THE SYDNEY CRICKET GROUND has been the home of sport in Australia’s premier city since the 1870s, providing the backdrop for some extraordinary moments across a wide range of sports. Andrew Webster is Sydney’s No. 1 sports writer.
If These Walls Could Talk brings together the great ground and the great scribe, for a very personal look at what sets such a venue — and sport at the highest level — apart.
The books begins with a recent lunch in the home dressing room in the Members Pavilion, as Webster recalls some famous days with two legends of Australian sport, the late Alan Davidson and Neil Harvey. Many celebrated sporting names jump from the pages, including Sir Donald Bradman and Kerry Packer, Steve Waugh, Tony Lockett, Mark Loane and Steve Mortimer, and Midnight Oil's Peter Garrett makes an appearance, too. There is controversy, and the overwhelming sadness of the death of Phillip Hughes.
Webster focuses on ten moments that hugely impacted on him, as a journalist and fan, in a way that will resonate with everyone who cherishes their own special memories of the SCG.
'Whenever you bring people together in common cause, when the tribes come together on the hallowed turf of the SCG, it's always something special.' — Peter Garrett
If These Walls Could Talk brings together the great ground and the great scribe, for a very personal look at what sets such a venue — and sport at the highest level — apart.
The books begins with a recent lunch in the home dressing room in the Members Pavilion, as Webster recalls some famous days with two legends of Australian sport, the late Alan Davidson and Neil Harvey. Many celebrated sporting names jump from the pages, including Sir Donald Bradman and Kerry Packer, Steve Waugh, Tony Lockett, Mark Loane and Steve Mortimer, and Midnight Oil's Peter Garrett makes an appearance, too. There is controversy, and the overwhelming sadness of the death of Phillip Hughes.
Webster focuses on ten moments that hugely impacted on him, as a journalist and fan, in a way that will resonate with everyone who cherishes their own special memories of the SCG.
'Whenever you bring people together in common cause, when the tribes come together on the hallowed turf of the SCG, it's always something special.' — Peter Garrett
Following Richie Benaud’s death in April 2015, Ian Heads and another of Australia’s finest sports writers, Norman Tasker, set off on a ‘search’ for the real Richie, a man who graced our lives — first as an outstanding allrounder and great captain, and then as cricket’s greatest TV commentator — for more than six decades. Heads and Tasker cast a wide net, seeking fresh material from the people who knew Richie best.
The result is Richie: The Man Behind the Legend — a hardback that sold out its 20,000 hardback print run before Christmas, and is now available in paperback. Richie is an intimate tribute that gets to the heart of ‘Richie Benaud, the man’. The contributors include members of Richie’s family and childhood friends; cricket greats such as Sir Garfield Sobers, Ted Dexter, Neil Harvey, Alan Davidson, Steve Waugh and Shane Warne; acclaimed journalists such as John Woodcock, David Frith, Gideon Haigh and Tony Cozier; fellow commentators such as Ian Chappell, Mike Atherton, Mark Nicholas and Mark Taylor; friends, colleagues and business associates from Australia, England, France, India and the Caribbean.
Among the contributors are 16 Test captains and two former Australian prime ministers, even the mechanic who serviced Richie’s beloved Sunbeam Alpine car. There are 88 contributors in all.
The book begins with a foreword by Richie’s brother John, himself a former Test cricketer and prominent journalist. It ends with a moving postscript by Richie’s second son Jeff, which concludes this way ...
The result is Richie: The Man Behind the Legend — a hardback that sold out its 20,000 hardback print run before Christmas, and is now available in paperback. Richie is an intimate tribute that gets to the heart of ‘Richie Benaud, the man’. The contributors include members of Richie’s family and childhood friends; cricket greats such as Sir Garfield Sobers, Ted Dexter, Neil Harvey, Alan Davidson, Steve Waugh and Shane Warne; acclaimed journalists such as John Woodcock, David Frith, Gideon Haigh and Tony Cozier; fellow commentators such as Ian Chappell, Mike Atherton, Mark Nicholas and Mark Taylor; friends, colleagues and business associates from Australia, England, France, India and the Caribbean.
