The Grudge
  • Published: 15 February 2011
  • ISBN: 9780224083218
  • Imprint: Yellow Jersey
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $24.99
Categories:
Share…

The Grudge

Scotland vs. England, 1990

Formats & editions
EBook
1 Jul 2010
Paperback
15 Feb 2011
Buy from…
Amazon Booktopia Dymocks QBD Readings Find local retailers Find local retailers Abbeys Angus & Robertson Boomerang Collins Fishpond Gleebooks Harry Hartog Kinokuniya Robinsons The Nile Your Bookstore

The highly acclaimed, gripping inside story of the 1990 Calcutta Cup - when an England-Scotland rugby match became more than a game. Longlisted for the 2010 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award

Murrayfield, the Calcutta Cup, March 1990. England vs. Scotland - winner-takes-all for the Five Nations Grand Slam, the biggest prize in northern hemisphere rugby. Will Carling's England are the very embodiment of Margaret Thatcher's Britain - snarling, brutish and all-conquering. Scotland are the underdogs - second-class citizens from a land that's become the testing ground for the most unpopular tax in living memory: Thatcher's Poll Tax. In Edinburgh, nationalism is rising high - what happens in the stadium will resound far beyond the pitch.

The Grudge brilliantly recaptures a day that has gone down in history when a rugby match became more than a game. This is the real story of an extraordinary conflict, told with astounding insight and unprecedented access to key players, coaches and supporters on both sides (Will Carling, Ian McGeechan, Brian Moore and the rest). Tom English has produced a gripping account of a titanic struggle that thrusts the reader right into the heart of the action. Game on.
  • Published: 15 February 2011
  • ISBN: 9780224083218
  • Imprint: Yellow Jersey
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $24.99
Categories:
Share…

About the author

Tom English

Tom English was born in Limerick in 1969. He began his career at the Sunday Times and is now chief sports writer for Scotland on Sunday. In 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 he was named Scottish Sports Feature Writer of the Year. He lives in Stirlingshire with his wife and two children.

Praise for The Grudge

I enjoyed this book enormously. The match is one of my enduring rugby memories, and reading The Grudge it all came flooding back

John Inverdale

Superb ... a fantastic drama. The Grand Slam match was part of a political world ... This is what gave the occasion its power, its glory and its ultimate significance

The Herald

Gripping ... Tom English has interviewed all the main protagonists to produce a richly textured picture of the build-up, the day itself and the aftermath

Independent

5 stars. An epic tale of clashing personalities. The Grudge puts you right on the touchline as the English and Scottish teams go to war.

Simon Briggs, Daily Telegraph

English has written a marvellous book, in its way as gripping as that season and the match itself

Scottish Review of Books

A potentially award-winning book. It's a terrific bit of work, as engaging as the day itself was.

Mick Cleary, Daily Telegraph

A remarkable and compulsive re-enactment over 235 pages of the day Scotland confounded all expectation to win

Paul Ackford

A priceless read ... quite outstanding

Robert Kitson, The Guardian

If you haven't bought Tom English's book about the 1990 match - The Grudge - then do yourself a favour and get it now. It's terrific

Alex Massie, Spectator

Tom English's excellent book, The Grudge, revisits an occasion when sport and politics and ancient rivalry came together

Chris Foy, Daily Mail

True tales: great stuff

Frank Keating, The Guardian

The finest book written on the tournament ... English has produced an absolutely outstanding work, weaving in the strands of history, politics, sociology, dislike and tactical nous, which makes the game probably the most remarkable ever played in the grand old tournament. The insights provided into the minds and roles of Jim Telfer and Brian Moore are worth the price alone

Stephen Jones, The Times

Shudderingly good ... English has a rare talent for getting to the core of a person

Rugby World

Thatcherite politics and rugby come crashing into contact in this rich and textured account

i