Chapter Books
This is my first Chapter Book. I wrote it for Collingwood Football Club and it's one of a trilogy being published by One Day Hill www.onedayhill.com.au
‘Side by Side - In the Beginning’
Its 1916...
It’s World War I...
Melbourne is in the darkest depths of a Depression.
Charlie is about to see his first ever footy match with his Dad. Australia’s most famous football Club, Collingwood, is playing.
Charlie may be cold, hungry and penniless but he learns a true lesson about what it means to be a Collingwood supporter. He finds out how the club formed, why everyone hates Collingwood and why their famous players are so revered.
Mesmerised, he soon realises what it feels like to ‘belong’ and from there on Collingwood is in his heart forever.
Check out the book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIr3TppqEbQ
Ages 5 – 10
230 x 230 mm
32 pp PB R.R.P $AU19.95
ISBN 9780980794809
In the Beginning, there was life...and then there was football...
One hundred years ago, footy was a different version of the game we see today.
Footy grounds were rough and muddy and the game was characterised by long passing kicks. Sometimes umpires couldn't tell one team from the other and often they ran the full length of the field to wave the flags after a score. It wasn’t uncommon for a defender and his opponent to sit down on the ground while play was up the other end and it wasn’t unusual for them to chat with each other and spectators during play.
The clothes they wore were different, the jumpers were canvas cotton vests laced up the centre and their shorts were long and tapered in at the knee, worn with long socks. They often wore caps and hats.
Australia was a young nation and Collingwood was growing from an industrial shanty town into a suburb of its own right. These were tough times: times of war and depression.
But the one thing that never changed from the very beginning is Collingwood Football Club’s desire to win. They strive to be best and during the first thirty four years of the clubs history, they reflected the aspirations of the suburb.
It‘s impossible to mention all the amazing players and administrators in this story. It’s just a small snapshot of a day at the footy in 1916 and what it meant to a young boy watching his first footy match and how his life was never the same again.
Nathan Buckley, Champion former player, Captain, Brownlow Medallist and Norm Smith Medallist now Assitant Coach of Collingwood Football Club
"To get to where you want to go, you first need to understand where you have come from.
Side by Side reinforced that belief for me. Two great loves of my life are represented in this book. They are the game of Australian Rules Football and the Collingwood Football Club and they are represented through the greatest love of all, a father and his son.
Footy has provided for many through the years. Sometimes it is hope, sometimes happiness, sometimes sorrow, but always passion. In years gone by it was a recreational pursuit and a pastime. These days it is a professional endeavour and an industry.
Through it’s history, though, there are elements of the game that haven’t changed and these are what makes it great. It’s a family event, it’s catching up with your mates, it’s the talk of the town, it’s a packed MCG, it’s having faith, it’s feeling every conceivable emotion course through you veins in a few hours.
In Side by Side, it’s 1916, it’s sitting on a mates roof on Turner St watching Collingwood play and inducting your son into the fold.
Every football fan shares their experience through the unshakeable support for their team. Over the years the Collingwood experience has been love or hate depending which side you are on. Our fans like it this way because it brings us closer together and provides a greater meaning and depth to our support.
To read about the Collingwood champions of the past and relive the moments in history that made the club what it is connects us all over again. Whilst looking to the future we can never lose sight of our past.'"
Here's a sneak peak of 'Side by Side - In the Beginning'...
