Jamie Peacock No White Flag

Jamie Peacock is the ultimate modern forward in rugby league. Taking the hard hits, making the toughest yards and leading by example in the Super League and international arenas, 'JP' has come through adversity, on and off the pitch, to become one of the most respected players of his generation. His strength, determination and unfailing will to win have seen him claim the 'Man of Steel' and 'International Forward of the Year' awards, along with a host of other individual honours, while picking up Super League titles and Challenge Cups with Bradford and Leeds.His autobiography No White Flag is a revelatory and inspirational account of a life in professional sport, from starting out as a skinny youth and being told he wouldn't make the grade to dark days in hospital waiting rooms with his career hanging by a thread - culminating in the euphoria of winning the Grand Final with hometown club Leeds Rhinos and leading Great Britain to a historic series whitewash over New Zealand in the autumn of 2007.Forthright and to the point, Jamie pulls no punches in describing rugby league as he sees it. Replete with opinions and anecdotes, this book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in what it takes to become one of sport's true gladiators.

Jamie Peacock is known and respected as one of the most powerful and redoubtable forwards in world rugby. The inspirational skipper at Bradford Bulls until 2005, when he helped them claim the Super League Trophy, the 2003 Man of Steel is now a key figure at hometown club Leeds Rhinos, who he helped to the title in 2007. Having just led Great Britain to their first Test series win in fourteen years, he is also set to captain England in the much-anticipated 2008 World Cup. Coming from a forthright Yorkshireman, this autobiography will pull no punches in describing rugby league as Jamie sees it. Replete with opinions and anecdotes, it is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the modern game. This new paperback edition is fully updated to include the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.

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.

The laws of rugby are as extensive as they are confusing, their nuances and interpretations argued over relentlessly by rugby fans around the world and virtually impenetrable to those who are new to the game. In an effort to provide some much-needed clarity, Paul Williams takes an irreverent, hilarious, p*ss-taking tour through the labyrinth that is rugby's rule book – or, for the pedantic, rugby's law book. Hilarious, off-beat and (surprisingly) insightful, this is the perfect gift for rugby fans all around the world.

Part manifesto, part how-to, Eat Sweat Play is a hugely inspirational call to arms for women to take back sport for themselves. Long-listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award. Sport's for everyone . . . isn't it? Society has led us to believe that women and sport don’t mix. But why? What happens to the young girls who dare to climb trees and cartwheel across playgrounds? In her exploration of major taboos, from sex to the gender pay gap, sports journalist Anna Kessel discovers how sport and exercise should play an integral role in every sphere of our modern lives. Covering a fascinating range of women, from Sporty Spice to mums who box and breastfeed, Eat Sweat Play reveals how women are finally reclaiming sport, and by extension their own bodies, for themselves – and how you can too. 'Anna Kessel's book should inspire a whole generation of women. It ought to be on the school curriculum.' - Hadley Freeman 'I’d go as far to say that this book was a life changer for my health and fitness.' - Estée Lalonde

Written by an experienced rugby coach, Coaching Youth Rugby is an essential guide for all coaches, parents and teachers. This one-stop practical resource will give a new coach everything they need to deliver fun, dynamic, player-centred practice sessions and guidance on how to run a team. Coaches at all levels of the game will find material and ideas aimed at helping them to formulate simple strategies to suit their level of player ability. Contents include: practical small-team games and drills, enabling coaches to run active and fun sessions for young players; ideas for teaching fundamental rugby skills, from passing and handling to tackling, kicking, scrum and lineout; coaching theories explained in an uncomplicated and easy-to-understand manner.With field-tested, age-specific information to help you learn how to communicate with players, parents, other coaches and officials, Coaching Youth Rugby will help you manage your team on match days and provide measures for ensuring player safety. Includes full details on the new RFU Continuum. A one-stop practical resource that is fully illustrated with 60 colour photographs and 100 diagrams.