Anthony from Seville Grove is correct, the 1982 World Cup was covered Live by the ABC. In fact, the 1978 World Cup also had Live coverage and the 1974 World Cup had limited Live coverage, including the opening match between Yugoslavia and Brazil. Australia's three matches were of course shown live. It is a wonder why Les Murray should claim there was no live coverage in 1982. His book fails the first test of accuracy.

Same old rubbish, not upto standard, dissapointed.

This was pretty interesting to me, it gave a thoughtful overview of the game's development. I mean yes the game is growing in Australia which is great, but it has a good deal of history behind it too and I like the way Les pulled those things together.

Just a money spinner, facts in some case not checked, wonder about the proof read. Would not recommend to purchase, wait for your library to pick up.

Too many historical errors, will not keep, good for my next Garage Sale. Will read all reviews before purchasing again a book from Les. Past reputation is damaged, facts are important to me, felt it was a spare time effort rather than an incite.

I enjoyed Les' latest book but thought it would have been better if he had focussed less on the history of the World Cup, which we've all read elsewhere in greater detail, and a lot more on the impact of migrants on the development of the game in Australia. I found the chapters on this issue toward the end of the book greatly compelling and would liked to have seen Les use his own experience to explore this in much greater depth. There are also a few historical errors in the text which seem to imply that Les didn't proofread the final copy, not least his assertion on p.258 that Johnny Warren died in Nov 1994. Johnny died a decade later. As Johnny's best friend, Les should have corrected this glaring error. Les also states on p.199 that there was no live coverage of the game in Australia during the 1982 world cup finals, and that he heard of the Italy v Brazil result on the radio the morning after. Unless my memory fails me, I distinctly recall watching this game live in my loungeroom in Perth as a 19 year old. Both semi finals and the final were also screened live. The France v Germany semi I definitely recall because the satellite feed dropped out with France 2:1 up in extra time, and when it came back the French were 3:1 ahead. Overall this is a bit of a potted effort from Les, but I do appreciate his years of dedication to the game in this country, and I mostly enjoyed the book.

I found the book useful, informative and most of all a good read. Well done, Les.

Frank Expose of FIFA corruption by an insider. Unfortunately it isn't.

This is a dull read full of over-analysis of the game and negativity overall.

Les, the man! Our true champion of commentators. Our voice and ambassador of the beautiful game in Oz. Keep on keep'n on!