Richard Stremski

This landmark history of the club and its cultural significance is presented in a scholarly yet readable fashion. Provides accounts of the club's origins, development and relationship with the community and documents major on-field successes and failures. It has a thoughtful analysis and description of the club's administrative history, club politics and the character of the club which made it both loved and loathed throughout its history. The volume includes a roll call of all senior players representing the club between 1897 and 1984, a list of club champions, Brownlow medal winners and Champions of the Colony. Contains an index, references, as well as several black and white and colour pictures.… (more)

Books on sport are a dime a dozen, but most of them are written for a barely literate audience and hardly worthy of the attentions of serious readers. This is a rare exception, a book full of the excitement and drama of sport but also a serious and scholarly piece of social history. Stremski details the history of Australia's most iconic football club in parallel with the development of the rundown inner-city suburb where it was born. Its an immensely satisfying work that be read by either footy fans or those who are interested in the development of Australia's sporting culture, and it will disappoint neither. Really a superb blend of sporting passion and serious research, I cant recommend it it highly enough.… (more)