As a child, Tony Collins was laser focused on a single goal -- making it to the NFL. With hard work and steely determination, Collins defied the odds and lived that dream -- reaching both the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl as one of the most productive running backs in New England Patriots history. But the road to Collins' dream was littered with temptation, and as he gave in to destructive addictions he reached a sudden dead end in his life as a pro football player. From a deep valley carved by his damaging choices, Collins let the power of hope and redemption pull him up to a new purpose of inspiring others and living every day to the full. The dramatic story of Tony Collins' transformation is a reminder that love and positive thinking have the power to save a life.
Why are the Olympic Games the driving force behind a clampdown on civil liberties? What makes sport an unwavering ally of nationalism and militarism? Is sport the new opiate of the masses? These and many other questions are answered in this new radical history of sport by leading historian of sport and society, Professor Tony Collins. Tracing the history of modern sport from its origins in the burgeoning capitalist economy of mid-eighteenth century England to the globalised corporate sport of today, the book argues that, far from the purity of sport being ‘corrupted’ by capitalism, modern sport is as much a product of capitalism as the factory, the stock exchange and the unemployment line. Based on original sources, the book explains how sport has been shaped and moulded by the major political and economic events of the past two centuries, such as the French Revolution, the rise of modern nationalism and imperialism, the Russian Revolution, the Cold War and the imposition of the neo-liberal agenda in the last decades of the twentieth century. It highlights the symbiotic relationship between the media and sport, from the simultaneous emergence of print capitalism and modern sport in Georgian England to the rise of Murdoch’s global satellite television empire in the twenty-first century, and for the first time it explores the alternative, revolutionary models of sport in the early twentieth century. Sport in a Capitalist Society is the first sustained attempt to explain the emergence of modern sport around the world as an integral part of the globalisation of capitalism. It is essential reading for anybody with an interest in the history or sociology of sport, or the social and cultural history of the modern world.
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 up to the globalised sport of the twenty-first century,now played in well over 100 countries. It tells the story of how a game played in an obscure English public school became the winter sport of the British Empire, spread to France, Argentina, Japan and the rest of the world and commanded a global television audience of over four billion for the last world cup final. And how American football – and other games such as Australian, Canadian and Gaelic football – emerged from rugby and highlight just how much the modern gridiron game owes to its English cousin. Featuring the great moments in the game's history and its great names – such as Jonah Lomu, 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 survive and thrive in countries with very different traditions and cultures. This is the the definitive world history of a truly global rugby.
This ambitious and fascinating history considers why, in the space of sixty years between 1850 and 1910, football grew from a marginal and unorganised activity to become the dominant winter entertainment for millions of people around the world. The book explores how the world’s football codes - soccer, rugby league, rugby union, American, Australian, Canadian and Gaelic - developed as part of the commercialised leisure industry in the nineteenth century. Football, however and wherever it was played, was a product of the second industrial revolution, the rise of the mass media, and the spirit of the age of the masses. Important reading for students of sports studies, history, sociology, development and management, this book is also a valuable resource for scholars and academics involved in the study of football in all its forms, as well as an engrossing read for anyone interested in the early history of football.
An archaeological dig in the English countryside might be considered the safest of pastimes, but not for Simon Tappins. His life is turned upside down when a dramatic discovery sends him back two thousand years into a world time forgot. He is plunged into a dangerous period of British history, a pivotal point when the Roman Empire is collapsing and Saxon hordes are invading, sweeping aside the last legions. Simon is caught between the approaching Saxons and the ferocious but futile last stand of a Roman governor who, with the support of Germanic mercenaries, is intent on escaping with the wealth he has accumulated. Through all this runs Simons quest to solve a mystery. Only the lost crystal of Thar Cernunnos has the power to take him back to his own time, but while clues crop up regularly, they are always enigmatic, often cryptic, and seemingly impossible to solve. However, it is his emotional involvement with native girl Senicca that presents the greatest challenge. If he makes the wrong decision now, in two thousand years time, the consequences will be fatal. In accurate and fascinating detail many aspects of everyday life in these times are disclosed. The story explores what it was really like to live in a Roman town. The principal character experiences the sounds of the market place, the smells from the wine bars and food shops, and the choking smoke from the industrial quarter. But it is the people and their cultural and political organization which reveals the unique economic ambience of the town during this dangerous period. The story also weaves a strange tale of unearthly powers of priests, the terrifying predictions of Celtic Gods and the struggles, perils and small triumphs of surviving in a time filled with savage conflict.
