From the moment he could kick a ball, Patrick Mangan was fanatical about soccer. And what he lacked in skill, he made up for in a devotion not shared, sadly, by the residents of the Wimmera.
Like Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch set among the gum trees and dust, this is the story of a weedy Pommy kid falling in love with the world game and his epic battle to convert the pagans of the outback to the cause. All with the added stigma of barracking for the hapless English team, Arsenal.
Offsider is about how sport defines us, how nationality defines us. And how a boy came to love the occasionally heroic, sometimes tragic, World Cup-bound Socceroos.
Author Information
Patrick Mangan was born in north London and his family migrated to country Victoria when he was five. In the mid-1990s, he became editor of Soccer Australia magazine and later worked as the soccer reporter for The Sunday Age and The Age. Patrick currently works as a book editor and is beginning to accept that he will never play for Arsenal. But he hasn't yet given up on the Socceroos.
Like Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch set among the gum trees and dust, this is the story of a weedy Pommy kid falling in love with the world game and his epic battle to convert the pagans of the outback to the cause. All with the added stigma of barracking for the hapless English team, Arsenal.
Offsider is about how sport defines us, how nationality defines us. And how a boy came to love the occasionally heroic, sometimes tragic, World Cup-bound Socceroos.
Author Information
Patrick Mangan was born in north London and his family migrated to country Victoria when he was five. In the mid-1990s, he became editor of Soccer Australia magazine and later worked as the soccer reporter for The Sunday Age and The Age. Patrick currently works as a book editor and is beginning to accept that he will never play for Arsenal. But he hasn't yet given up on the Socceroos.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.