Among the contributors are 16 Test captains and two former Australian prime ministers, even the mechanic who serviced Richie’s beloved Sunbeam Alpine car. There are 88 contributors in all.
The book begins with a foreword by Richie’s brother John, himself a former Test cricketer and prominent journalist. It ends with a moving postscript by Richie’s second son Jeff, which concludes this way ...
And when I remember him it is my very first memory that I treasure most …
I’m a three-year-old being tossed high into the air.
I’m soaring higher, higher,
Up to touch the bright, clear, clean sun.
I’m flying up, up, like I’ll never come down.
Laughing with a pure innocent joy.
Then falling, plummeting, sure to smash hard on the ground.
But strong hands and arms catch me and I can see Dad’s laughing face, his jet black hair, tanned skin, flashing white teeth.
‘I’ve got you, son.’
Then launched sunwards again. Squealing with delight, arms outstretched like a bird. Then down to the safety of Dad.
Again and again. Never missing. Always there. Never letting us down.
Ever.
I’m a three-year-old being tossed high into the air.
I’m soaring higher, higher,
Up to touch the bright, clear, clean sun.
I’m flying up, up, like I’ll never come down.
Laughing with a pure innocent joy.
Then falling, plummeting, sure to smash hard on the ground.
But strong hands and arms catch me and I can see Dad’s laughing face, his jet black hair, tanned skin, flashing white teeth.
‘I’ve got you, son.’
Then launched sunwards again. Squealing with delight, arms outstretched like a bird. Then down to the safety of Dad.
Again and again. Never missing. Always there. Never letting us down.
Ever.
The Night the Music Died is a classic story of the underdog winning against all odds, as author Ian Heads recalls the flashy new rugby league competition, the ‘Amco Cup’, that was launched in Australia in 1974. Played under lights, televised live on Wednesday nights with commentary by a young Ray ‘Rabbits’ Warren, the Amco Cup was supposed to be won by one of the rich Sydney clubs. Instead, the trophy went to Western Division, a team from western NSW that included a timber cutter, a slaughterman, a greyhound trainer, a policeman, a brickie, miners and farmers.
One player, a balding back-rower nicknamed ‘TV Ted’ Ellery, became an instant celebrity.
Along the way, TV Ted and his mates fought a match against Great Britain at Wade Park, Orange, that might have been the most violent football game ever played. Three players were sent off and the referee needed a police escort to get not just out of the ground but out of town.
Heads has in effect written two books in one: describing in vivid detail a memorable season highlighted by an implausible triumph; and revisiting the players to discover what has become of them. Their stories are mostly joyful, occasionally sad, full of character. The tale told by the referee of the Great Britain encounter, a family secret until Heads came upon it in the course of his research, is one of the most revealing and controversial football stories ever published.
One player, a balding back-rower nicknamed ‘TV Ted’ Ellery, became an instant celebrity.
Along the way, TV Ted and his mates fought a match against Great Britain at Wade Park, Orange, that might have been the most violent football game ever played. Three players were sent off and the referee needed a police escort to get not just out of the ground but out of town.
Heads has in effect written two books in one: describing in vivid detail a memorable season highlighted by an implausible triumph; and revisiting the players to discover what has become of them. Their stories are mostly joyful, occasionally sad, full of character. The tale told by the referee of the Great Britain encounter, a family secret until Heads came upon it in the course of his research, is one of the most revealing and controversial football stories ever published.
‘A sporting miracle [and] a very human miracle … what a great yarn, what a lovely story it is.’
— Richard Fidler, Conversations with Richard Fidler (ABC)
‘Anyone with a hint of pigskin in their DNA will love this book.’ — Graem Sims, Inside Sport
‘One of the great yarns in Australian sport.’
— Peter FitzSimons, Sydney Morning Herald
‘When it comes to rugby league books, Ian Heads writes them better than anybody else. This is a great story, a great book.’
— Peter Sterling, Channel 9
‘Evocative ... colourful … you really should order this book.’
— Andy Wilson, The Guardian (UK)
‘A story so incredible it reads like a movie script. [It’s] the best book of the year ... the best footy story of the century!’
