Carry Me Home: My Autobiography

by Ben Christopher Cohen

Ben Cohen’s dad didn’t know anything about the sport his young son had taken up, but he was happy to drive him to practice, and was soon helping out at the club. When his business went bankrupt money was tight, but Ben’s hard working parents inspired their son to put his all into rugby.Then, when Ben was 20, his father intervened in a fight in the nightclub where he worked. He was viciously beaten and one month later he died in hospital. Ben was doing an England press conference at the time, and it was down to coach Clive Woodward to deliver the devastating news. But the ordeal was far from over. The inquest lasted five months before the funeral could be held, and it was a year before the family were in court, facing Peter’s assailants.Ben put all of the anger and pain from his father’s death into his rugby. Fast and powerful on the wing, he was soon the best in the world in his position and a cornerstone of the England team, culminating in the legendary World Cup win in Sydney in 2003. And yet he always felt like an outsider. Most people didn’t know that Ben is clinically deaf. His sixth sense for the game got him through on the pitch, but off it his poor hearing was often taken for arrogance.This is an inspirational story of passion and pain; of the highs of achieving your goals, and the grief of losing something you can never get back.

Genres: Autobiography

320 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 2015

About the author

Ben Christopher Cohen MBE is a British activist and former rugby player.

Reviews

[Tracey- Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been an refreshing a very different autobiography from a rugby player .
I liked the writing and relaxed style of this autobiography by Ben Cohen , honest and open .
I liked that though it was about a rugby player , it was so much more . The love and bond that he has with his family and the loss of his father was so poignant and had me close to tears . I’ve ajways liked Ben as a rugby player , now I have a even deeper respect for him.

[Phil Altimas · Rating 5 out of 5]

a great insight into the mind set of one of the greatest wingers to play rugby for England and the saints. from youth to england honours

[Pete daPixie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read George Cohen's autobiography a few weeks back, so I was somewhat familiar with the family trauma surrounding the murder of Ben Cohen's father, George's brother. There are also shared family anecdotes that are recounted in both books.
'Carry Me Home' contains greater intimacy and pain that surrounds the tragedy of Ben's father and it's effects on the family and ultimately on the Number 11's sporting achievements playing for Northampton Saints, the French team Brive, Sale Sharks, the British and Irish Lions and the pinnacle of his career, winning the Rugby Union World Cup in 2003 with England.
The book is a moving and inspiring read and I can only admire the way Ben climbed to the top of his sport and the sterling way he rose above the shattering events of Peter Cohen's senseless death.
The Cohen's clearly possess the 'right stuff' to produce two England World Cup winners. Of the two books I would recommend this one and it also contains very few editing errors, unlike Uncle George's.