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The Outsider
Geordan Murphy does not come from the leafy suburbs of south Dublin or the rugby hotbeds of Limerick or Cork. As a teenager he played Gaelic football for Kildare minors. But his greatest love, and his true genius, was for rugby.
Now nearing the end of a career that has seen him win over seventy Ireland caps - a number that a great many supporters and pundits believe should be considerably higher - and attain the captaincy of the top English club, Leicester, Geordan Murphy tells his own story for the first time.
'A delightful read ... brilliant' Rugby World
'Bright, breezy, entertaining and revealing' Gerry Thornley, Irish Times
'An open, honest and entertaining book' RTE Guide
Now nearing the end of a career that has seen him win over seventy Ireland caps - a number that a great many supporters and pundits believe should be considerably higher - and attain the captaincy of the top English club, Leicester, Geordan Murphy tells his own story for the first time.
'A delightful read ... brilliant' Rugby World
'Bright, breezy, entertaining and revealing' Gerry Thornley, Irish Times
'An open, honest and entertaining book' RTE Guide
272 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 13, 2024
4 Stars is fair for this book.
It's honest and definitely not censored like a lot of sports books can be. As a talented player who played in the era of professionalism only really getting off the ground and how the old school mentality of the IRFU prevented rugby from developing into what we are now says a lot.
Shows a lot about how despite having talent in 2000's that could have won world cups - it was the amateur nature of the IRFU and management that prevented us from achieving that rather than the players. Thankfully this has changed now.
It sort of hints at the "tall poppy syndrome" that has affected the Irish psyche for years and made me slightly frustrated about our culture at times.
Favourite part of the book is when after we scrapped a triple crown and Eddie O'Sullivan annouced to the team that the IRFU extended his contract there was crickets in the room.
Only thing that prevents this from being a 5 was overall the lack of action and the weird formatting of the book which i learned to like but took me a few chapters to get used to!
It's honest and definitely not censored like a lot of sports books can be. As a talented player who played in the era of professionalism only really getting off the ground and how the old school mentality of the IRFU prevented rugby from developing into what we are now says a lot.
Shows a lot about how despite having talent in 2000's that could have won world cups - it was the amateur nature of the IRFU and management that prevented us from achieving that rather than the players. Thankfully this has changed now.
It sort of hints at the "tall poppy syndrome" that has affected the Irish psyche for years and made me slightly frustrated about our culture at times.
Favourite part of the book is when after we scrapped a triple crown and Eddie O'Sullivan annouced to the team that the IRFU extended his contract there was crickets in the room.
Only thing that prevents this from being a 5 was overall the lack of action and the weird formatting of the book which i learned to like but took me a few chapters to get used to!
September 24, 2012
Much better than many of the recent biographies from Ireland's golden generation. Nice to read something from someone that is far less enamoured with the IRFU and Eddie O'Sullivan.
July 18, 2016
I'm never satisfied with rugby autobiographies but this one feels largely uncensored and Murphy definitely doesn't stay in safe territory.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews