During the course of nine injury-laden but wonderfully fulfilling months, Ian Stafford lived out his fantasies and played sport with the world's greatest sportsmen in their own environments. In doing so, he trained with Brazil's biggest football team, played squash against Jansher Khan, ran with top long-distance runners in Kenya, rucked with the South African national rugby team in Johannesburg, rowed with the world champion coxless fours team, played with the Australian cricket squad and boxed against Roy Jones. Playground of the Gods is the extraordinary account of this frustrated sportsman's exciting, hapless and painful experiences around the world.