Fringes
life on the edge of professional rugby
longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Awards 2020
Ebook also available on Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play and Nook.
If you want to read a sample first then click here.
You can listen to me read some extracts here.
The book was loads of fun to write and I’m really pleased with how it’s been received.
I believe it’s a valuable perspective, given that we usually only hear about sports stories from the very elite end. Most professionals don’t exist at that level.
It’s about how it feels and what it means to play rugby for a living, to dedicate yourself to an uncompromising but occasionally beautiful game. If you've wanted to know what life is really like as a professional athlete, then look no further.
“I would wholeheartedly recommend Ben’s book. I read the free 100 pages through his email list and I was hooked after that. Read the book avidly and struggled to put it down. He captures the realities of the Pro tier below the elite. Excellent read”
If I had my time again, I’d try to get some reviews ready for release. I won’t get that time again though and now, I’m really pleased to have good reviews come in from readers.
Fringes has also been featured by a few publications:
BBC Sport - Mike Henson very kindly featured the book, making it the lead story on the rugby section and being featured on the sport homepage. I used to spend/waste hours reading the site when I was studying so it was fun to be featured on there.
The Lockdown Show on RugbyPass - I chatted to Jim Hamilton on his lockdown show about the book, how it came about and how the quality gap between top flight rugby and the rest isn’t always as big as you might think.
The Guardian - Rob Kitson wrote a great piece on the necessity of the lower tier rugby pro, speaking about how Fringes explores the dilemmas facing those outside the elite
RugbyPass - Liam Heagney covered the success of the book itself as it knocked up around the top of the Amazon charts with Mike Tyson and Tyson Fury’s books
Smart Thinking Books - I did a fun interview with these guys with my own book recommendations
If you’re (somehow) not yet convinced by them, then feel free to take a look at a sample of the book. You’ll get the first few chapters and be able to see whether it’s worth your time. You can even listen to me read some extracts here.
Just click the button to go and get it for free.
“If you enjoyed Confessions of a Rugby Mercenary by John Daniel then try this. Much more interesting than the Eddie Jones’ biog, this stands alongside John Daniel’s book and Ben Ryan’s Sevens Heaven as offering something very different and, in my view, much better.”
