Sportsman's Bookshelf

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29192, 30 April 1960, Page 5

Sportsman's Bookshelf

A sort of golfing Baedekker’s is something of a novelty in sports books, but "An Addict’s Guide to British Golf’ (by George Houghton. Stanley Paul, 321 ppj, will be warmly welcomed, especially by those who have play golf in Britian. The book lists all the courses in the United Kingdom, but it is anything but a dull record of places. All sorts of interesting and diverting details are included, and the author has produced some very fine sketches •nd cartoons. football with the MILLIONAIRES, by Eddie Firmani. (Stanley Paul: 118 pp.). A wellcompiled autobiography of a professional soccer player in South Africa, England and Italy, this book should prove interesting to all football enthusiasts. When Firmani left his native South Africa, he never saw ahead the success that was to be hi§ with the Charlton Athletic club in England. Nor tiid he bargain for an enticement of a £35,000 transfer offer from an Italian club. His acceptance of this offer brought international fame to him in two seasons. Firmani was the first British player to be offered a transfer fee from an Italian club. The author plays centre-for-ward for the Italian team and lives vivid accounts of many of Jbe games in which he played, included in them is the World Cup game between Italy and Northern Ireland, later dubbed the “Battle of Belfast.” Excellent illustrations, including many •ction photographs of incidents during international matches, put this book on to the top shelf as * soccer autobiography.

Hundreds of thousands of Jords have been written on the British Isles Rugby team’s New Zetland tour last year. The latest •® reach New Zealand bookshops, LIONS DOWN UNDER” (CasJU. 288 pp.). is by the former Jelsh international, and chief Bugby correspondent of the “Sun*y Times,” Vivian Jenkins. In his pleasantly-written and fllly illustrated book, Mr Jenp covers all the matches in

Australia and New Zealand, as well as dealing with the intimate and humorous anecdotes which always are part and parcel of a tour of young and high-spirited sportsmen. Some of the most interesting reading in this book is contained in his summary of the tour, in which he records facts and opinions on many of its more controversial aspects. He has some pointed views on the wisdom of allowing boys of tender years to play competitive Rugby: the New Zealand style of play with particular reference to over-coach-ing; the long ruck (also a favourite with Dr. D. H. Craven in 1956); the penalty goal; shoulder pads, law interpretations, and many other issues.

It must have been a very considerable task compiling the “ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF SPORT” (edited by Charles Harvey; Sampson, Low, Marston and Company, Ltd. through Whitcombe and Tombs. Ltd., 328 pp.) but there can be no doubt of the value of the work for sports enthusiasts. This remarkable collection of facts, supported by biographical and historical detail, very profusely illustrated, and finished off With a series of questionnaires, covers every sport from . angling to wrestling. It is a big book, but it will answer most of the ques-

tions asked about sport. New Zealand readers may be disappointed that under Rugby, only matches among the Home Countries are recorded, and the emphasis generally is on sport in the United Kingdom. But there is a truly international flavour about the book in most respects, there are some 2000 illustrations, and there is some beautiful colour printing.

TRAINING FOR SOCCER, by Walter Winterbottom (William Heinemann Ltd.: 200 pp.). Walter Winterbottom, director of coaching to the English Football Association, has compiled this book as an official coaching manual. Every aspect of the code is incorporated and the book will prove an asset to' all soccer clubs, especially those in New Zealand. The book is a sequel to the same author’s sports best-seller, “Soccer Coaching.” Dealing with speed, stamina, and physique, the author says that players—especially when only practising a night or so a week—while improving in fitness, will develop their ball-control and team play accordingly. Tips on shooting, heading and tackling, and all other departments of the game, are in line with the most up-to-

date methods used overseas. The text is profusely illustrated with line drawings and diagrams, making the book easy reading for the youngest, and offering constructive teachings for the experienced coach.

For four years, an American boy whose earliest ambition had been to become a baseball star, sat and watched others indulge in their favourite sport because he, as a diabetic, had been told that rest was an essential part of his treatment. How that boy, Billy Talbert, rose to become one of America’s top-ranking lawn tennis players notwithstanding his diabetic condition, is told in Talbert’s autobiography. “PLAYING FOR LIFE: BILLY TALBERT’S STORY” (by Talbert and John Seymour Sharnik; Victor Gollarvz. Ltd.. 310 ppi). Written in the first person, the authors have produced an autobiography which not only deals with Talbert’s triumph over his own physical handicap and his tennis career, but also with the problems faced by all diabetics and his means of minimising them. From this book, diabetics can gain immeasurable comfort, and tennis enthusiasts a clear insight into a man who rose to the top in his chosen sport, and considerable pleasure in his accounts of major tournaments and matches in which he and other well-known tennis stars competed.