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Muddied Oafs Richard Beard

Muddied Oafs By Richard Beard

Muddied Oafs by Richard Beard


£3.50
New RRP £14.99
Condition - Very Good
Only 4 left

Summary

In this title, Richard Beard aims to reconcile contrasting views of rugby and rugger with the diversity of characters he meets, from Booker Prize winning authors to former England hookers. He explores rugby's rivalry with soccer, its influence on the first World War and other issues.

Muddied Oafs Summary

Muddied Oafs by Richard Beard

Acclaimed novelist Richard Beard journeys to the heart and soul of rugby - from the dreaded English rugger-bugger to the playing fields of France - asking if the sport is still the man-maker its Victorian founders intended it to be. There is Rugby Union: the fast, compelling, TV-friendly combat sport in which sponsored gladiators are sold on their ability to crash into each other at top speed, and sometimes even to avoid each other and score. And then there's rugger. Rugger was once the serious version of rugby, more than a mere game, a fierce contact-sport developed in Victorian public schools to forge manly and unshakeable character. For a hundred years boys played rugger and made themselves into men. They also drank too much beer and took their trousers down in public. The dark-side of rugger the man-maker is the recidivist, the dreaded English rugger-bugger. Richard Beard sets out to examine this contradiction by revisiting his seven former rugby clubs in four different countries. He tries to reconcile contrasting views of rugby and rugger with the diversity of characters he meets, from Booker Prize winning authors to former England hookers. He explores rugby's rivalry with soccer, its influence on the first World War, its surprising attraction for non-conformists, and it's unlikely role in international organised crime. And all the while he's trying to get himself a game. This is Beard's quest into his rugby-playing past, where he's lived the sport in many of its varied forms. By the end of his wayward journey, he almost qualifies to judge whether rugger has achieved what the Victorians always intended, and made him a better man.

About Richard Beard

Richard Beard is the author of three critically acclaimed novels, X 20 (Flamingo 1996), Damascus (Flamingo 1998), and The Cartoonist (Bloomsbury 2000). He won an Arts Council of England Author's Award in 1997, and Damascus was New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1999. He currently plays his rugby for Midsomer Norton.

Additional information

GOR002575289
9780224063937
0224063936
Muddied Oafs by Richard Beard
Used - Very Good
Hardback
Vintage Publishing
20031002
288
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

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