Hardback)

Year: 2007

Publisher: Hardie Grant Books

Pages: 232 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Review of the book

3. Goodreads page for the book

4. Article on the author

5. Wikipedia page for the author

Keeping The Faith: Collingwood...the pleasure, the pain, the whole damned thing (Steven Strevens)

Keeping The Faith: Collingwood...the pleasure, the pain, the whole damned thing

Steve Strevens

Blurb: In a world of constant change, one of the few things that never alters is the passion of the footy fan for their club.

In Keeping the Faith, Steve Strevens charts the 2004 season, a winter of black and white agony and ecstasy, through his own story and those of the many ordinary supporters we never hear about, the backbone of any footy club. From the bleak, afternoons sitting in the outer to the president's lunch, from the memories of ANZAC Day games long gone to a train journey to Sydney with the cheer squad, Steve Strevens paints an affectionate and humorous portrait of those who follow 'the Pies'.

Despite the disaster that was the 2004 season, Collingwood survived - and support flourished. For those who follow the Magpies, it was simply a matter of faith. You love your club, to the exclusion of all others. You support it, even when times are tough. In many ways, winning and losing are not as important as belonging.

Keeping the Faith is a glorious celebration of Australian Rules football - and the fans who make the game great.

ISBN: 1741146682 (Paperback)

Year: 2005

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Pages: 258 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Review of the book

2. Google books page

3. Good reads page for the author

4. Joffa, the Collingwood fan's page

5. Buy from Dymocks

Wisdom: Life Lessons from an Australian Legend (Ron Barassi)

Wisdom: Life Lessons from an Australian Legend

Ron Barassi

Blurb: Ron Barassi is an iconic figure in Australian sporting culture, with a record of personal and team success that is unrivalled. Beyond sport, he has become a greatly respected elder in our broader society.

In Wisdom, he shares with us 31 maxims and quotations that he has collected and which are integral to forging that reputation. Ron reflects on reach and explains their importance in delivering ideas, motivation and inspiration, and how he applied them in sport and life - words of wisdom, indeed.

Containing beautiful illustrations from artist James Money, Wisdom is a book to come back to time and time again.

ISBN: 9781742378756 (Paperback)

Year: 2011

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Pages: 115 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Borders

2. Article on the book

3. Buy this and other AFL related books

4. Radio interview with the author

5. Wikipedia page on the author

Open Season (Jason Akermanis with Gary Smart)

Open Season

Jason Akermanis with Gary Smart

Blurb: Say what you like about Jason Akermanis - legend, troublemaker, showman, show-off - there's no denying that he's made an impression in his 16 years as an AFL star player. Now, after more than 325 games, three premierships and a Brownlow Medal, the curtain has come down on his extraordinary career.

No longer restrained by contractual obligations and free to speak at last, Aker reveals a no-holds-barred look at a stellar sporting career, including behind-the-scenes details of his falling out with Leigh Matthews, his move from the Brisbane Lions to the Western Bulldogs and his explosive final season, which was cut short amid very public controversy. Interwoven through the highs and lows of an outstanding professional life is his personal story of finding and reconciling with his biological father - a married man with a family of his own who lived next door to Aker's childhood home.

Told with trademark honesty and passion, this tell-all memoir is a must-have for all footy fans.

ISBN: 9781740668248 (Hardback)

Year: 2010

Publisher: Hardie Grant Books

Pages: 296 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Blog on the book

2. Buy from the ABC shop

3. Review of the book on a footy forum

4. Google books page

5. Publisher's page for the book

The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game (Michael Lewis)

The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game

Michael Lewis

Blurb: When we first meet him, Michael Oher is one of thirteen children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, his birthday, or how to read or write. He takes up football, and school, after a rich, white, Evangelical family plucks him from the streets. Then two great forces alter Oher: the family's love and the evolution of professional football into a game where the quarterback must be protected at any cost. Our protagonist becomes the priceless package of size, speed, and agility necessary to guard the quarterback's greatest vulnerability, his blind side.

ISBN: 9780393338386 (Paperback)

Year: 2006

Publisher: W.W. Norton and Company

Pages: 339 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Wikipedia page for the book

3. Good reads page for the book

4. Summary of the book

5. Review of the book

A Decade of Pride: The History of the Brisbane Lions (Mark Opolion)

A Decade of Pride: The History of the Brisbane Lions

Mark Opolion

Blurb: An historic merger between the Fitzroy and North Melbourne football club seemed inevitable, but on 4 July 1996 the football world was shocked by the AFL's acceptance of the Brisbane Bears' proposal to merge with Fitzroy.

