Paul Nicholls

The Coping Stone—The First English Soccer Tour of Australia 1925tells the little-known but fascinating story of how soccer fought for survival — and acceptance — in early 20th-century Australia.

In a sporting landscape dominated by rugby and Australian Rules, football was kept alive in the mining towns of New South Wales and Queensland, fuelled by the passion of working-class migrants. 

Through the intertwined lives of miner-turned-international 'Judy' Masters, young Australian administrator Syd Storey, a traditional English administrator John Lewis, and visiting Arsenal player Tom Whittaker, Paul Nicholls brings to life a time when the world’s most popular sport struggled for legitimacy in a country where it was seen as a foreign game through a unique blend of fact and narrative. From the trenches of the Western Front to the coalfields of the Illawarra and the packed grounds of Sydney, this is a story of resilience, ambition, and the long journey to secure the "coping stone" — a historic tour by an English team that promised to cement football’s place in the Australian sporting landscape.

Set against the backdrop of the roaring twenties, and featuring a gun-toting hotel manager, a breakaway professional league and a mysterious robbery, The Coping Stone is an extraordinary tale of the first English soccer tour of Australia.

Fair Play Publishing

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