Sporting Chance: Australian Sporting Scandals and the Path to Redemption, A

Product Description

In sport, the term 'good bloke' doesn't mean what it says. Like 'fun run', it often actually means exactly the opposite.

Titus O'Reily, the sports historian Australia neither needs nor deserves, examines why our nation's sportspeople are so readily forgiven for doing terrible things.

With ridiculous tales from Australia's chequered sporting history, A Sporting Chance dissects the scandals big and small, the mistakes made in covering them up and the path athletes tread back to redemption. From the Essendon supplements saga and the sandpaper-loving Australian cricket team to whatever it is Nick Kyrgios has done now, Titus reveals the archetypes at the heart of our greatest sporting scandals.

There's the corrupt cop who gave us the race that stopped a nation and the boxing champion who refused to train. There's the cashed-up businessmen who bankrupted clubs and the commentators who can't get their foot out of their mouth. And of course there's the good blokes, like Wayne Carey, Matthew Johns and Shane Warne, who it seems we'll forgive for absolutely anything.

In his rambling and at times incoherent style, Titus asks the question- are Australians really that forgiving of their sporting heroes? With the rise of social media, women's sport and the drive towards greater equality, are the good blokes of Australia's sporting landscape an endangered species?In sport, the term 'good bloke' doesn't mean what it says. Like 'fun run', it often actually means exactly the opposite.

Titus O'Reily, the sports historian Australia neither needs nor deserves, examines why our nation's sportspeople are so readily forgiven for doing terrible things.

With ridiculous tales from Australia's chequered sporting history, A Sporting Chance dissects the scandals big and small, the mistakes made in covering them up and the path athletes tread back to redemption. From the Essendon supplements saga and the sandpaper-loving Australian cricket team to whatever it is Nick Kyrgios has done now, Titus reveals the archetypes at the heart of our greatest sporting scandals.

There's the corrupt cop who gave us the race that stopped a nation and the boxing champion who refused to train. There's the cashed-up businessmen who bankrupted clubs and the commentators who can't get their foot out of their mouth. And of course there's the good blokes, like Wayne Carey, Matthew Johns and Shane Warne, who it seems we'll forgive for absolutely anything.

In his rambling and at times incoherent style, Titus asks the question- are Australians really that forgiving of their sporting heroes? With the rise of social media, women's sport and the drive towards greater equality, are the good blokes of Australia's sporting landscape an endangered species?
Writer and broadcaster Titus O'Reily was born in Melbourne and raised by the Sisters of Collective Misery, a kindly but sombre order who placed an emphasis on sport above all other things, including religion.
At the age of eight, Titus set off from Melbourne for London in a rowboat containing only himself and a positive attitude, arriving just two months later thanks to a powerful stroke and favourable currents. In London, Titus developed a love of drinking, writing and ice skating, the last being something he did professionally across Europe for almost a decade.
Upon returning to Australia, Titus turned to writing about sport, carving out a reputation for inaccuracy and being difficult to work with. Titus's unique take on sport has been hailed by some of the most respected figures in sport as 'awful', 'childish' and 'barely comprehensible'.

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