The Establishment Boys

[STFU Donnie]

I've just finished reading The Establishment Boys, by Barry Nicholls. It's the story of the players who didn't join Packer's WSC and stayed loyal to the ACB. With Packer having won the war, Ch 9 and PBL have had control of the narrative for that period, so it's more than time enough that these guys have had their story told. The selectors (surprise, surprise) are shown to be a bunch of arseholes and Simpson cops a lot of flak. Thommo comes out very well, but because of the former clowns, he had had enough and defected after the West Indies tour in early 1978.

It's really a good story, but bloody hell, I've never read a book that was so desperately in need of a proof-read! How this got sent to the presses in its current form is staggering.

 

[Stopher]

I've just finished reading The Establishment Boys, by Barry Nicholls. It's the story of the players who didn't join Packer's WSC and stayed loyal to the ACB. With Packer having won the war, Ch 9 and PBL have had control of the narrative for that period, so it's more than time enough that these guys have had their story told. The selectors (surprise, surprise) are shown to be a bunch of arseholes and Simpson cops a lot of flak. Thommo comes out very well, but because of the former clowns, he had had enough and defected after the West Indies tour in early 1978.

It's really a good story, but bloody hell, I've never read a book that was so desperately in need of a proof-read! How this got sent to the presses in its current form is staggering.

Foreword by Ian Chappell? Seriously though, it sounds like a really interesting read. One of the most fascinating periods in Australian cricketing history.

 

[the_interloper]

Foreword by Ian Chappell? Seriously though, it sounds like a really interesting read. One of the most fascinating periods in Australian cricketing history.

There'll be at least one paragraph on Les Favell then.

 

[STFU Donnie]

Foreword by Ian Chappell? Seriously though, it sounds like a really interesting read. One of the most fascinating periods in Australian cricketing history.

Chappelli for all his good points - and Oz cricket would be much worse if he hadn't taken the lead on player welfare - was (is) a man prone to petty squabbles and holding grudges. This comes across particularly in regards to what happened to Gary Cosier.

It is a really good read, apart from the atrocious editing issues.

Foreword by Mike Coward, BTW.

 

[Hellgood]

I've just finished reading The Establishment Boys, by Barry Nicholls. It's the story of the players who didn't join Packer's WSC and stayed loyal to the ACB. With Packer having won the war, Ch 9 and PBL have had control of the narrative for that period, so it's more than time enough that these guys have had their story told. The selectors (surprise, surprise) are shown to be a bunch of arseholes and Simpson cops a lot of flak. Thommo comes out very well, but because of the former clowns, he had had enough and defected after the West Indies tour in early 1978.

It's really a good story, but bloody hell, I've never read a book that was so desperately in need of a proof-read! How this got sent to the presses in its current form is staggering.

Brilliant timing, I finished it a few days ago!

Enjoyed it for the stories, but yeah there are a remarkable number of spelling errors in there. The communication between the administration and the players of the time is once again reinforced as absolutely horrendous. Did laugh at the boards ineptness of handling Wayne Clark - dropping him solely for the Ashes because it was felt he might have had a dodgy action (but not giving him any justification), but then immediately re-selecting him for the following Pakistan series. The more things change, the more they stay the same with the inevitable need to suck up to the power base! Enjoyed the whole Rick Darling story as well.

Was pleased to see that there wasn't a lot of bitterness from the guys, even though their role in a hugely turbulent time for Australian cricket is often overlooked.