The Ghosts of Cathkin Park

by Michael McEwan

Author	: Michael McEwan
Publisher	: Birlinn Ltd
Total Pages	: 234
Release	: 2021-09-16
Genre	: Sports & Recreation
ISBN	: 1788853148

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The summer of 1967 was Scottish football's finest hour. Celtic won the European Cup. Rangers reached the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup. Kilmarnock got to the semis of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Scotland defeated world champions England at Wembley. It was the best of times. With one exception. Third Lanark Athletic Club, one of the country's oldest and most successful football teams, a founder member of the Scottish Football Association, and to date one of only four teams to defeat both Rangers and Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final, played its final game. And hardly anybody seemed to notice. Why? Michael McEwan brings rich archival research together with interviews with the key surviving players in the Third Lanark squad from that final season, as well as opposition players and other relevant figures from the era. Over 50 years on, the demise of Third Lanark remains one of Scottish football's darkest hours – and, by ludicrous coincidence, it occurred in the midst of one of its brightest.

Ken Scotland

by Ken Scotland

Author	: Ken Scotland
Publisher	: Birlinn Ltd
Total Pages	: 280
Release	: 2020-10-08
Genre	: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN	: 1913538044

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Ken Scotland was born on 29 August 1936 within sight of Heriot's Goldenacre ground, which he would go onto grace with great panache and skill several years later. A prodigious talent at fly-half while at school, he was converted into a full-back during the international trials of 1957 and was capped in that position against France at Colombes just a few weeks later, scoring all of his country's points as the Scots recorded their first win on French soil since 1949. Having joined the army after leaving school, Scotland then attended Cambridge University and it was from there that he was selected for the 1959 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand. During this epic four-month tour he won plaudits far and wide as one of the superstars of the Lions' team. Using entries from the dairy he kept during this tour, Scotland brings to life one of the great Lions expeditions, taking us right into the heart of the changing rooms, hotels, bars and in the heat of battle on the field. Scotland played in five Tests for the Lions and won a total of twenty-seven caps for his country before retiring in 1965 with a reputation as one of the finest players ever to play for Scotland well established. He would continue to play club rugby for several years afterwards while enjoying a successful business career. At eighty-three he has finally decided to tell his life story. Working with Allan Massie, the doyen of Scottish rugby journalism, he has created a rich and powerful testimony to his life and rugby career, throwing new light on his own achievements as well as providing fresh insight the great players of his era. It is as fascinating as it is evocative of a time and a game long past and a must-read for rugby fans of all generations.

Cricket 2.0

by Tim Wigmore

Author	: Tim Wigmore
Publisher	: Birlinn Ltd
Total Pages	: 351
Release	: 2019-10-10
Genre	: Sports & Recreation
ISBN	: 1788851889

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WISDEN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 Winner of The Telegraph Sports Book Awards 2020 Heartaches Cricket Book of the Year 'Fascinating . . . essential reading' – Scyld Berry 'A fascinating book, essential for anyone who wishes to understand cricket's new age' – Alex Massie, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 'An invaluable guide' – Mike Atherton, The Times 'excellent . . . both breezily engaging, and full of the format's latest, best and nerdiest thinking' – Gideon Haigh, The Australian 'The century's most original cricket book . . . An absorbing ride . . . some of their revelations come with the startling force of unexpected thunder on a still night' – Suresh Menon, editor Wisden India Almanack Cricket 2.0 is the multi award-winning story of how an old, traditional game was revolutionised by a new format: Twenty20 cricket. The winner of the Wisden Almanack Book of the Year award, the Telegraph Sports Book Awards' Cricket Book of the Year and selected as one of The Cricketer's greatest cricket books of all time, Cricket 2.0 is an essential read both for Test and T20 cricket lovers alike, and all those interested in modern sport. Using exclusive interviews with over 80 leading players and coaches – including Jos Buttler, Ricky Ponting, Kieron Pollard, Eoin Morgan, Brendon McCullum and Rashid Khan – Tim Wigmore and Freddie Wilde chronicle this revolution with insight, forensic analysis and story-telling verve. In the process, they reveal how cricket has been transformed, both on and off the field. Told with vivid clarity and insight, this is the extraordinary and previously misunderstood story of Twenty20, how it is reshaping the sport – and what the future of cricket will look like. Readers will never watch a T20 game in quite the same way again. "For people that love cricket it's really important to read it," said Miles Jupp. "I found it extraordinary."

Explodobook

by John Rain

Author	: John Rain
Publisher	: Birlinn Ltd
Total Pages	: 286
Release	: 2021-10-21
Genre	: Performing Arts
ISBN	: 1913538192

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The 1980s. A time of fear: fear of the unknown, fear of your neighbours, fear of drugs, fear of sex, fear of strangers, fear of videos, and the very real fear that the world would end at any moment in an awful, and very sudden, nuclear attack. However, in those times of turmoil and worry, there was a comfort that soothed the mind, and acted as a quiet balm: action movies. Video shops were bursting at the seams with rampant gunfire, sex, drugs, rock, roll, cars on fire, people on fire, guns, bombs, and people dressed in army fatigues (and that was just the staff). Heroes were born shrouded in fire and violent revenge, they were not only armed with guns, but also red-hot quips, that served as a muscly arm around the shoulder, and a wink that everything was going to be okay. So thank you Arnold, Sylvester, Sigourney, Bruce, Eddie, Charles, Patrick, Mel, Chuck and everyone else that made it happen. You saved the world, in your own inimitable way. Join John Rain, the author of the critically-acclaimed Thunderbook: The World of Bond According to Smersh Pod, as he examines a choice selection of the greatest action movies from the decade when the explosion was king.

