Australian Football

A sport unlike any other in the world, football has always been Australia's bellwether. But at a time when politics is increasingly conducted like sports - full of one-eyed tribalism, captain's calls and policy dictated by the Newspoll scoreboard - football is the one institution that's more...

From prison to premiership glory; this is Marlion Pickett’s extraordinary story. It’s the third quarter in the biggest game of the season. A young man lines up for goal. The 100,000 strong crowd leaps to its feet and roars as Marlion Pickett sends the ball soaring through the goalposts for...

A darkly satirical novel of love, revenge, and 1950s haute couture—now a major motion picture starring Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Liam Hemsworth, and Hugo Weaving After twenty years spent mastering the art of dressmaking at couture houses in Paris, Tilly Dunnage returns to the small...

Mary Fowler is already a global football superstar with the Matildas, but there's so much more to the person behind the headlines and highlight-reel goals. Bloom is a mix of deeply personal experiences that have shaped Mary, behind-the-scenes insights from the Matildas' World Cup run...

In 2012, Hakeem al-Araibi was a promising young player on Bahrain's national football team when he was arrested for attacking a police station during the Arab Spring, despite television footage showing him playing soccer at the time of the alleged attack. After three months of torture and wrongful imprisonment, Hakeem was released. He fled the country and made his way to Australia, where he was granted refugee status. Hakeem made a life here and was playing for the suburban Pascoe Vale Football Club, in Melbourne. He thought he was safe.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE A NEW YORKER NOTABLE BOOK OF 2025 ∙ A LITHUB FAVORITE BOOK OF 2025 From the beloved master of Australian letters Helen Garner comes a brand new work of nonfiction, exploring boyhood, football, and the quotidian joys of family life. "Inclusive...

Matildas fever swept across the country during the 2023 World Cup campaign, filling stadiums beyond capacity, uniting communities and inspiring the next generation of world-class athletes. In one of the iconic 'where-were-you-when' moments in Australian sports history, the Matildas faced down...

Travis Boak is one of the most talented and tenacious AFL players of the era. Three-time All-Australian and a former Port Adelaide captain, he's renowned for his football IQ and his physical endurance. In 2024 he played his 350th game, cementing his status as an elite champion. Travis is known...

'A book about humanity as much as sport. It’s like sitting at the kitchen table with your best mate and he’s pouring his heart out – about his life, his loss, his triumphs and his faults … and the love that got him through. Honest, generous, and most of all, courageous.' Markus Zusak...

Australian Matildas and World Cup superstar Sam Kerr teams up with Aki Fukuoka to bring young readers this fun and inspiring illustrated series about soccer, school, sport, friendship, dealing with bullies and following your dreams. Sam Kerr has only been playing soccer for a few months and...

Can their new love survive the return of his past? With his first year as a pro footballer behind him, ruckman Tyson Gaspaldi meets Katie while on a holiday in a small coastal town. Everything about her intrigues him, and he wants nothing more than to spend some time with her. Once she finds out how he earns his money, though, she hesitates to take whatever it is between them any further. Katie Cassidy is still overwhelmed by the recent loss of her sister, but a chance encounter with Tyson stirs emotions and a love for life inside her again. However, when Tyson’s ex-girlfriend blindsides ...

Meet Tariq Nader, leader of ‘The Wolf Pack’ at Punchbowl Boys. He has been asked by the new principal to join a football competition with his mates in order to rehabilitate the public image of their school. But there’s a catch – half of the team is made up of high-school boys from Cronulla, also known as enemy territory – and Tariq must compete with their strongest player for the position of captain. With complications on all fronts, he must learn to control his anger, and find what it takes to be a leader.

Cancer doesn't discriminate. When things were at their worst for Jarryd Roughead, his four premierships, two All-Australian gongs and a Coleman Medal counted for nothing. Being that rare footballer who was as loved by opposition fans as his own was no help either. As he spent his days vomiting...

In the darkest hour, a blood-soaked teenager flees the rural Gerandaroo football oval. Eight months later, Bess, a young teacher, returns home to Gerandaroo. A childhood game of dare with her former best friend forces Bess to form a women's footy team to play against Denby, a rival town. Bess...

A treasured son. A rare condition. A memoir of loss and joy and everything in between. My mind is racing. I'm trying to make sense of what the doctors have told us, to understand what life is going to look like now, for Levi and for us. We need to tell our families, I think to myself. But Mum is...

Bachar Houli is as accomplished an AFL footballer as they come. He's been part of two Richmond Premiership sides, he was an All-Australian in 2019, and with more than 200 games to his name he remains a key part of a champion team. Picked at number 42 in the 2006 National Draft by Essendon, Houli played 26 games for the Bombers before moving in 2011 to Tigerland, where rookie Coach Damien Hardwick was assembling the team that six years later would achieve the seemingly impossible and claim Richmond's 11th Premiership.

Australian Matildas and World Cup superstar Sam Kerr teams up with Aki Fukuoka to bring young readers this fun and inspiring illustrated series about soccer, school, sport, friendship, dealing with bullies and following your dreams. It’s official! Eleven-year-old Sam Kerr is a fully-fledged...

Australian Matildas and World Cup superstar Sam Kerr teams up with Aki Fukuoka to bring young readers this fun and inspiring illustrated series about soccer, school, sport, friendship, dealing with bullies and following your dreams. The 2006 World Cup is around the corner and...

Australian Matildas and World Cup superstar Sam Kerr teams up with Aki Fukuoka to bring young readers this fun and inspiring illustrated series about soccer, school, sport, friendship, dealing with bullies and following your dreams. Sam Kerr is an Aussie rules football fan through and through...

Shortlisted for the 2024 R.E.A.L. Awards Shortlisted for the 2024 Yabba Awards, Fiction for Younger Readers Australian Matildas and World Cup superstar Sam Kerr teams up with Aki Fukuoka to bring young readers this fun and inspiring illustrated series about soccer, school, sport, friendship...