In their 10th season, the Bears were just becoming a force to be reckoned with, while Fitzroy, a proud and traditional club with eight premierships to its name, was in receivership. The Bears finished one game short of the 1996 Grand Final and Fitzroy collected the wooden spoon with just one win. Many long-time Fitzroy supporters vowed never to follow the Brisbane Lions. Bears supporters had reservations.

Officially 'born' on 1 November 1996, the Brisbane Lions were expected to be an instant powerhouse, yet only limped into the finals before a disastrous 1998 - both on-field and off-field - netted a wooden spoon.

Enter Leigh Matthews as coach.

A former Hawthorn champion, widely regarded as the VFL/AFL's greatest player, Matthews had coached Collingwood to a drought-breaking premiership in 1990. The Matthews regime commenced in 1999 and realised a history-making flag in 2001. But that was nowhere near enough for the hungry Lions.

A Decade of Pride is a chronicle looking at the ground-breaking merger, initial problems and disasters and acceptance from previously disgruntled supporters. It is a fascinating look into all of the Brisbane Lions' major on-field and off-field developments en route to claiming an amazing three consecutive premierships, with a host of champions, including Michael Voss, Alastair Lynch, Jason Akermanis, Simon Black, Nigel Lappin, Jonathan Brown and Justin Leppitsch.

A Decade of Pride also looks at how this brilliant Lions unit - regarded by many as the greatest of all time - has begun the rebuilding process on the back of losing their attempt at equalling Collingwood's long-standing record of four straight flags.

ISBN: 1920997024 (Paperback)

Year: 2006

Publisher: Pennon Publishing

Pages: 328 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Blaq Books

2. Wikipedia page for the Brisbane Lions

3. Google books page

4. Official website of the Lions

5. AFL website

The Footy Almanac 2010 (John Harms & Paul Daffey)

The Footy Almanac 2010

Edited by John Harms and Paul Daffey

Blurb: When the final siren for the season has sounded, what do you do for the next six months? Don't worry, help is at hand. You can relive the season, game by game, in The Footy Almanac 2010.

Whether your team has been rebuilding, peaking or reinventing itself with yet another five-year plan, this book has something for everyone. You won't find the well-work cliches trotted out in the press - these are the voices of the punters on terraces and in pubs and lounge rooms, as passionate as they are reflective about the teams they love. Leave the earnest analysis to the experts and sit back and enjoy the rollercoaster ride that is the lot of the true AFL footy fan.

ISBN: 9780670075072 (Paperback)

Year: 2010

Publisher: Malarkey Publications

Pages: 514 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Publisher's page for the book

2. Interview with the editor of the book

3. Buy from QBD

4. Buy from the Book Depository

5. Official Website for the book series

Rocket Science - The Biography of Rodney Eade (Kevin Hillier)

Rocket Science - The Biography of Rodney Eade

Kevin Hillier

Blurb: 'He's a lunatic.'

'He's got some stupidity about him.'

'He's a great tactician and strategist.'

'He's a saint.'

'He's very sharp.'

'He grabs his crutch too much.'

Political leader? Stand-up comic? Corporate heavyweight?

None of the above. He is Rodney Eade - AFL player and coach, and a man with a story to tell.

Rodney 'Rocket' Eade is an interesting character. One minute he is on national television screaming irrationally at one of his players, the next he is sitting with supporters before a game calmly having a chat.

He has ridden an incredible football rollercoaster and the ride was not for the faint-hearted. From Premiership success in his first season as a player, to the rumour and innuendo regarding his premature exit from Sydney to a new beginning at the Western Bulldogs. The boy from Glenorchy came to the Hawks in 1976 with littler expectation but has become one of football's most colourful characters. He might have played in the shadows of Dunstall, Dermie and Dipper but he has emerged as a genuine innovator of the game, a deep thinker and a revered figure in football.

Rocket Science uncovers the real Rodney Eade, what his friends and foes say about him, plus his thoughts on the game - past, present and future. The success and failure, the characters, the politics behind the game and the best players he has played with or coached in a career spanning more than three decades.

Football legends Parkin, Kelly, Schwab, Brereton, Jeans, Dunstall, Judge, DiPierdomenico and Johnson - to name a few - talk about the man, the player, and the coach they know as Rocket.

ISBN: 9781405038669 (Paperback)

Year: 2008

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia

Pages: 184 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Google books page

2. Buy from Amazon

3. Page on the author

4. Buy from QBD Books

5. Interview about the book