A LIONS TALE - 120 Years of the Red and White. Lions Rugby

By Gerhard Burger and Wim van der Berg.

Soft cover, 177 pages. Very good condition: tightly bound, neat and clean. The cover has minor wear at the corners.

Gift inscription in front.

This is the tale of how the union was established and how it developed over 120 years. The highlights - and the low - are documented; achievements on the field, in the boardrooms of South African and indeed world rugby; the role of the schools from the early days to now; the transition to professionalism; the role of the referees, the supporters and the clubs all combine to tell a story of achievements and the joy the game of rugby brings to players and supporters. The special deeds of players like Hennie Muller and Francois Pienaar; the hard work of a man like Jannie Breedt to turn the struggling union around; the new Ellis Park and the drama surrounding its financing and the often controversial role of TRFU and GLRU president Louis Luyt are further blocks on which the Lions tale is built - from the days when the team was known as Transvaal or the Rooibontes, to today, where the young side under Eugene Eloff is slowly starting to show its collective teeth. There is also an endeavour to tell of the difficulty touring teams have playing at the former Ellis Park which is now known as Coca-Cola Park. The venue has indeed become a Field of Fear for visiting sides.