Since it’s first publication, Rugby’s Great Split has established itself as a classic in the field of sport history. Drawing on an unprecedented range of sources, this deeply researched and highly readable book traces the social, cultural and economic divisions that led, in 1895, to schism in the game of rugby and the creation of rugby league, the sport of England’s northern working class. Tony Collins’ analysis challenges many of the conventional assumptions about this key event in rugby history – about class conflict, amateurism in sport, the North-South divide, violence on the pitch, the development of mass spectator sport and the rise of football. This new edition is expanded to cover parallel events in Australia and New Zealand, and to address the key question of rugby league’s failure to establish itself in Wales. Rugby’s Great Split is a benchmark text in the history of rugby, and an absorbing case study of wider issues – issues of class, gender, regional and national identity, and the impact of the commercialization and recent professionalization of rugby league. This insightful text is for anyone interested in Britain’s social history or in the emergence of modern sport, it is vital reading.
The Collins Primary Dictionary contains over 2700 words explained in simple sentences. The dictionary is based on the latest research into the English language as used in the United Kingdom.
Life is already difficult for a sixteen year old boy who is at least a lap behind his peers in the 1500 metre event at the Growing Up Olympics. But when his beloved Grandfather passes away, leaving a cryptic clue to the whereabouts of untold riches, the resultant road trip will increase the pace. Escaping the clutches of an over-protective mother, sexually deprived employer and a furious Asian funeral director, Felix Malholly makes his getaway. What follows is a journey involving diamond theft, grave robbery, surfing, terrifying pensioners, stand-up comedy, torture with a chain-saw and a whole lot of fun in between. If it happened to you, how rich would you feel?
From the myth of William Webb Ellis to the glory of the 2003 World Cup win, this book explores the social history of rugby union in England. Ever since Tom Brown’s Schooldays the sport has seen itself as the guardian of traditional English middle-class values. In this fascinating new history, leading rugby historian Tony Collins demonstrates how these values have shaped the English game, from the public schools to mass spectator sport, from strict amateurism to global professionalism. Based on unprecedented access to the official archives of the Rugby Football Union, and drawing on an impressive array of sources from club minutes to personal memoirs and contemporary literature, the book explores in vivid detail the key events, personalities and players that have made English rugby. From an era of rapid growth at the end of the nineteenth century, through the terrible losses suffered during the First World War and the subsequent ‘rush to rugby’ in the public and grammar schools, and into the periods of disorientation and commercialisation in the 1960s through to the present day, the story of English rugby union is also the story of the making of modern England. Like all the very best writers on sport, Tony Collins uses sport as a prism through which to better understand both culture and society. A ground-breaking work of both social history and sport history, A Social History of English Rugby Union tells a fascinating story of sporting endeavour, masculine identity, imperial ideology, social consciousness and the nature of Englishness.
Raising the Red Flag explores the origins of the British Marxist movement from the creation of the Social Democratic Federation to the foundation of the Communist Party. It tells a story of rising class struggle, the founding of the Labour Party, the fight against World War One, the Russian Revolution, and the explosive year of 1919. The book also uses new archival sources to re-examine Marxist organisations such as the British Socialist Party, the Socialist Labour Party, and Sylvia Parkhurst’s Workers’ Socialist Federation. Above all, this is the story of men and women who fought to liberate the working class from capitalism through socialist revolution.