The Real Madrid Handbook

by Rab MacWilliam

Author	: Rab MacWilliam
Publisher	: Birlinn Ltd
Total Pages	: 210
Release	: 2022-07-14
Genre	: Sports & Recreation
ISBN	: 1913538834

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The ultimate guide to Real Madrid. The Real Madrid Handbook is an entertaining compendium of fascinating facts, match coverage, stories, personalities and trivia from the biggest club team on the planet. Rab MacWilliam traces the history of Real Madrid from the early 20th century, examining its progress in the domestic cup and league, and analyses the impact that the Republic, the Spanish Civil War and the repressive authoritarian aftermath had on the club. He relates how the stunning success in European football in the mid-1950s to the early 1960s was one of the factors that helped to ease Spain's integration into Europe and explores the club's rise to become one of the most skilful and dominant teams in the global game over the last thirty years. Fascinating, informative, irreverent and insightful, The Real Madrid Handbook is the perfect guide to the history of this extraordinary club.

Winning the Fight

by Maggie Alphonsi

Author	: Maggie Alphonsi
Publisher	: Birlinn Ltd
Total Pages	: 299
Release	: 2023-08-31
Genre	: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN	: 1915359023

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'Maggie has changed the way the game is played forever' - The Sunday Times Maggie Alphonsi is not only a national sporting icon, the face of international women's rugby and star player of the England side that won the World Cup in 2014. She is also an inspirational and totemic figure who transcends sport. The compelling story of her life makes her achievements even more extraordinary. Hers is an against-all-the-odds tale, becoming the best player in the world despite having to battle against racism, sexism, and prejudice. It is a book forged from the raw emotion, passion, and testimony of an iconic player, who rose to the elite of world sport when the world was seemingly stacked against her. It is a moving and revealing story of a woman who was not prepared to be defined by anyone but herself and gives the reader a unique insight into how she met her goals.

Gallus

by Michael McEwan

Author	: Michael McEwan
Publisher	: Birlinn Ltd
Total Pages	: 261
Release	: 2023-09-07
Genre	: Sports & Recreation
ISBN	: 1913538982

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There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who insist that football is just a game, and those who know better. Take the April 1967 clash between England and Scotland. Wounded by their biggest rivals winning the World Cup just nine months earlier, Bobby Brown's Scots travelled to Wembley on the mother of all missions. Win and they would take a huge step towards qualifying for the 1968 European Championship, end England's formidable 19-game unbeaten streak, and, best of all, put Sir Alf Ramsey's men firmly back in their box. Lose? Well, that was just unthinkable. Meanwhile, off the pitch, the winds of change were billowing through Scotland. Nationalism, long confined to the margins of British politics, was starting to penetrate the mainstream, gaining both traction and influence. Was England's World Cup victory a defining moment in the Scottish independence movement? Or did it consign Scotland to successive generations of myopic underachievement? Michael McEwan, author of The Ghosts of Cathkin Park, returns to 1967 to explore a crucial ninety minutes in the rebirth of a nation.

Rugby World Cup 101

by Peter Burns

Author	: Peter Burns
Publisher	: Birlinn Ltd
Total Pages	: 235
Release	: 2019-06-13
Genre	: Sports & Recreation
ISBN	: 178885179X

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Rugby World Cup 101 is a compendium of fascinating facts, stats, stories, personalities and trivia – perfect for all fans of rugby from around the world. From the genesis of the tournament in 1987 all the way through to the present day, the Rugby World Cup's rich history is distilled into 101 facts, stats and stories. This entertaining volume is an instructive, if sometimes irreverent – but always affectionate – guide to some of the groundbreaking firsts, controversies, innovations, characters, achievements and disasters that have taken place in rugby's marquee event. Whether an expert or a novice, this is the perfect companion for rugby lovers around the world.

Behind the Ryder Cup

by Peter Burns

Author	: Peter Burns
Publisher	: Birlinn Ltd
Total Pages	: 757
Release	: 2016-07-14
Genre	: Sports & Recreation
ISBN	: 0857908855

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Enter the locker room: this is a history of the Ryder Cup like you have never experienced it before. From the origin matches that preceded the first official trans-Atlantic encounter between Britain and America at Worcester Country Club in 1927, all the way through to the fortieth installment at Gleneagles in 2014, this is the complete history of the Ryder Cup – told by the men who have been there and done it. With exhaustive research and exclusive new material garnered from interviews with players and captains from across the decades, Behind the Ryder Cup unveils the compelling truth of what it means to play in golf's biggest match-play event, where greats of the game have crumbled under pressure while others have carved their names into sporting legend.