Mongrel Punts and Hard Ball Gets
by Paula Hunt and Glenn ‘the Bolt’ Manton
You can hear it most winter weekends sitting among the barrackers in the upper decks of the G. Or at a suburban ground standing behind the goals sucking on a can watching the magoos have a run. It’s the coodabeens, yelling out instructions. It’s the old broads registering their disgust. You can hear it in the banter between the has-beens and wannabe commentators. It’s there in the coaches box, shouted down blistering telephones lines to weary runners. It’s unique, just like the game. It’s the language of unadulterated love. It’s the language of Aussie Rules.
This book is an A-Z of everything you wanted to know about footy language — from aerial ping pong and ankle tappers, to yellow submarines and zone defence.
“Here at last is a “bible’ for understanding AFL “footy’ language... Written by former Carlton star Glenn “the Bolt’ Manton and footy scribe Paula Hunt, it’s the sort of book you start browsing through then can’t put down...” Take 5
“Mongrel Punts and Hard Ball Gets should be kept next to the Bible in hotel rooms across Australia.” Anthony Koutoufides
“Finally someone has given us football’s thesaurus. The terminology is a little like the authors themselves — honest, enjoyable and a little left of centre.” Dermott Brereton
“Forget statistics, real footy fans know how to speak the language of the game.” Mathew Lloyd
“From chewy-on-ya-boot to ding-dong-battle they’re all there. As you would expect from an A-Z of football vernacular.” Aaron Hamill
“At last a book that lets you into the secret language shared by every self-respecting footy lover. Don’t ever go to a game again without it!” Beverley O’Conner
“I’d give it four elephant stamps.” Sam Newman
“A great epistle! Started to skim the manuscript for interest and a couple of hours disappeared. For all football fanatics — history, humour and a hallow for our favourite game.” David Parkin
“I need multiple copies of this — one for my reference, and another half-dozen for my anti-football friends who think I’ve been making all these words up!” Samantha Lane
- ISBN 9781921167287
- Format 234mm x 153mm
- RRP $19.99
- 288pp
- Hardback with jacket
- Adult non-fiction
- Download fullsize CMYK cover
(4.8Mb CMYK .zip file)
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Paula Hunt broke her father’s Swan heart when she announced, at the age of four, she was a Blue. It was the start of a life long passion for the game of Australian Rules. At the end of the last millennium Paula finished a lengthy stint as a manager in corporate Australia when she decided there just wasn’t enough football in her career. Now, as ‘Jezza Bella’, she writes a weekly column about the Blues in the Melbourne Times and works on health and safety at the Mecca of football, the MCG. She waits expectantly for next season. She is the author of Shirtfront: a short and amazing history of Aussie Rules.
Glenn Manton is a 178 game player for Essendon and Carlton, and a member of the 1995 Carlton Premiership side. He is also the President of Whitelion — an organization he founded to provide positive role models for youth in crisis — and the ambassador of Tasmania’s Centrelink Northern Exposure programme for youth in that state. He is known by his many fans as ‘The Bolt’. He has spent much of his life in the media. Currently he works for Vega 91.5 FM, Foxtel and writes a weekly column for MX. He has also been a regular presenter on the AFL Footy Show and on 3RRR.