The
Master: The Life and Times of Dally Messenger
Sean Fagan & Dally Messenger III
The
Master - a new and compelling biography
of Australia's first sporting star, written by
RL1908's Sean Fagan together with Dally M's grandson,
Dally Messenger III.
On
sale now for just $20.00!!!
Free postage within Australia!!!
NZ, UK & overseas orders welcome.
Click
here for purchase details
|
 "The
most talked of footballer in Sydney at the
present time is a player named Messenger.
"One
only wishes that NSW possessed two more
Messengers, one to play five-eighth and
one centre, alongside him. There would then
be football to make the blind see.
"When
he attains his zenith he will be the finest
all-round back NSW has ever produced. To-day
he is the cleverest and most versatile footballer
in Australian Rugby."
Sydney
correspondent for the Otago Witness
- July 1907 |
Herbert
‘Dally' Messenger is still an icon of Rugby League
and Rugby Union in Australia and our first sporting
superstar – more than 50,000 (10,000 greater than
the biggest VFL crowd in Melbourne) people regularly
watched a game of football simply because he was
on the field.
Born
in Sydney, he learned his kicking skills growing
up in South Melbourne watching some of the greats
who played Australian Rules.
 He
represented Australia and the New Zealand “All
Golds” in League, and Australia in Union.
In
the early years of Federation, when League and
Australian Rules were jockeying to become the
dominant code, where he placed his loyalty would
decide the future.
The
Master is a popular and authoritative
account of the life and times of a great sportsman
– and while it will have more than enough for
the true League fans, it will also appeal to anyone
who is awed by sporting excellence and the outstanding
achievements of a talented individual.
Sourced
directly from the reports of newspapermen, team
mates and spectators that saw him in action, read
about Messenger's sensational feats - from leaping
over tacklers, mesmerising defenders (and often
his own side as well!), his tricks and feints,
his astounding kicking.
Read of how opposing teams (and their fans) tried
to bring him down. The
Master reveals what it was that
made Messenger so popular with sports fans in
Australia and in Great Britain.
The
Master includes extensive quotes
made by Dally M himself, uncovered in newspaper
and radio archives - his own thoughts on how to
play the game, what it takes to make a player
a success, tips on goal and drop-kicking the football,
attempts to match-fix results, touring England
and Wales with the All Golds and Kangaroos, why
he left amateur rugby union, his attempt to merge
rugby league and Australian rules into 'Australeague',
and the first decade of rugby league in Australia.
THE
MASTER
Sean Fagan & Dally Messenger III
Paperback
(234mm x 180mm)
396 pages with 8 additional pages of photographs.
ISBN
0733622003 (978-073-362200-7)
On
sale now for just $20.00!!!
Free postage within Australia!!!
NZ, UK & overseas orders welcome.
Click
here for purchase details
On
sale now for just $20.00!!!
Free postage within Australia!!!
NZ, UK & overseas orders welcome.
Click
here for purchase details
|
