'So what is football to me? It's been a window, a game, a second language. Some years it has mattered more than others and some seasons have only come alive at finals time. My relationship with footy had never been severed, but nor had its power ever been tested.
That's why, as the unthinkable slowly dawned on me - the war in Iraq was going to happen and Australia was going to be involved, regardless of the wishes of the Australian people - it came as a considerable relief to find I could go to a game and for a couple of hours escape what was happening in the world.'
Martin Flanagan's new book looks at Australian culture through that most intimate and searching of mediums - sport. The result is a book that asks big questions, while retaining the bounce and rhythm of the prose that one would expect from a world-class sports writer.
