Border Boys - new book about Canadian, American football
Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2022 12:21 pm
After countless hours of research through approximately 2,300 individual sources as well as writing, editing, page design, cover design, etc., I'm pleased to announce that Border Boys is now available for purchase. Here is a link to the book's web site.
http://www.borderboysbook.com
The book is primarily about the tensions in Canada surrounding football in the early 1930s. Teams in the East had dominated the sport while teams in the West struggled to succeed and gain fan acceptance for the game. The West sought to change the game and to play it like the Americans did, and so they started hiring Americans and even played by American rules at times and against American teams. A key factor in this transition from Canadian "rugby" to football was the sport's adoption of the forward pass in 1931, after two years of experimentation. The book follows this struggle but it also highlights four of the key players who helped Winnipeg and the West to win its first Grey Cup championship, including future hall-of-famer Fritz Hanson, who graces the cover. There's a lot of information about the evolution of the rules in both America and Canada and how the games influenced one another over time.
The book includes mention of several NFL players in their college days as well as in their post-NFL coaching days.
http://www.borderboysbook.com
The book is primarily about the tensions in Canada surrounding football in the early 1930s. Teams in the East had dominated the sport while teams in the West struggled to succeed and gain fan acceptance for the game. The West sought to change the game and to play it like the Americans did, and so they started hiring Americans and even played by American rules at times and against American teams. A key factor in this transition from Canadian "rugby" to football was the sport's adoption of the forward pass in 1931, after two years of experimentation. The book follows this struggle but it also highlights four of the key players who helped Winnipeg and the West to win its first Grey Cup championship, including future hall-of-famer Fritz Hanson, who graces the cover. There's a lot of information about the evolution of the rules in both America and Canada and how the games influenced one another over time.
The book includes mention of several NFL players in their college days as well as in their post-NFL coaching days.