'If I started to cry, I wouldn't stop' - a quote taken from former Australian football captain, Lucas Neill, is a snapshot in time - of the glorious, problematic, and cursed path of football in Australia (yes all those things), starting with Mark Bosnich in Sydney in 1996 and ending with Harry Kewell in Istanbul in 2009 - and many things in between. Journalist and author Matthew Hall saw the lot.
At a time when football in Australia wasn't quite so 'cool' or popular, Matthew managed to actually get paid to report on the game, beyond the hamstrings and groins, and looking - as he says - back stage.
For anyone who remembers these times, it's a terrific trip down memory lane. For those who don't, or who were not even alive at the time, read and learn
Matthew Hall is the author of two previous books, The Away Game and Robbie Slater: The Hard Way. He produced and wrote the award-winning film adaptation of The Away Game.
He covered four FIFA World Cups while writing about football for The Guardian, the Observer, the New York Times, the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Sun-Herald, The Australian, the Daily Telegraph, the South China Morning Post, Rolling Stone, When Saturday Comes, FourFourTwo, Inside Sport, Playboy, ESPN, The World Game, and the Saturday Paper, among others.
He has campaigned against human rights violations in sport and human trafficking through sports.
Born in Perth, Western Australia, he lives in New York City where he coaches girls' soccer teams including his daughter's Under-10 team.
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