Jim Main (1)Recensioni

This collection put together by Jim Main are mostly quite brief football anecdotes and nearly all relate to VFL or AFL football.

A compendium of football events and anecdotes. Almost all are related to the AFL/VFL or VFA competitions covering the years 1858-2008. Many are retellings of famous incidents, matches or amusing items of footy folklore which will be familiar to avid footy fans. Contains 324 stories. The stories covering the early years of football are less well known and consequently of particular interest.

Contains profiles and statistics for all VFL clubs and includes photographs of most regular senior players and coaches for all clubs. There are brief summaries of Brownlow medallists and the top 20 players who didn't win the Brownlow.

Part of the Murray Sports Nostalgia Series. 194 pages.

Contains a range of articles on different features of the game, its history and some of its biggest names.

A look at every player judged best on ground in a VFL or AFL Grand Final.

This is a 2nd revised 339 page edition of this general guide to the game of Australian Rules football. It is an instructional guide to the skills of the game. It contains training techniques, detailed information on clubs and stars, and sections on the origin of the AFL, and the game's history. Previously published by Wiley in 2003 in a 295 page edition.

A revised edition of a book first published in 2001, and again in 2002 and 2004. This edition is similar to the format established in the 2001 edition. The quality of the pictures improved in later editions. Unfortunately the authors have chosen not to list the best players again in this most recent edition, not even the Norm Smith medalists. However the summaries are well written and it is possible to gauge the better players from these, where the Norm Smith winner is usually mentioned. Like the first edition a 'Flag Fact' trivia item accompanies each entry.

A miscellany of footy facts, stories and player profiles based on material published in the VFL/AFL Record since its first publication.

A highly skilled Aboriginal player who played 303 games for the Sydney Swans, including the 2005 premiership.

Biographical portraits of 115 VFL players who were killed in wars while serving in the Australian armed services. Covers the Anglo-Boer War, World War I and World War II. Includes pictures of players, teams, servicemen, war graves and memorials. The entry for Ron Barassi Senior includes a brief recollection by his son Ron, describing his first visit to his father's grave in Tobruk. Published in folio format with a name index.

Short biographies, usually 3-4 pages, of 100 of Carlton’s greatest players. The biographies are presented in A-Z format so there is no attempt to rank the players. It includes a spread of players from the early years of the club through to the 1990s. There appears to be at least one image of every player, which for a book of this chronological range is impressive.

Intriguing compilation of interviews in a Q and A format of the post football activities of 200 former VFL and AFL players.

Jim Main does Australian rules football fans a great service with "When it matters most". The Norm Smith Medal, established in 1979, is the the authorative guide to who is considered the best player on ground in a VFL/AFL Grand Final, but leaving out the years of 1897-1978.

Main returns to those grand finals past and nominates his choice of Best On Ground in the game that matters most. Whether he has made the right choices for BOGs I will leave to the philosphers but it good to see some of these past champions get their due for their match-winning efforts in grand final pasts.

John Dunn was an early writer of instructional books and general books on Australian Rules Football. Later editions of this work published in 1977, 1980, 1981 and 1982 were all edited by Jim Main. All these later editions also comprised 120 pages indicating no substantial revision from the first edition.

A history of VFL/AFL tribunal cases, with detailed description of thirty famous cases between 1898 and 1998. The statistics chapter lists every player reported, the charge(s), verdicts and sentences and includes a table of the League's most reported players. Contains several black and white pictures.

A tribute to 'Mr Football' published shortly after his death. Consists of a short autobiography and a series of tributes and recollections by friends, family, team mates, opponents, the football media and admirers. A more definitive biography is yet to be written, but this volume contains full career statistics, Whitten’s selection of his greatest team and a selection of 'Whitten's wit'.

Despite the title, this is not a full biography of Tony 'Plugger' Lockett and his career at the Sydney Swans. Instead it is a book by prolific football author and passionate Swans supporter, Jim Main, about the rise of the Sydney Swans as a footy power in the 1990s. One third of the book is an overview of the Swans history from 1860 to 1994. The impact of Lockett's arrival at Sydney is described in some detail. The 1996 season is described match by match, culminating in the Grand Final loss to North Melbourne and there is some reflection on the Swans glorious near miss of 1996. Main also provides an A-Z listing of every South Melbourne and Sydney Swans player from 1897-1996, sourced from his well-known volume The Encyclopedia of League Footballers co-written with Russell Holmesby.

McAlister was President of Collingwood Football Club from 1986-1995, a period which included the appointment of Leigh Matthews as coach and the breaking of a very long premiership drought in 1990. One of the few books about a prominent football administrator, this book is divided into sections where McAlister provides his views on Collingwood, football in general and recollections and impressions of various players, matches and incidents. Other topics include the administrative work behind the 1990 premiership, the AFL Commission, clearance difficulties, financial restraints, dealings with other clubs and problems with players. Includes a brief biographical introduction and a selection of McAlister's quotations, including the infamous statement about Aborigines which saw him accused of racism.

An introductory history of the game which concentrates on Victoria, with shorter sections on South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. Each chapter briefly describes the origins of Australian football in those states and then traces major developments up to 1973. The emphasis is on great players, coaches, teams, clubs and famous matches, with some coverage of major off-field issues such as new grounds, emergence of new teams, rule changes, football during wartime and the advent of television coverage. The main emphasis is on the major leagues with some references to the VFA. The statistics section lists the premiers and top four finishers for all major football states. Sourced mainly from newspaper reports and Gavan Daws, 'The Origins of Australian Football', an Honours thesis completed at the Department of History, University of Melbourne, 1954. Contains many classic illustrations and photographs, but lacks adequate citation of sources.