Foul Play dissects the age-old subject of cheating in all its absurdity. From plain old doping to claiming a marathon victory despite having driven the middle section of the race, from match-fixing to diving for a penalty - cheating in sport is as old as sport itself.There are plenty of well-known cases of cheats being found out in sport: Ben Johnson, for example, was stripped of his 100m Olympic medal after a positive drugs test; South African cricketer Hansie Cronje was ...

One second in time may separate the great athlete from the merely good. Seb Coe has made every second count. From an early age he has been driven to be the best at everything he does. Since the moment Coe stood alongside a 'scrubby' municipal running track in Sheffield, he knew that sport could change his life. It did. Breaking an incredible twelve world records and three of them in just forty-one days, Seb became the only athlete to take gold at 1500 metres in two successive Olympic Games...

What can Roger Federer teach us about the secret of longevity?What do the All Blacks have in common with improvised jazz musicians?What can cognitive neuroscientists tell us about what happens to the brains of sportspeople when they perform?And why did Johan Cruyff believe that beauty was more important than winning?Matthew Syed, the 'Sports Journalist of the Year 2016', answers these questions and more in a fascinating, wide-ranging and provoc...

The Beautiful Game -- we all love it, but it can sometimes leave us scratching our heads in disbelief or open-mouthed in wonderment. Football Extreme is a collection of the craziest, funniest and most extreme things ever to have happened in the world of football. From the FA Cup to the World Cup, Football Extreme is packed with bizarre facts and figures, amazing stories and incredible footballing feats. Discover how a bald 57-year-old ended up playing for Doncaster Rovers, how a remote isl...

Nick Hornby, author of the bestselling soccer classic Fever Pitch, offers an insightful account of an extraordinary sports season. Concentrating on a number of significant games in British soccer during the 2011–2012 season, Hornby chronicles the emotional, political, and societal highlights and woes that played out on the field. There were alleged racist clashes, revealing the deep cultural fissures still present in British life. There was a fairy-tale return for the legendary Th...

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Rugby But Were too Afraid to Ask explains the often-baffling laws of modern sport in a light-hearted and easy-to-understand way to the new fan/spectator or the 'sport widow'.This is a witty, off-the-wall guide to the rules of the modern game, as if written by a very patient but understanding friend. Writer Iain Macintosh explains how rugby works and why is it so popular, and reveals the history of the sport. He guides the novice thr...

The story of one young African boy's journey to UK Premiership soccer stardom.From the Zambian plains to Wembley, this is the story of the boy who was born to be a Bluebird. Earnie follows Robert Earnshaw’s journey from the Zambian village where he was born to Bedwas, where he was spotted playing for the B-team of his local club when he was 12 years old. At 16 he joined Cardiff City on a YTS training scheme to become one of the club’s top scorers. He reflects on his Welsh success a...

If you're new to the sport or you feel you could sharpen up your knowledge of the game, this guide is for you. Inside you'll find easy-to-understand advice on the basic rules and pitch positions, plus in-depth lessons on ball skills, fitness training, and techniques to outwit your opponents - all illustrated with entertaining stories from British and International rugby's back pages. In addition, you get a grounding in the local, national and international reaches of Rugby Union

Ex-referee and now fearless writer and football pundit, Graham Poll is no stranger to controversy. His latest book is an entertaining and provocative reappraisal of the major incidents in World and English football down the years – from Geoff Hurst’s goal in ‘66, through Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ to the infamous Battle of the Bridge in 2009.Graham Poll, England’s highest profile referee of the last two decades, refereed over 400 Premiership games, involving more than 1.5 million spe...

A new collection of soccer writing by the bestselling author of Fever Pitch.After the phenomenal success of Fever Pitch, Nick Hornby tried to avoid writing about soccer, for fear that he'd be writing about it forever. But occasionally over the years he’s found it impossible to turn down a particularly enticing assignment or, in the case of the 2012-13 Premier League, just unable to resist writing about that most spectacular of seasons.Fort...

This Cognito Guide is for the young club or school cricketer aspiring to become an opening batsman. It focuses on how to prepare to face the opposition when your team depends on you and all eyes are on you. It discusses strategies for staying in, for getting off the mark and how to progress to build a match-winning innings. Using examples from Test cricket and the author's 30 years experience opening the batting in competitive and "friendly" cricket, this is Cognito Guide helps the aspirin...

Tennis has never before been blessed with such an array of talented stars doing battle for the sport's most coveted titles. Games featuring Murray, Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, the Williams sisters and Maria Sharapova are among the most thrilling matches in the history of the game - and Neil Harman has witnessed them all. He is so close to the beating heart of tennis that he has become a confidant to many of the game's stars and administrators, even at one stage mentoring Victoria Azarenka to...