Description:
This book examines national identity - and especially Australia's image as a sporting country. Tony Ward traces the ebb and flow of Australia's sporting passions since the period when Archer won the first Melbourne Cup in 1861.
This book was published as a special issue in Soccer and Society.
Review Quotes:
"Effectively the book is divided into two parts, with the first offering a more thematic examination, the second taking a chronological appraoch as it details Australian sport from 1860 through to the present. [...] The content is highly detailed and impressively researched." - Aaron Scott - Third Umpire
"Ward comes to his subject with anunfeigned zeal, asking all the right questions. this book contains much the best statistical analysis of its kind available." - Gideon Haigh, The Sydney Morning Herald