Robson Green Books

There's much in this delightful little book that will remind you of Stephen Potter's "upmanship" books, as in gamesmanship. Potter, however, tended to emphasize the psychological ploys, and "winning games without actually cheating". You'll get the full gamut, however, in the Art of Coarse Rugby--psychology, rule-bending, and outright cheating. All done in good--or bad--fun. You'll read about the Old Rottinghamians, and their arch-foe the Bagford Vipers. You'll read about Slasher Williams ("so called because of his habit of letting his nails grow long in the rugby season").

It's suggested that one should always carry a small penknife, so that if you're ahead and worried about the other side catching up, you surreptiously puncture the rugby ball (in the Old Rottinghamian matches, spare rugby balls are an extreme rarity). If you have false teeth, leave them with the referee. If you need to bite an opponent, retrieve them from the ref, bite away, and return them to the ref. Having blood-spattered goalposts on your home turf can work wonders. Tell your rivals that you're taking up a collection before the match for an opponent in the previous match who had both his legs broken by a particularly vicious tackle by one of your players. There are suggestions about drawing up ambiguous instructions to help your opponents find your ground--hoping that 4-5 will get lost, and then if you must loan the other club a player, you always have a real ringer available. Bribing groundskeepers to close the field 15 minutes early when you're in the lead is a must. And so on.

We're not talking about the Lions here, or the All-Blacks, just low-level club rugby. You'll find this book lots of fun!

I laughed so hard reading this book! After reading his book you can tell if you are a rugger (play on the first side) or a coarse rugby player (play on the other sides). A must read for all rugby footballers

I read the original edition in the 1960's, and desperately want to find a copy.

It was one of the funniest books I ever read, but will appeal only to those who play, or are at least familiar with, rugby.

I just want to ditto what the previous reviewer said-the book is hilarious. Anyone who has ever sailed on a boat can recognize each and every situation, and had probably been in most of them.

This book is the funniest in our book collection. I've owned my copy for over 30 years. My wife and I have read it over and over again and we still laugh out loud--we know all the punch lines by heart.

Mike Green has a self-deprecating British sense of humor, and he paints a hilarious picture of a wacky boat trip on inland narrow rivers. In one week, they encounter (or, more accurately, cause) every marine disaster known, from Insanity of Ship's Master and Explosion of Vessel, to Death at Sea, as well as some previously unknown, such as Going Aground on a Bungalow. Anyone who has ever sailed will be able to relate to the experiences described--knots that come untied in the middle of the night; knots that can't be untied when they need to be; skippers shouting desperately at the crew in the face of an impending collision. . . you get the picture.

This book was written in the 1950's, but the sailing experiences are timeless.

I only ever played one round of golf, persuaded to join a day out for the whole office. My equally incompetent opponent and I had a competitive match until he stopped counting his score so I won the match with a score of 270 although I might have won even if he'd kept his core till the end. My reward for this dubious victory was to be presented with the first edition of this book when I eventually left the company. It's not difficult to see why this book was chosen for me.

The author takes an amusing look at all the things that can and do go wrong on a golf course. The opening chapter describes an episode in which a wayward drive sends a ball on to the nearby road and into the window of a passing lorry, leading to a very amusing sequence of events.

There is a particularly funny, albeit politically incorrect, episode about two women golfers. The basis of this chapter is that bad golfers spend a lot of time in the rough but that while men just want to get their ball back into play, women can actually enjoy this aspect of the game as it gives them the chance to study the local wildlife. Sometimes a wayward drive takes them into a wood full of primroses or bluebells. At other holes, they have a chance to study nesting birds.

The author asserts that men interpret the rules (such as moving unplayable balls) to suit themselves. Of course, these players are never going to be good enough to play in an event with an official to enforce the rules correctly.

There are many other amusing events in this book covering water hazards, course etiquette (or lack thereof), golf handicap ratings and equipment. Some bad golf strokes are given names - the knurdle, the jobble and the rigor mortis among them.

While this is a fairly short book, it is hilarious from start to finish if you know anything about golf played by normal people - a world away from the professional stuff.

This book is one long whine from beginning to end. Poor Seve, he won a few but for every one he didn't win he has an excuse - it was always someone else's fault, or the course, or something.
I'm not an American, and Seve has a long history with American golfers and spectators, but even a Spaniard couldn't stomach this long series of complaints.
Also there are numerous errors in this book of the type that indicate that the ghost writer - no Seve didn't really write it - makes such obvious mistakes that show he doesn't know anything about golf. For example, on p.161 where Mark James and Howard Clark are playing Curtis Strange and Payne Stewart and then the book states that "Mark and James recovered from one down with three holes to play." That is, the first name and surname of one European are used for the forenames/surnames of both Europeans. There are at least 3 or 4 similar mistakes that require no effort to detect. Seve didn't write it and he didn't check it and neither the editor nor the writer are very competent.
Anyway, the book is of little interest 20 years after Seve did anything - he can't break 80 now; what is it with fine golfers who completely lose their game? That would have been interesting but it's not discussed. Seve could shoot 65 as as 15-year-old and shoots 80 now (can't break 80 now?) - now telling that that would be a story.
Lots in the book about the Ryder Cup but frankly, the Ryder Cup would be a whole lot better if the old British Commonwealth (UK, Australia, Canada, South Africa, India, etc.) played the USA. Forget the Europeans, they had a good decade or two but that's it, the Commonwealth and the USA are the history of golf for the last 130 years. I'm just glad that this book was given to me and I didn't pay for it. D minus.