— Craig Norenbergs, ABC Grandstand
— Richard Fidler, Conversations with Richard Fidler (ABC)
‘Anyone with a hint of pigskin in their DNA will love this book.’ — Graem Sims, Inside Sport
‘One of the great yarns in Australian sport.’
— Peter FitzSimons, Sydney Morning Herald
‘When it comes to rugby league books, Ian Heads writes them better than anybody else. This is a great story, a great book.’
— Peter Sterling, Channel 9
‘Evocative ... colourful … you really should order this book.’
— Andy Wilson, The Guardian (UK)
‘A story so incredible it reads like a movie script. [It’s] the best book of the year ... the best footy story of the century!’
— Craig Norenbergs, ABC Grandstand
Olympic Gold Medallist John Devitt has co-authored a biography of his hero, Olympic Gold Medallist Cecil Healy.
Healy remains Australia’s only Olympic Gold Medallist to die at war.
At Stockholm in 1912, Healy was responsible for one of the most inspiring and generous gestures in the history of Australian sport.
The centenary of Cecil Healy’s death occurred on 29 August 2018 ...
CECIL HEALY WAS JUST 36 when he died in France in 1918, but he achieved plenty in a remarkable life. He was at the forefront of Australia’s first great era of swimming, the nation’s early Olympic experiences and the rise of the surf lifesaving movement. He was an evocative journalist and hard-working administrator who helped organise the famous visit of Duke Kahanamoku to Australia in 1915, an adventure that inspired generations of surfboard riders. At the Stockholm Olympics, Healy refused to swim in the 100-metres final unless the Duke, the favourite, was allowed to compete. The great Hawaiian had missed his semi-final after a misunderstanding over the starting time. Healy’s gesture cost him victory but earned him a place in sport’s pantheon of true champions. The contrast between his conduct and recent sporting controversies such as cricket’s ball-tampering affair is stark.
John Devitt won gold medals at the 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games. As an elite young swimmer, as a resident of Manly on Sydney’s northern beaches, where Healy once lived, and as a noted swimming historian, Devitt became engrossed in the Healy legend. This book became a labour of love. In 2017, Devitt and co-author Larry Writer travelled to the UK and toured the battlefields of France, a pilgrimage covered by the ABC's 7.30 Report.
'Our quest was exhaustive,’ Devitt says of the research and writing process. ‘Cecil Healy deserves no less.’
Cecil Healy: A Biography is available in Australia via this website and wherever good books are sold.
Healy remains Australia’s only Olympic Gold Medallist to die at war.
At Stockholm in 1912, Healy was responsible for one of the most inspiring and generous gestures in the history of Australian sport.
The centenary of Cecil Healy’s death occurred on 29 August 2018 ...
CECIL HEALY WAS JUST 36 when he died in France in 1918, but he achieved plenty in a remarkable life. He was at the forefront of Australia’s first great era of swimming, the nation’s early Olympic experiences and the rise of the surf lifesaving movement. He was an evocative journalist and hard-working administrator who helped organise the famous visit of Duke Kahanamoku to Australia in 1915, an adventure that inspired generations of surfboard riders. At the Stockholm Olympics, Healy refused to swim in the 100-metres final unless the Duke, the favourite, was allowed to compete. The great Hawaiian had missed his semi-final after a misunderstanding over the starting time. Healy’s gesture cost him victory but earned him a place in sport’s pantheon of true champions. The contrast between his conduct and recent sporting controversies such as cricket’s ball-tampering affair is stark.
John Devitt won gold medals at the 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games. As an elite young swimmer, as a resident of Manly on Sydney’s northern beaches, where Healy once lived, and as a noted swimming historian, Devitt became engrossed in the Healy legend. This book became a labour of love. In 2017, Devitt and co-author Larry Writer travelled to the UK and toured the battlefields of France, a pilgrimage covered by the ABC's 7.30 Report.
'Our quest was exhaustive,’ Devitt says of the research and writing process. ‘Cecil Healy deserves no less.’
Cecil Healy: A Biography is available in Australia via this website and wherever good books are sold.
