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More Than A Game
1981 – a time of unreliable cars, vinyl records, industrial strife and mass unemployment. A team of black amateur footballers, playing for Sabina Park Rangers became the first black team to reach the final of the Watney’s Challenge Cup.
Team coach Horace Mcintosh has more selection problem than most. With single parenthood, gun violence, criminality, drugs and racial prejudice, all obstacles that stood in the way of Horace’s goal of winning the cup. To an outsider it would appear that this talented team of footballers were a cohesive group. Internally Sabina Park Rangers was becoming unravelled, along with the everyday problems of the inner city, rampant jealousy loomed as one of the top players was being courted by a first division team.
More Than A Game is an earthy, ‘street-wise’ and yet a moral tale. It is also a piece of social history that recounts the struggles of the men who were, in many ways, pioneers for the black super-stars of today’s Premier league.
Team coach Horace Mcintosh has more selection problem than most. With single parenthood, gun violence, criminality, drugs and racial prejudice, all obstacles that stood in the way of Horace’s goal of winning the cup. To an outsider it would appear that this talented team of footballers were a cohesive group. Internally Sabina Park Rangers was becoming unravelled, along with the everyday problems of the inner city, rampant jealousy loomed as one of the top players was being courted by a first division team.
More Than A Game is an earthy, ‘street-wise’ and yet a moral tale. It is also a piece of social history that recounts the struggles of the men who were, in many ways, pioneers for the black super-stars of today’s Premier league.
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Published August 1, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 2, 2019
My reading goal for 2019 was to read books I wouldn’t normally reach for. More Than A Game is one that I likely wouldn’t have read if I hadn’t made that a goal. I’m glad I was able to read. This story is much more than a story about sports.
It’s a fascinating, authentic portrayal of the West Indian-British community in the early 1980s. I love how this is written because it definitely feels well-researched. I could vividly see the setting and how life was in that time period. Ralph Robb has a gift for creating the correct atmosphere and I am very impressed!
More Than A Game is a mix of historical fiction, sport, and crime. I think it worked really well, and it was engaging! I definitely think this is worth the read and recommend checking it out!
*I received a complimentary copy of this book as part of a blog tour with Rachel's Random Resources. All opinions are my own.*
Find this review and more on my blog: https://www.jessicabelmont.wordpress.com
It’s a fascinating, authentic portrayal of the West Indian-British community in the early 1980s. I love how this is written because it definitely feels well-researched. I could vividly see the setting and how life was in that time period. Ralph Robb has a gift for creating the correct atmosphere and I am very impressed!
More Than A Game is a mix of historical fiction, sport, and crime. I think it worked really well, and it was engaging! I definitely think this is worth the read and recommend checking it out!
*I received a complimentary copy of this book as part of a blog tour with Rachel's Random Resources. All opinions are my own.*
Find this review and more on my blog: https://www.jessicabelmont.wordpress.com
October 26, 2020
For all those who wonder from where did the Black Lives Matter UK movement spring, I can only strongly urge them to read this funny, evocative and thought-provoking novel that is set in Wolverhampton in the early 1980s. The author has very skilfully woven real events with the stories of individuals who make up the Sabina Park Rangers football team as they struggle with the issues that confronted many communities in Thatcher's Britain. It deals with all manner (and some surprising) prejudices with a light and deft touch as well as themes of friendship, family, love and loyalty. A friend remarked he thought it reminiscent of the film This is England and deserves the same level of acclaim. I wholeheartedly agree.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews