The Oval World. A Global History Of Rugby

Cover Type: Hardcover
Book Condition: As New
Jacket Condition: As New
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publisher Place: London
Publisher Year: 2015
Edition: First Edition

Description: 551 pages. Ex-Library. (only one small stamp on page edges). Book and Jacket appear to have hardly been read and are both in As new condition throughout.

Publishers Description: Rugby has always been a sport with as much drama off the field as on it. For every thrilling last-minute Jonny Wilkinson drop-goal to win the World Cup or Jonah Lomu rampage down the touchline for a try there has been a split, a feud, or a controversy. The Oval World is the first full-length history of rugby on a world scale-from its origins in the village-based football games of medieval times to the globalized sport of the twenty-first century, now played over a hundred countries. It tells the story of how a game played in an obscure English public school became the winter sport of the British Empire, spreading to France, Argentina, Japan, and the rest of the world, and commanding a global television audience of over four billion for the last World Cup final. It also explores how American football-and other games, such as Australian, Canadian, and Gaelic football-emerged from their English cousin. Featuring the great moments in the game's history and its legendary names-David Duckham, Serge Blanco, Billy Boston, and David Campese, alongside Rupert Brooke, King George V, Boris Karloff, Charles de Gaulle, and Nelson Mandela-The Oval World investigates just what it is about rugby that enables it to thrive in countries with very different traditions and cultures. This is the definitive world history of a truly global rugby.

ISBN: 9781408843703