"Football is not a matter of life and death, it is more important than that."
The thoughts of Chairman Moore
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The wit and wisdom of Brian Moore, Brian Moore, Simon and Schuster, London, 2010.
The book consists of Daily Telegraph articles written December 2007 to May 2010. I wondered how well the early articles would stand the test of time. Remarkably well – I felt.
For me the most interesting section of the book was the series of articles (Pages 164-95) on Bloodgate – the Harlequins player using fake blood to pretend to be bleeding. As a former rugby player and lawyer, Moore gives an inside view of the mentality of the elite rugby player and how an incident like this could happen. At the same time his critique of the legal process is outstanding.
His campaign to rid sports clubs of the “Rain tax” is another highlight as is his account of the assisted suicide of the paraplegic rugby player, Daniel James (Page 42ff. That Moore also played in the front row of the scrum and risked a similar injury adds poignancy to the account. “Gouging is cynical, and plain cowardly”( Page 94ff) is also an excellent essay.
Moore writes of the retirement of Lawrence Dallaglio with insights which only someone who had been there and done that have, could have. “That which had dominated nearly all waking thoughts, save those of work or family, was now gone. How would I now define myself? With what might it be replaced? What would ever provide the astonishing experiences that rugby had given me?” (Page 4).
And just to show that I have read the whole book, on page 252, a player’s salary is described as $7-8 Million (£10 Million). I think the calculation has gone wrong there!
Overall a great read. The sub-title is “the wit and wisdom of Brian Moore”; the blurb refers to the book as “controversial, funny and forthright”. I would agree with all that and add “engaging and thought-provoking”.