The Coach From the City by Alan O'Toole

The Coach From the City

A Story about Australian Rules Football

by Alan O'Toole

illustrated by Paul Rigby

Rigby, 1967 [First Edition], black and white illustrations in text, hardcover, dust-jacket

Very Good Condition, ex-library with stamps to front and back end-papers, some edge and shelf wear, slightly canted, dust-jacket shows some edge and shelf wear, with tear across front (repaired with tape), small part missing from top back (see photographs)

"They never come back", Brownlow Medallist Bill Terry was told when he was slipping to the end of his football career.  That's why the offer to coach the Blue Creek team was so tempting ... until he started the job.  The team trained on beer (their best run was always into the dressing shed when the keg was on) and was made up of such rugged individualists as Ape, Possum, and Badger.  Their first match under Bill's coaching was a fiasco, with punches thrown in all directions and a resounding defeat for Blue Creek.  How Bill Terry dragged the team up until it had a chance of winning makes a fast-paced, riotous, and very human story, with a wealth of characters who typify sporting life in a country town."