Books
The Devil Within
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM ALKER
With Julie Stott – Foreword by Adrian Morley
If ever a rugby league player was the heart and soul of a club, it is Salford City Reds’ talismanic hooker Malcolm Alker. A man who twice turned down big money moves – including one to Australia’s NRL – was fired by an all-consuming, blistering determination to make the original Red Devils a major force in Super League. Yet that dream blew up in his face when a tumultuous and bitter exit from the club plunged him into depression and tainted many of the memories he held dear.
In The Devil Within, an autobiography by turns astonishing and amusing, Alker reveals all about his controversial departure from the Willows; his feelings about those he left behind, the alcohol-fuelled brawl in America that cost him the captaincy; and his many highs and lows as a player, skipper and assistant coach. A battler known for his integrity on and off the field, Alker also lifts the lid on his own experiences with drugs – legal, social and Human Growth Hormone; the prescription drug abuse that he insists is blighting rugby league; and dalliances with illegal betting.
With a fight – physical or metaphorical – on almost every page, The Devil Within is a frank and brutally honest confessional of a life on rugby league’s front line.
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Gateways to Harewood
Tales of a house, a school and a village
By the pupils of Gateways School
Foreword by Patricia, Countess of Harewood
With an original short story by GP Taylor
The settlement of Harewood can trace its history to the Bronze Age. At the heart of this picturesque Yorkshire village today lies Harewood House, well known for its own fascinating and distinguished family tree.
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Harewood has seen many tales unfold down the centuries and countless changes have altered the face of the village. This book is a treasury of inspirational writing and artwork by the pupils of Gateways School, an establishment with its own part to play in the story. Every contribution captures the beguiling spirit of Harewood.
Gateways to Harewood is a special project, the like of which has never before been undertaken. It is unique in its desire not merely to document historical facts, but also to utilise them as a perfect springboard for creativity.
This is the Best Trip
Chasing the Tangerine Dream…
by Ian Chisnall – with a foreword and afterword by Ian Holloway
It took all of a week for the implications of Blackpool’s Wembley success to sink in – so it was in early June 2010 that reality struck.
The club with the smallest resources in Premier League history would be asked to compete with some of the world’s richest and most famous football clubs. That reality became stark when the fixtures were released, listing the first four away games as Arsenal, Newcastle, Chelsea and Liverpool. However you looked at it, the campaign ahead was sure to be unforgettable.
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BBC Radio Lancashire sports broadcaster Ian Chisnall was determined that a record of the journey should be made. After hours of documenting the details week by week this, The Best Trip, is his take.
From being top of the Premier League until 7.30pm on the opening day, through to the nerve jangling ‘Survival Sunday’ at the end of May, this book chronicles the highs and lows of a truly exceptional campaign. It includes quotes from the broadcastable post-match interviews with inimitable Tangerine’s manager Ian Holloway and many of the clips that could never have made it to the airwaves.
There’s the inside track on the transfer window drama and a whole range of emotions as the season sparked and then stumbled. Find out what the gaffer really said to Prince William, who sent the club a letter after enjoying his visit to the match against Wolves.
The Best Trip is a unique account of a remarkable season.
Another Spot On My Bum
by Gez Walsh
Parents and teachers of the world beware! Gez Walsh – the ‘Rude Dude’ poet – is back!
Psst! It’s me, Gez! I have been in hiding for many years in a rainforest by the sea, in a penthouse bungalow in Batley.
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Those intrepid explores from Scratching Shed found me bronzing my lean godlike body in front of a nuclear power plant. All that radiation and I’m still not a superhero.
They wanted me to return and annoy the teachers and parents of the world with my in-depth poems about the things that matter most: spots, farts and burps.
At first I refused the riches and wealth they offered, but I finally broke when they offered me a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich. There’s only so much a man can take.
So here it is, the poetry book I said I would never write. It’s full of poems - many of which you may have read in the hugely successful Potty Poet series, plus lots of new ones that only the people who live here in my little cell with its lovely padding have read (just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not there).
If you really want to know what it’s like to have a spot on your bum or get your willy caught in your zip then read this book. It doesn’t contain any answers to life’s embarrassing problems but it does let us laugh at the misfortune of others.
From Hull to Hell and back...
The autobiography of Lee Crooks; with Vince Groak
With a foreword by Peter Sterling
The most candid rugby league book of the year!
When he broke dramatically onto the senior rugby league scene with his beloved Hull as a gifted teenager, prop Lee Crooks was an archetypal blood and guts heart-on-his-sleeve firebrand front-rower, adored by the Boulevard faithful.
From Hull to Hell and back… tells of all this and more. By turns confessional and controversial, moving and hilarious, this is the colourful story of a modern-day rugby league maverick. Think you know Lee Crooks? Think again!
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A Cup winner and distinguished 19-Test international – best remembered for his nerveless last-gasp penalty from the sidelines to save a series against the Kiwis in 1985 - Lee Crooks then became the most expensive rugby league player in the world when signing for Leeds, against his wishes, as Hull hit hard times.
A subsequent move to Castleford rekindled an always lively playing career prior to coaching spells with Keighley and York before, unthinkably, he crossed the city of his birth and joined the staff at Hull KR.
From Hull to Hell and back... tells of all this and more. By turns confessional and controversial, moving and hilarious, this is the colourful story of a modern-day rugby league maverick. Think you know Lee Crooks? Think again!
