General non-fiction

Headingley Ghosts

A Collection of Yorkshire Cricket Tragedies

By Mick Pope

Lest we forget … on the 150th anniversary of Yorkshire cricket:

They shared three common threads – Yorkshire, cricket and tragedy

Compiled by Yorkshire cricket writer and researcher Mick Pope, Headingley Ghosts is a dark collection of over 60 Yorkshire cricket biographies, spanning more than 180 years of the game in the county.

From the Sheffield pioneers of the 1820s to the modern tragedy of David Bairstow, this haunting book – through original research and a wide selection of rare images – recalls what became of these tragic Yorkshire cricketers beyond the boundary.

They died young, they died old; they died in obscurity; they died in poverty; they died on the road, in the air and on the rail track; they died by their own hand; they died in war and they died fighting sickness – collectively they are Headingley Ghosts.

They Walked On Water

REISSUED IN FEBRUARY – ORDER NOW

By David Hinchliffe

With an introduction by Mike ‘Stevo’ Stephenson

Watersplash! Forty-five years on it remains one of the most iconic words in the history of rugby league and is a perfect description of one of its most infamous games.

The ‘Watersplash’ Challenge Cup final of 1968 – when Leeds met Wakefield Trinity in monsoon conditions – has since become the stuff of legend. A deluge of epic rain, a controversial penalty try and ‘that’ last-minute missed goal by Lance Todd Trophy winner Don Fox – whose boots are immortalised on the cover – it contained all of that and more.

With a wealth of new material, former MP David Hinchliffe canvasses the opinions of many who were there – including the players – and uncovers the agony, ecstasy and tragedy of Wembley 1968.

John Kear – Coaching is Chaos

CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT

A Life in Rugby – written with Peter Smith

From Wembley glory to the great escape, master coach John Kear has seen it all during a lifetime in rugby league.

Born into the sport just a stone’s throw from one of its most famous venues, Kear’s remarkable rugby career has taken him from schoolboy scoreboard operator at Castleford Tigers to team boss of England and beyond.

In Coaching is Chaos, Kear reveals the fascinating stories behind his famous two Challenge Cup final victories with Sheffield Eagles and Hull, and tells how he kept Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in Super League when all seemed lost – at the expense of his beloved hometown club.

He also outlines the pressures that come with coaching England and for the first time shares the full details behind his controversial sacking at Hull FC.

Kear – whose other clubs include Paris, Bramley and Wigan – has experienced tragedy as well as triumph and he pays an emotional tribute to Adam Watene and Leon Walker, two players who died while he was in charge at Wakefield.

Now coach of Batley Bulldogs and a leading media pundit with Sky Sports, Kear also provides hard-hitting views on the state of the game and ponders where it goes next in this, his unmissable rugby league autobiography.

304 pages, paperback

Learning Curve

The Remarkable Story of Student Rugby League

By Dave Hadfield

Learning Curve – Dave Hadfield’s seventh book about rugby league – is devoted to one of the game’s great untold stories.

The spread of Student rugby league throughout England is highlighted by chapters on the development of league at Oxford and Cambridge – where sceptics said it would never penetrate.

Hadfield also looks at the growth of the 13-a-side code in Wales, Scotland and Ireland, as well as among students in Australia, France and New Zealand. The regular staging of Student World Cups, Ashes series and thriving domestic competitions are all covered, alongside the author’s inimitable observations of the state of play today.

From dozens of interviews with those most closely involved, rugby league’s best-loved writer captures the spirit of one of the sport’s great successes – from the dedication it takes at the elite level to the humour it demands in the lower echelons. Whether you played at university or college or not, Learning Curve is an unmissable read for anyone interested in the future of rugby league.

* Learning Curve includes forewords from David Oxley – former chief executive of the Rugby Football League and chairman of the Student Rugby League – and Brian Carney, the Irish student who went on to play with great success in Super League, Australia’s NRL and on the international stage with Great Britain.

The Barefoot Shepherdess and Women of the Dales

CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT

By Yvette Huddleston and Walter Swan

Reprint under consideration

The Barefoot Shepherdess and Women of the Dales celebrates the variety and versatility of a dozen or more determined women who have made a distinctive life for themselves “far from the madding crowd”. The Yorkshire Dales attracts tourists aplenty to appreciate the beauties of the local landscape but most visitors return to their towns and cities, renewed by the peace and quiet of the countryside, though unable to leave their modern, urban lifestyle for too long.

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Women like Alison O’Neill, who owns her own flock of sheep and designs her own brand of tweed clothing, demonstrate that you can live a life of independence and fulfilment even in Britain’s remotest regions. There are inevitable hardships to be endured but innumerable compensations when the Dales are your doorstep. Each chapter features inspirational women who have made the choice to live and work collaboratively with the people and places of the Yorkshire landscape, What they have in common – farmers, artists, vets, publicans, entrepreneurs, artisans, academics, vets, curators and vicars – is a passion for life where Yorkshire countryside and community coincide.

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