All of us loved Tony Collins’ The Oval World: A Global History of Rugby. That’s why we were so excited to hear that Collins was involved with another title, How Football Began: A Global History of How the World’s Football Codes Were Born. This Routledge offering is a great title, a deep look into the history of football. You’ll see how football started and evolved into several variations: soccer, rugby league, rugby union, American, Australian, Canadian, and Gaelic.
Every sport has a defining text. For soccer it has to be Gavin Newsham’s Once in a Lifetime or David Goldbatt’s The Ball is Round. Now rugby has one of its own, a new offering from Bloomsbury and Tony Collins called The Oval World: A Global History of Rugby. Collins is absolutely brilliant in his recalling of rugby’s history. It is a comprehensive timeline of the sport, chronicling the ups and downs of rugby in every corner of the world. Readers are