David Boon’s Funniest Sporting Moments
Archie Mac |Published: 2012
Pages: 229
Author: Boon, David
Publisher: Allen and Unwin
Rating: 3.5 stars
Unashamedly released for Christmas, this little book delivers what a lazy holiday book should; humour. The publication covers a number of sports with the biggest section covered being cricket. Unfortunately for the avid cricket fan most of the anecdotes mentioned will be familiar but at least they are delivered in a well written and entertaining manner.
This is the strength of David Boon’s book, the style and delivery of all the narratives. Each story covered is preceded by an anecdote, all of which are cleverly written and help this book rise well above the average sport humour publication.
Whether the authors are aficionados of all the sports covered in this tome or by dent of research, they have certainly put all the subject matters in their place in history. Despite any lack of knowledge of the reader, you are left knowing all about the characters and more often than not their foibles in their chosen sport.
The sport with the best stories covered in the book is golf. This is perhaps because like cricket the sheer time taken to play the game lends itself to comical tales. The golfer who stands out is Tommy “Thunder” Bolt who features in a number of the golf tales. It appears Bolt had a notoriously bad temper which he often displayed on the golf course as he managed to play his game in a Freddie Trueman like manner.
It seems Bolt, who was often fined for bad language or throwing his clubs – which he always threw forward so as not to have to waste energy – was once so worried by the possibility of more pecuniary penalties, that he managed to control his temper long enough to ask if he could be fined for throwing his caddy.
So with the lazy Christmas holidays fast approaching, give dad something to chuckle about amongst the socks and undies in his stocking this year, and pick up a copy of David Boon’s Funniest Sporting Moments. It will not disappoint.
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