Phil Caplan

Jamie Peacock is the ultimate modern forward in rugby league. Taking the hard hits, making the toughest yards and leading by example in the Super League and international arenas, ‘JP’ has come through adversity, on and off the pitch, to become one of the most respected players of his generation. His strength, determination and unfailing will to win have seen him claim the ‘Man of Steel’ and ‘International Forward of the Year’ awards, along with a host of other individual honours, while picking up Super League titles and Challenge Cups with Bradford and Leeds. His autobiography No White Flag is a revelatory and inspirational account of a life in professional sport, from starting out as a skinny youth and being told he wouldn’t make the grade to dark days in hospital waiting rooms with his career hanging by a thread – culminating in the euphoria of winning the Grand Final with hometown club Leeds Rhinos and leading Great Britain to a historic series whitewash over New Zealand in the autumn of 2007. Forthright and to the point, Jamie pulls no punches in describing rugby league as he sees it. Replete with opinions and anecdotes, this book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in what it takes to become one of sport’s true gladiators.

The Leeds Rhinos Miscellany - a book like no other, packed with facts, stats, trivia, stories and legends. If you want to know the record crowd for a home game, the record appearance holder or longest-serving player, look no further; this is the book you've been waiting for. From record try-scorers to record defeats - it's all here. Full of humour, quotes, anecdotes and more.

The recent 3-0 series whitewash over New Zealand was a glorious end to the Great Britain era. With Tony Smith's team competing as England from 2008, this is an ideal moment to reflect on the recent history of the national side, and to consider what the future holds. Starting with the watershed tour of the 1982 Australians, when GB were trounced by a truly outstanding side, this book relives the past 25 years of Great Britain rugby league, a period when the team have often faced adversity but have come back strongly. It gives the story both on and off the pitch, and features the recollections of some of the players and coaches involved. It concludes with a look ahead to the Rugby League World Cup of 2008 and the future of the national side under the England banner.

In March 1996, 100 years after its formation, Rugby League - traditionally pigeonholed as a northern English, industrial, working-class game - undertook the biggest re-branding exercise seen in modern sport, with a switch to a summer season and the formation of a twelve-team Super League, including the introduction of a European element. Ten seasons later, a third consecutive sell-out crowd at Old Trafford acclaimed Bradford Bulls as Grand Final winners, bringing a decade of unprecedented change and wholesale transformation to a successful close. In an extensive, unique analysis, the roots behind this radical conversion are explored, looking at the historical context and the business imperatives that govern top-level sport in the modern era. The authors - who have written and broadcast extensively about the code - plot the key elements from both on and off the field in what is a remarkable and controversial story. With extensive contributions from Rugby League Executive Chairman Richard Lewis, Sky Sports Managing Director Vic Wakeling, Super League Board member Gary Hetherington and top player Brian McDermott, this is a fascinating, in-depth look at the re-birth of a game with arguably the proudest professional heritage in the world.

Mick Shoebottom was the type of play every Rugby League side wants in its ranks. Tough, durable, fast, skilful and with an incredible will to win, he was the ultimate players' player in the toughest of team sports. Hunslet-born, he was an integral part of the great Leeds side which swept all before them in the late 1960s and early '70s, becoming the first and only player in the code's history to represent his country in Test matches in four different starting positions, such was his value and versatility. A key member of the last Great Britain side to win the Ashes in Australia in 1970, he went on two tours and won every domestic medal available until tragedy struck and he was grievously injured scoring perhaps the most infamous try witnessed at his beloved Headingley. This is the story of his remarkable career, illustrated with around 100 images and mementoes taken from his scrapbooks and featuring reminiscences from a number of his former teammates. The sixth book written about the Leeds club by Phil Caplan and with a foreword by Alan Smith and John Atkinson, it commemorates what would have been the sixtieth birthday of one of Rugby League's true greats.

This book is part of the Classic Matches series, in which long-term followers of various sporting clubs and teams look back on some of their finest moments. This book looks at fifty of Leeds Rugby League Football Club's best matches.

A history of Leeds Rugby League