{"product_id":"9781408843727","title":"The Oval World: A Global History of Rugby","description":"Rugby has always been a sport with as much drama off the field as on it. For every thrilling last-minute Jonny Wilkinson drop-goal to win the world cup or Jonah Lomu rampage down the touchline for a try, there has been a split, a feud or a controversy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Oval World\u003c\/i\u003e is the first full-length history of rugby on a world scale – from its origins in the village-based football games of medieval times up to the globalised sport of the twenty-first century,now played in well over 100 countries. It tells the story of how a game played in an obscure English public school became the winter sport of the British Empire, spread to France, Argentina, Japan and the rest of the world and commanded a global television audience of over four billion for the last world cup final. And how American football – and other games such as Australian, Canadian and Gaelic football – emerged from rugby and highlight just how much the modern gridiron game owes to its English cousin.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eFeaturing the great moments in the game's history and its great names – such as Jonah Lomu, David Duckham, Serge Blanco, Billy Boston and David Campese alongside Rupert Brooke, King George V, Boris Karloff, Charles de Gaulle and Nelson Mandela – \u003ci\u003eThe Oval World \u003c\/i\u003einvestigates just what it is about rugby that enables it to survive and thrive in countries with very different traditions and cultures. This is the the definitive world history of a truly global rugby.","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47126093955312,"sku":"9781408843727","price":16.19,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781408843727_p0.jpg?v=1763721803","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781408843727","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}