The World Game Downunder

Bill Murray and Roy Hay (eds) The World Game Downunder, Australian Society for Sports History, ASSH Studies no. 19, Melbourne, 2006. Available from the Society at http://www.sporthistory.org/

The book was favourably reviewed by Ian Syson in the Age on 10 June 2006 in his article ‘More than a game,’ from which the following extract is taken.

‘If Roy Hay and Bill Murray wrote about AFL the way they write about association football in Australia they’d be local heroes. Hay has a long and distinguished track record as a scholar and working journalist while Murray is a highly respected international scholar, having published the classic history, The World’s Game, With The World Game Downunder, Hay, Murray and their contributors have produced a fascinating but necessarily disjointed history. A precursor to a big history the two editors are writing, the collection gives us insight into the way football in Australia, unable to move beyond second rung status, has progressed in waves of interest and appeal only to fall into troughs of neglect and abuse. All those with more than a vague interest in the history of football in Australia will want to get their hands on it.’