Rugby's Strangest Matches: Extraordinary But True Stories from Over a Century of Rugby

by John Griffiths

U.S. Ruggers and their fans will delight in this extraordinary collection of astonishing true stories from the past 130 years, which reveal a bizarre side to a sport hitherto uncelebrated. A The Irish international who arranged his marriage in order to qualify for a leave of absence to play against England. The international test where an entire Wales side were sent off. The match in which a team of top soccer players beat their rugby counterparts at their own game, literally. And much more.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sports, History

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is just 250 pages of shitting on the Welsh and the French.

I love that.

[Gareth Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining chronological collection of the weird and wonderful events that have graced rugby pitches across the world since the inception of the game to the start of this millennium. Some I knew, many I did not - all are recounted with a humorous and compelling style.
A fine book for a rugby union fan.

[Colin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poor imitation of Cricket's Strangest Matches and Football's Strangest Matches: Extraordinary but True Stories from Over a Century of Football. Almost all stories come from northern hemisphere international matches and they're not very 'extraordinary.'

[Pete daPixie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A chronological collection of Union highlights, lowlights, highly memorable, instantly forgettable events in the games history from 1871 to 2010. A similar compendium to Iain Spragg's 'The Reduced History of Rugby' but I think John Griffiths' collection just shades it, with its seventy six interesting anecdotes.

[Tonarius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny stories about rugby and actually true (it says, I wasn't there to check). It's well written with short chapters per 'strange item' and it's in chronical order.

[Rob Gardner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing stories from the early history of rugby to modern professionalism. A decent read you can pick up and down at will. Put it on the toilet bookshelf.