Writers dish dirt on AFL greats
The publishing industry has met readers' demands for the lowdown on all things AFL, with both quasi-official and uncensored books giving insights.
The Essendon supplements saga may have infuriated football fans but if book sales are anything to go by, it hasn't dulled their love for the game.
During August alone Slattery Media Group published four AFL titles with one, Fremantle Dockers: An Illustrated History already sold out.
The Slattery group began its life in 1995 as the AFL's contracted publishing house and chief executive Geoff Slattery says he hasn't seen a drop in sales during the two years of the Essendon scandal.
"This issue has distracted from the beauty of the game, and infuriated fans of all clubs, but it has not taken away all fans' essential love of the game," Slattery says.
West Australian fans in particular will find plenty to like in Polly Farmer, a revised edition of the 1994 biography of Graham Farmer.
Slattery says Farmer was the only official Legend of the Australian Football Hall of Fame who significantly changed the game for the better.
The book, by Steve Hawke, starts with the AFL great's childhood at Sister Kate's orphanage, then charts his on-field success, struggles with racism and post-football financial difficulties.
Farmer is portrayed as a driven, disciplined footballer more interested in achieving his personal goals than receiving public adulation.
Hawke also highlights how Farmer was involved in some of the State's most memorable events, including the Stolen Generation era, Queen Elizabeth's 1954 visit, WA's first State of Origin Aussie rules win, and, of course, the construction of the Graham Farmer Freeway.
The footballer took part in Aussie rules history, as the coach of the WA team in the game's very first Aussie rules State of Origin game, against Victoria.
In this regard the book is as much a social history of WA as a football publication.
Of lesser interest to the wider public is King Richard, the biography of Essendon champion Dick Reynolds.
Reynolds led the Bombers to 12 grand finals and was known as being "game as Ned Kelly, only faster".
Like most football biographies the book has plenty of match reports and change-room anecdotes but what it really needs is an editor.
King Richard is nearly twice the length of Polly Farmer.
Hawke managed to fit Farmer's 392-game, three-club career into 359 pages but author Dan Eddy felt Reynolds' 320 games for Essendon needed 612 pages.
Slattery group's last publication for the month is Fox Swift Takes on the Unbeatables a children's book full of AFL-endorsed messages of healthy competition and mateship.
Fox Swift is a 12-year-old football star who plays with a ragtag team of appropriately diverse country kids. They were shock winners of last year's grand final but the bully Mace Winter will do anything to ensure revenge.
The message of inclusivity is an important one but its delivery can seem a little forced to adult readers.
However, if I had a rambunctious young relative I wanted to encourage to read more, this would be the book I would give them.
The publisher's close relationship with the footballing industry means it is not necessarily the first choice for insight to some of the game's less savoury episodes.
For a taste you should read Great Australian Sports Rorts by John "Dr Turf" Rothfield and John Adams, a Hardie Grant Books title.
Sports cheating arrived in this country with the First Fleet and Australian football has enough scandals to warrant its own chapter.
WA's Sandover Medal gets a mention, with the 1971 count the subject of a betting plunge three weeks before the vote. Neither author will win any awards for his writing style but they are experts in their field, using newspaper articles and first-hand accounts to reveal a side of football far removed from the sanitised broadcasts of the weekend's AFL grand final.
'''BIOGRAPHY
Polly Farmer
Steve Hawke
Slattery Media Group $35
BIOGRAPHY
King Richard
Dan Eddy
Slattery Media Group $40
YOUNG ADULT
Fox Swift Takes on the Unbeatables
David Lawrence with Cyril Rioli
Slattery Media Group $17
SPORT
Great Australian Sports Rorts
John Rothfield and John Adams
Hardie Grant Books $30, ebook $4'''
