If I had to choose between my wife and my putter... well, I’d miss her.
The autobiography
Return to the book list for this category.
Martin Johnson, Headline, London, 2003 ISBN 0753311868
The book is the autobiography of the England World Cup winning captain, telling his story from the beginning of his very amateur rugby career through to professionalism. Among the comments he makes on the development is: “in many ways, professionalism has been a tremendous thing for the English game. In a few short years we have created a competitive league system that has produced clubs that can beat the best in Europe”. At the same time he reacted negatively when his club Leicester fired the coach “was that what professionalism means: people getting fired after a bad run for a few months?”.
One of the most interesting sections in the book is the chapter “Wild card Woody” about the appointment of Clive Woodward as England coach and the process towards winning the World Cup. One interesting comment was “Clive had a habit of speaking before he had thought things through properly”.
Another interesting chapter is called Terminator which addresses violence in rugby.
I was reading the book more than 20 years after it had been published but found it a really interesting insight into the professionalisation of the game from a player’s perspective.