The Doctor and Clara cross paths with Oscar Wilde and Calamity Jane in the frontier town of Deadwood as they pay their respects to the recently passed Wild Bill Hickok. But soon they will discover the grave is empty and that the town is being plagued by a masked gunman who shoots his victims with nothing but a finger!
Called ‘the greatest game of all’ by its supporters but often overlooked by the cultural mainstream, no sport is more identified with England’s northern working class than rugby league. This book traces the story of the sport from the Northern Union of the 1900s to the formation of the Super League in the 1990s, through war, depression, boom and deindustrialisation, into a new economic and social age. Using a range of previously unexplored archival sources, this extremely readable and deeply researched book considers the impact of two world wars, the significance of the game’s expansion to Australasia and the momentous decision to take rugby league to Wembley. It investigates the history of rugby union’s long-running war against league, and the sport’s troubled relationship with the national media. Most importantly, this book sheds new light on issues of social class and working-class masculinity, regional identity and the profound impact of the decline of Britain’s traditional industries. For all those interested in the history of sport and working-class culture, this is essential reading.
The story opens with a dramatic event when a hard faced informant in a sleazy French bar offers Baxter information which seemed too good to be true. Baxter, a seasoned antique dealer with observational skills sharper than most, uncovers far more than he bargained for when he crosses the path of Max Veerman, a successful businessman whose veneer of respectability masks corruption and murder; who heads London Beaux-arts d'Asie cartel, a world-wide organisation set up to facilitate the repatriation of cultural heritage back to Asia. The Chinese call it 'Keeping the dragon in the box.' Baxter encounters murder, kidnap, betrayal and a secret world of strange characters living amongst the dead, far below the streets of Paris as well as Omega Group West, an organisation that no European government would admit to the existence of. When he crosses the cartel he thinks he has everything under control but eventually discovers he is someone's puppet and they are pulling his strings. He knows more than one person is plotting to kill him, he has doubts about everybody around him, he can no longer trust anyone or anything-not even his own heart. Baxter is unable to resist the seductive wiles of the beautiful Magali; she is at the core of the story, a three-dimensional character that is interesting, imperfect and intriguing. Someone whose past is constantly wrapped in strands of mystery. Every event that unfolds in this tale is unexpected and increasingly entangled in clues leading to even more mysteries.
Life is hard and the journey of faith is difficult, but the faithfulness of God is our comfort and hope. Come with us as we explore the faithfulness of God to walk with His people even during the difficult years in the wilderness. We will find that God has not changed, and He always keeps His covenant with His people. This book will survey the journeying of the people of Israel as they endured years of hardship due to their unbelief. It is not intended to be a deep scholarly exegesis of the book of Numbers, but rather a devotional study for the layman's heart and mind. Join us as we encounter Christ in this Old Testament Book of Numbers!
Clara and Calamity Jane have been shot dead by a reanimated Wild Bill Hickok - but how? And does this relate to Thomas Edison's secret research site in the Black Hills? And why doesn't Oscar Wild care if he dies? Only the Doctor knows, and he's not telling!
The people of Deadwood are fighting zombie gunfighters and cross-dimensional alien invaders! Oscar Wilde debating for Earth's very existence! Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, and Clara in a suicidal stagecoach attack! Thomas Edison's redemption! And the Doctor, sacrificing everything one last time... but is it enough?
The judgement is made, and Earth is doomed! Can the Doctor and Oscar Wilde convince an alien with a vendetta to change his mind? Meanwhile, Clara and Calamity Jane track down Wild Bill Hickok in an effort to unearth the truth behind the gunfighter's return.
Ever since Babbage invented the computer, it's been crashing. Today nearly every business uses computers but few do so with confidence. Crash reveals that the same ten factors recur in most disasters, and shows you how to avoid them
The long-awaited, definitive story of one of the worlds most creative and commercial rock groups, this beautiful, full-color book coincides with the bands Fall 2007 reunion tour. All former band members have collaborated in presenting their story that spans 30 years and 30 albums.
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