Larry Writer’s Never Before, Never Again is recognised as one of Australia’s greatest sports books. On its original release in 1995, it was described in England and Australia as the best book of its kind. It went out of print too quickly. The first edition is so prized that on the rare occasions a copy becomes available on eBay it is snapped up for four or five times its original retail price.
Finally, 50 years after the mighty Saints won their 11th premiership in a row, the book is back in print. This revised and updated special edition features new forewords by two Saints stars who followed in their heroes’ footsteps, Craig Young and Mark Gasnier, and contains a number of photographs and a comprehensive statistics section that did not appear in the first edition. It concludes with an emotional postscript built on an interview Writer conducted in 2016 with Johnny King and Eddie Lumsden, the Dragons wingers from the glory days.
It is true there have been longer footballing winning streaks than that achieved by St George, but only in relatively obscure championships in countries such as Latvia, Norway, Jordan and Vanuatu. Winning 11 straight premierships in a competition as tough as Sydney first-grade rugby league in the 1950s and ’60s remains a phenomenal feat — unique in major Australian sport, unmatched in high-profile competitions around the world.
How this group of champions did it, and what became of them in the years that followed, remains the greatest rugby league story ever told ...
It is a book of two parts. Writer takes us through the 11 years, recalling some of the greatest matches and most poignant moments in league history. Then, having interviewed the major players and officials, reporters, fans and family members, he profiles each of the greats: men such as Norm Provan, Johnny Raper, Billy Smith, Ken Kearney, Ian Walsh and Reg Gasnier. Their stories are funny and raw, and occasionally heartbreaking. It is, as one reviewer recorded after the book was first released, ‘no rose-glasses account … the author tells it warts and all’. There is much that is surprising about the Dragons’ seasons of success, and of the nature of life after sporting glory.
The wonder of Saints’ achievement grows with every year …
Think about it … in the past 23 years no team has won even two grand finals in a row. St George won 11.
How did it happen? Part of it is simply the fact that in 1959 a team good enough to win three straight premierships, one that already featured famous names such as Provan, Kearney, Billy Wilson, Harry Bath, Brian Clay and Eddie Lumsden, was suddenly infused with the genius of Gasnier and Raper. Pragmatic officials made some key signings in the early ’60s, including Walsh, Kevin Ryan and Graeme Langlands, and the local juniors provided stars such as Smith and Johnny King, which meant no player continued beyond his used-by date. Kearney (captain-coach from 1957 to 1961) was smart, demanding and ruthless, a coach ahead of his time, and Provan (1962–65) and Walsh (1966) built on his example. A winning culture evolved. The couple of times they needed the ball to bounce their way, it surely did.
But they had something more, and maybe Johnny Raper nails it right at the end of the book.
‘We were one big happy family,’ he explains. ‘I’ve never heard of any other club enjoying the harmony we did. Loyalty to each other and tradition made St George great. The football club, the leagues club, the players and wives, the administrators and the supporters — all were essential elements.
‘Without any one of them, our great era could never have happened.’
THE AUTHOR
Larry Writer grew up in the St George district. The first time he saw St George play was when he was taken as a 12-year-old to the 1962 Grand Final. He was hooked for life.
Through the 1980s, Writer worked for Australian Consolidated Press, enjoying time as ACP’s European editor and London bureau chief. In the ’90s, he was London bureau chief for Time Inc. He compiled the critically acclaimed book, Winning: Face to Face with Australian Sporting Legends in 1990, and then co-wrote rugby league biographies with Greg Alexander and Rex Mossop for Ironbark Press. The release of Never Before, Never Again in 1995 cemented his status as one of Australia’s leading sports authors. Once Razor: Tilly Devine, Kate Leigh and the razor gangs, the Ned Kelly Award winner for best non-fiction crime book in 2002, was published he was recognised as a superb writer of true crime as well. The Underbelly Razor TV series was based on Writer’s work.
