About
I have been interested in Australian football, and in particular its history, for well in excess of half a century. Between January 2001 and December 2011 I ran a website called Full Points Footy which was devoted to the Australia-wide history of the game. Much of the original Full Points Footy content can now be viewed on www.australianfootball.com, a website maintained by Adam Cardosi with a similar agenda to FPF. I continue to update the club entries on Adam’s site on an annual basis. My latest website, Footy Flashbacks, explores Australian football history all across Australia on a year by year basis. Content is restricted to the twentieth century, which I firmly believe will come to be regarded as football’s pre-eminent era. In addition to my online work I have published eleven books about Australian football, plus several novels.
Description
<p>When Jessica Bryant pesters her wealthy parents to allow her to have a dog as a pet, the answer is a resounding "No"; but they soon come to regret their decision when thier home is broken into one evening whilst they are out and their daughter kidnapped and held for ransom. The kidnappers, in the form of four seedy and incompetent characters wearing Disneyland-type masks, take her hostage and keep her incarcerated in a place from which there appears to be no escape. However, they reckon without the resourcefulness of our heroine, and the courage of a wonderful stray dog who comes to her aid and whom she names 'Murdo'. And so begins an exciting and humurous accounting of the couples' adventures together as they consistently foil and outwit the abductors whilst on the run together.<br /> This is a lovely story of the friendship between a girl and a dog, bringing out themes of responsibility, camaraderie, redemption, salvation and self-sacrifice. It includes some wonderful dialogue sequences as Jessica teaches her new four-legged friend how to communicate with her, with additional delightful conversations between the animals when a rabbit and a sparrow join forces with them in an effort to outwit the kidnappers and restore Jessica safely back to her parents' home. </p>
Story Behind The Book
Australian football match reviews and player profiles in the context of world and Australian historical events and developments during the first quarter of the twentieth century. The book concentrates especially on football in its heartland of Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania.
