IT’S HERE!

We’re delighted to announce that Behind the Lines, No. 3, our brand-new anthology of some of the year’s best sportswriting published on The42, is out now.

The book, which features 17 great stories from across the world of Irish sport, is priced at €10 and is available to buy now in our online store, The42.shop.

(A reminder as well that all of The42 Members are entitled to a 20% discount on their purchases in The42 Shop, bringing the cover price down to just €8.)

As before, Behind the Lines is also available in Dubray Books, Eason and other good bookshops.

The cover was designed once again by Graham Thew with some valuable input from The42 Members who gave us feedback on some of our early concepts.

In this year’s collection, Eoin O’Callaghan pieces together the career of Ireland’s greatest female footballer with the help of her brother and some Italian newspaper clippings.

Gavin Cooney spends a morning in Eamon Dunphy’s sitting room recalling the rows and relationships which have defined a career in the spotlight and Ryan Bailey relives the crowning moment of Shane Lowry’s career with those closest to him.

Emma Duffy traces the journey from a Cavan pig farm to East London for the rising female star of Irish football. A former Premier League star opens up his house for David Sneyd over a revealing weekend, Murray Kinsella tries to crack the Joe Schmidt enigma and Gavan Casey writes the definitive account of Katie Taylor’s historic, but controversial, Madison Square Garden victory.

Read about Jim Gavin’s time in the army and its impact on the Dublin GAA boss, horse racing legend Ted Walsh’s life philosophy… and much more.

This is, once again, long-form writing for the sports fan in your life.

Here’s what some of our early readers had to say about this year’s anthology:

‘Behind the Lines 3 bears witness to the endless capacity of sport to shape people’s lives, to push the emotions one way and then another. Individually, the pieces in this book are invariably fascinating. Collectively, they bring a deep, unique and compelling insight into the modern world of sport – the joy and the heartbreak, the pleasure and the pain.’ Paul Rouse

‘Intelligent, incisive and entertaining writing about sport and sportspeople.’ Rachael English

‘A fine collection of work, bringing fresh life and insight to the big-time stories while also celebrating those stories half-forgotten and almost lost. A valuable addition to Irish sports literature.’ Michael Foley

Behind The Lines, No. 3, a collection of some of the year’s best sports stories is available now. Order it here (€10):

– First published 21 October; a version of this post originally appeared here on 10 October 2019.