- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Yellow Jersey Press; New edition edition (3 Aug 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 022405175X
- ISBN-13: 978-0224051750
- Product Dimensions: 12.7 x 1.9 x 19.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 446,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Many footballers have aspired to hard man status over the years: Norman Hunter, Chopper Harris, Vinnie Jones.
Chris Hulme spent a season with the Kingston Arrows, a prison football team playing in the Portsmouth North End League. The starting line-up--nine convicted murderers and two of their warders.
Against the backdrop of a season of amateur football, the men talk candidly of lives lived in prison--the game on Saturday and the game of getting to Saturday with mind, body and hope of release intact.
It's an engrossing read, but these aren't comedy villains in a knockabout tale of the power of football to change lives. The stories of brutal living and brutal crimes are genuinely harrowing; their victims and their families, though not the subject of this book, are an inescapable presence.
There is little sense either of a redemptive quality in the hours of reflection that prison has forced upon them. Instead, Hulme presents us with the stark fact that these men and their crimes are inseparable.
"I'm kicking, I'm stamping on her forehead, all around her chest, probably her arms and legs... I tried to have my way with her, but all I could see was this person beaten to a pulp... Would I give my life for hers? It's just never going to happen, is it?."
Hulme is confronting the reader with very difficult subject matter, and it's a mark of the extent to which we have made a totem of sport, that the football makes this an entertaining read. --Alex Hankin
Review
"Buy it, read it, treasure it." - "Sunday Times"
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A season in the life of a prison football team comprised of nine convicted murderers and two guards. This book is essential reading for football fans and also for anyone with an interest in criminology. Provides a stark picture of the bleak life of a 'lifer', the importance the match on Saturday assumes when you really haven't got anything else in your life, but also the redemptive possibilities offered by sport. It's a well earned slap in the face to anyone who thinks prisoners have an easy life. Crucially, Hulme recognises that murderers are just people, with human faults and weaknesses - yet he makes no excuses for them. Indeed, their stories are told warts and all - which is how it should be.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book shows what football is really about and why millions of people around the world are so passionate about the 'beautiful game'. It gives a fabulous insight in how the characters daily grind is removed for 90 minutes once a week.A truly great read.
Format:Paperback
This book gives a presumably honest account of genuine hard men playing footballers, as opposed to the rather predictable opposite. Their love of the game, and the detailed tactics give a fascinating insight against the backdrop of their bleak and often vicious lives. You can't help warming to the various players, despite learning why they are there. The unsung hero, Nigel, bravely keeps the whole show on (or rather off) the road. It's a great read.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Crime and Punishment
Despite the catchy title (actually it should be pointed out that the men in Kingston prison were convicted of murder, not manslaughter) and the premise of spending a season with a... Read more
Published on 28 Aug 2001 by A. Ross
Prison football is examined by Chris Hulme
Chris Hulme takes us into the minds and boots of a prison football team. The so-called redeptive spirit of sport is given a tough examination by the author as he listens to the... Read more
Published on 1 July 2000
Obsessed about football? Wait until you meet these guys!
An excellent book, well worth reading. This book makes you realise what football means to some people. For these guys it is the only thing they have. Read more
Published on 9 Sep 1999
Wicked read!
A compulsive read full of psychopathic insights into the "beautiful game". My only criticism is that not enough technical information was given by the author into how... Read more
Published on 21 Aug 1999
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