His subsequent books include Bumper: The Life and Times of Frank ‘Bumper’ Farrell, Dangerous Games: Australia at the 1936 Nazi Olympics, which was short-listed for the inaugural William Hill Australian Sports Book of the Year in 2015, and Pitched Battle: In the Front Line of the 1971 Springbok Tour of Australia. Writer has also co-written books with Divinyls singer Chrissie Amphlett, tennis champions Rod Laver, John Newcombe and Margaret Court, AFL’s Paul Roos, rugby union’s Dan Crowley, and rugby league’s Petero Civoniceva, Kevin Walters and John Peard.
WHAT THEY'VE SAID ABOUT THE BOOK
‘Writer has produced a superb book on the great St George era and its great players. Each chapter on every year of success is a ripping yarn. Each chapter on the stars themselves, a revelation. The biff, the boozing, the bitching and the brilliance. It’s all in this engrossing book.’
— Ray Kershler, Daily Telegraph Mirror
‘Like the team which inspired it, there have been very few sports books like this one ... Larry Writer has tracked down the old Saints like Provan, Smith, Raper and Lumsden. Where the players were no longer alive, he has talked to their widows and children. He has spoken to their opponents and other fans. The mighty Saints of 1956–66, who won a world record 11 consecutive premierships, were Writer’s boyhood heroes, and in Never Before, Never Again he has done them proud.’
— Mike Colman, Sunday Telegraph
‘A triumph of meticulous research, persistence and sheer hard work.’
— Inside Sport
‘The best sports book of the year … a lovingly researched, beautifully written story, chock full of anecdotes from what we can now safely call the “good old days”.’
— Peter FitzSimons, The Sydney Morning Herald
‘This is a special book for the St George fan. But it is a book for lovers of the game or sport in general. Most important, it is a history book for the time — this time, when rugby league is threatened by its desire to go forward, burning the bridges of tradition as it goes.’
— Tony Squires, The Sydney Morning Herald
‘A marvellous recount for the dwindling crowds who saw history happen. For the rest, a unique insight into league’s most enduring achievement.’
— David Middleton, league historian and statistician
‘The best rugby league book of the year … there is more of the authentic flavour of the game here than in a hundred official histories.’
— Dave Hadfield, The Independent
Finally, 50 years after the mighty Saints won their 11th premiership in a row, the book is back in print. This revised and updated special edition features new forewords by two Saints stars who followed in their heroes’ footsteps, Craig Young and Mark Gasnier, and contains a number of photographs and a comprehensive statistics section that did not appear in the first edition. It concludes with an emotional postscript built on an interview Writer conducted in 2016 with Johnny King and Eddie Lumsden, the Dragons wingers from the glory days.
It is true there have been longer footballing winning streaks than that achieved by St George, but only in relatively obscure championships in countries such as Latvia, Norway, Jordan and Vanuatu. Winning 11 straight premierships in a competition as tough as Sydney first-grade rugby league in the 1950s and ’60s remains a phenomenal feat — unique in major Australian sport, unmatched in high-profile competitions around the world.
How this group of champions did it, and what became of them in the years that followed, remains the greatest rugby league story ever told ...
It is a book of two parts. Writer takes us through the 11 years, recalling some of the greatest matches and most poignant moments in league history. Then, having interviewed the major players and officials, reporters, fans and family members, he profiles each of the greats: men such as Norm Provan, Johnny Raper, Billy Smith, Ken Kearney, Ian Walsh and Reg Gasnier. Their stories are funny and raw, and occasionally heartbreaking. It is, as one reviewer recorded after the book was first released, ‘no rose-glasses account … the author tells it warts and all’. There is much that is surprising about the Dragons’ seasons of success, and of the nature of life after sporting glory.
The wonder of Saints’ achievement grows with every year …
- St George have been premiers only three times since the end of the miracle: in 1977, 1979 and (as St George Illawarra) in 2010.
- No club has won even two premierships in a row since Brisbane claimed back-to-back titles in 1992–93.
- Only Parramatta, in 1981–83, have won three grand finals in a row since 1966.
Think about it … in the past 23 years no team has won even two grand finals in a row. St George won 11.
