Reviews
A much needed cataloguing of the administrative and financial mismanagement that has dogged the Welsh game over the decades and helped shine light on the historic failings of the WRU. It was the kind of book a mainstream journalist in Wales should have written many years before and it was telling that it took an 'outsider' to finally write it.
- James Stafford, An Illustrated History of Welsh Rugby
Essential – if not optimistic – reading for the Welsh rugby fan.
- John-Paul Davies, Buzz magazine
Seimon Williams's book should be read by every official of the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), past and present... Williams has done a great service to the beloved game. Apart from his assiduous research, there's a nose for the more incisive observations.
- Lynne Walsh, Morning Star Online
There is a pleasing raised-eyebrow tone on here. Williams has been, through the Gwladrugby website, a committed voice for Welsh rugby fans for many years.
That experience has won him a detached irony that is a credit to his resilience and a spoonful of sugar for the reader as we are led through a story that contains echoes of ignorance, cruelty, and absurdity that you'd more readily expect from a war memoir.
- Ben Wildsmith, Nation.cymru
Timely review of the current crisis facing Welsh rugby, from mortifying defeats and a decade of underfunding, to financial mismanagement and seemingly institutionalised misogyny, sexism, racism and homophobia within the Welsh Rugby Union.
- The Bookseller
Understanding where Welsh rugby is today in light of the Rafferty review necessitates an understanding of its past, and this is why Williams' book is an absolutely essential text. Devoid of opinion but packed with citations, it is as much a work of scholarship as it is storytelling, and from the pen of a rugby fan rather than a media professional, that authenticity shines through.
- The Rugby Journal
Finished it last night. Had to stop myself applauding as I closed book. Comprehensive and authoritative, it's as concise and well written a piece of work as I've read in years. Doesn't feel heavily edited either. Essential reading for anyone involved or interested in rugby.
- StephenM, X / Twitter
Thought provoking, lively, with just the right mix of anger and passion. Long overdue!
- Luke Upton, X / Twitter
The book that Welsh rugby union needed, Driven by anger, but calm and judicious in style, analytical as well as polemical. Short, sharp, well researched, highly readable and utterly damning of all but a few who have wielded power or influence in Welsh rugby union's second century.
- Huw Richards, X / Twitter
...Mae e'n wych, os chi'n 'nabod rhywun sy'n hoffi rygbi, fi'n credu byddan nhw'n gwirioni gyda'r llyfr yma.
- Aled, Podlediad Colli'r Plot
