Its 1989 and a surf-loving Aussie teenager flukes a dream move to an English footballing giant. Problem is, its never been his dream, and in the brutal big leagues he has a fight on his hands to ensure his laidback life doesnt turn into one giant nightmare. Before Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka and Tim Cahill became household names in English football, and once Craig Johnston retired, there was another Aussie name on every football fans lips. Rippa - Joey Rippa. This 19-year-old high school drop-out wants to be on the waves or smoking pot and strumming his guitar in his small Western Australian beach town, instead of being on a football pitch. But the round-ball game is where his real talent lies and when he has the match of his life for the State team against a travelling West Ham United side in a glamour friendly, hes offered a pro contract with the English First Division side. With the bills mounting in his fathers bar, his beloved uncle facing homelessness, and his band needing a new recording, he reluctantly signs and heads over to the UK. But the dream move turns sour the moment he lands when he discovers that The Hammers manager, Bobby Noll, has been sacked and with no one at the club having any idea who this blonde-stubbled Kim Wilde-lookalike is, hes farmed out to Middleby United, a struggling non-league provincial outfit. And in the most landlocked town in Britain, and with its howling wind, never-ending rain and permanent grey skies, he feels a million miles away from his beloved sand and sun lifestyle. Rippa is faced with isolation, loneliness, terrible cuisine and a dressing room and stadium of home fans who think of him, at best, as a novelty, and, at worst, a pathetic joke. Still mourning his beloved English-born football-loving mother (who vanished six years earlier), he finds an unlikely ally in the clubs female physio and tries to buckle down and make it in the brutal sink or swim world of English football. And along the way, he makes his family and hometown back in Australia proud, reminds West Ham that he actually exists, and get struggling Middleby back to the big time.
P.J. Laverty is a Scottish-Australian writer specialising in historical football fiction (with a comedic spin) with a PhD in Creative Writing from Curtin University.Under the moniker Paul J Laverty, he is the host of 94.9 Main FM literary book show, The Quiet Carriage, which also airs nationally on the Community Radio Network. He has written two novellas, Man Overbored and Cider Country (RoadHouse Media). He also wrote the first biography on Grammy award winners Arcade Fire and another on Beck (Artnik / Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf Verlag).He is a football tragic who will never tire of telling anyone within earshot all about his adventures in Germany during World Cup 2006. He lives in Castlemaine, Victoria, with his wife and two children.His first football novel, The Gaffer, was published in 2022.
* Second football novel by author who has a PhD in Creative Literature, in addition to writing other non-fiction.
* Novel with a lot of humour based on real life football teams and places as well as make-believe ones.
* Appeal to YA as well as Trade readers due to themes of coming-of-age, growing-up, football, surfing, and moving countries.
Publicity:
* Social media and media release.
* Book being launched at Books at the Brewery, Castlemaine, on 2 July 2024.
* Author will appear at Football Writers Festival in Melbourne in October 2024.