How did it happen? Part of it is simply the fact that in 1959 a team good enough to win three straight premierships, one that already featured famous names such as Provan, Kearney, Billy Wilson, Harry Bath, Brian Clay and Eddie Lumsden, was suddenly infused with the genius of Gasnier and Raper. Pragmatic officials made some key signings in the early ’60s, including Walsh, Kevin Ryan and Graeme Langlands, and the local juniors provided stars such as Smith and Johnny King, which meant no player continued beyond his used-by date. Kearney (captain-coach from 1957 to 1961) was smart, demanding and ruthless, a coach ahead of his time, and Provan (1962–65) and Walsh (1966) built on his example. A winning culture evolved. The couple of times they needed the ball to bounce their way, it surely did.
But they had something more, and maybe Johnny Raper nails it right at the end of the book.
‘We were one big happy family,’ he explains. ‘I’ve never heard of any other club enjoying the harmony we did. Loyalty to each other and tradition made St George great. The football club, the leagues club, the players and wives, the administrators and the supporters — all were essential elements.
‘Without any one of them, our great era could never have happened.’
THE AUTHOR
Larry Writer grew up in the St George district. The first time he saw St George play was when he was taken as a 12-year-old to the 1962 Grand Final. He was hooked for life.
Through the 1980s, Writer worked for Australian Consolidated Press, enjoying time as ACP’s European editor and London bureau chief. In the ’90s, he was London bureau chief for Time Inc. He compiled the critically acclaimed book, Winning: Face to Face with Australian Sporting Legends in 1990, and then co-wrote rugby league biographies with Greg Alexander and Rex Mossop for Ironbark Press. The release of Never Before, Never Again in 1995 cemented his status as one of Australia’s leading sports authors. Once Razor: Tilly Devine, Kate Leigh and the razor gangs, the Ned Kelly Award winner for best non-fiction crime book in 2002, was published he was recognised as a superb writer of true crime as well. The Underbelly Razor TV series was based on Writer’s work.
His subsequent books include Bumper: The Life and Times of Frank ‘Bumper’ Farrell, Dangerous Games: Australia at the 1936 Nazi Olympics, which was short-listed for the inaugural William Hill Australian Sports Book of the Year in 2015, and Pitched Battle: In the Front Line of the 1971 Springbok Tour of Australia. Writer has also co-written books with Divinyls singer Chrissie Amphlett, tennis champions Rod Laver, John Newcombe and Margaret Court, AFL’s Paul Roos, rugby union’s Dan Crowley, and rugby league’s Petero Civoniceva, Kevin Walters and John Peard.
WHAT THEY'VE SAID ABOUT THE BOOK
‘Writer has produced a superb book on the great St George era and its great players. Each chapter on every year of success is a ripping yarn. Each chapter on the stars themselves, a revelation. The biff, the boozing, the bitching and the brilliance. It’s all in this engrossing book.’
— Ray Kershler, Daily Telegraph Mirror
‘Like the team which inspired it, there have been very few sports books like this one ... Larry Writer has tracked down the old Saints like Provan, Smith, Raper and Lumsden. Where the players were no longer alive, he has talked to their widows and children. He has spoken to their opponents and other fans. The mighty Saints of 1956–66, who won a world record 11 consecutive premierships, were Writer’s boyhood heroes, and in Never Before, Never Again he has done them proud.’
— Mike Colman, Sunday Telegraph
‘A triumph of meticulous research, persistence and sheer hard work.’
— Inside Sport
‘The best sports book of the year … a lovingly researched, beautifully written story, chock full of anecdotes from what we can now safely call the “good old days”.’
— Peter FitzSimons, The Sydney Morning Herald
‘This is a special book for the St George fan. But it is a book for lovers of the game or sport in general. Most important, it is a history book for the time — this time, when rugby league is threatened by its desire to go forward, burning the bridges of tradition as it goes.’
— Tony Squires, The Sydney Morning Herald
‘A marvellous recount for the dwindling crowds who saw history happen. For the rest, a unique insight into league’s most enduring achievement.’
— David Middleton, league historian and statistician
‘The best rugby league book of the year … there is more of the authentic flavour of the game here than in a hundred official histories.’
— Dave Hadfield, The Independent