mightybears
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Thoughts on the book: The Life and Times of Bumper Farrell by Larry Writer [of Razor now Underbelly Razor fame].
No doubt many here have read this, but i thought i'd add my 20 cents worth. I do recommend you read this if you haven't simply because it has a great deal of information about RL in the 1940's. From a Norths perspective I had not read or heard that Farrell's sister 'bashed' Don McKinnon the elder with an umbrella at the NSO after Don made an comment about their mother [in response to the usual Farrell 'aggression']. Lots of other little bits and pieces about Norths [and Newtown obviously].
That said, in many ways a book like this isn't going to get written unless the writer is in love with the subject of the book, or at least the idea of what the man represented. To write his book, the author obviously did a lot of work with the Farrell family, friends [like Frank Hyde's brother] and ex colleagues so he won't necessarily want to kick him or delve too deeply past the larrikin streak as he'd be seen by the family to have let them down. Farrell was also in direct 'conversation' with both the later era Tilly Devine and Kate Leigh, and the whole range of Eastern Sydney 'underworld' for the best part of 40 years-so his story would have an attraction to a crime writer anyway.
League was so much more dirtier that it is today [society was more physically violent too], a given. England RL players in those days were hard and tough and not adverse to below the belt stuff that would get you suspended for years today. Farrell was the same but also a 100% grub and grub not in a good way. The book spends a great deal of time talking round the McRitchie ear biting incident, but doesn't fess up to the fact that everyone under the sun knew what happened and the RL sweep it under the carpet because of the scandal.
This man just liked bashing people, and when he had a uniform on [white line fever on the field AND everytime he went to work] he got away with it. He got so miffed at his own testimonial dinner when a former team mate made a comment about him not being the player he was in his prime, that at the end of the night he kicked over a poor old horse attached to a milk cart to prove to himself he was still 'tough'.
He had robin hood qualities and he never indulged [if you believe this book at least] in free benefits from the working girls, other the a drink. He certainly had a loyalty to friends and family, a morality but he wasn't adverse to kick backs and whacking the life out of any man that got in his way professionally-whether they deserved or not-and in the 1960's that included any 'protestor' types. Would it surprise you to know he was a big John Wayne fan [probably liked arguable the worse war movie ever The Green Berets].
More hagiography than biography, but still worth getting for those that like reading old RL/social/crime history work.
No doubt many here have read this, but i thought i'd add my 20 cents worth. I do recommend you read this if you haven't simply because it has a great deal of information about RL in the 1940's. From a Norths perspective I had not read or heard that Farrell's sister 'bashed' Don McKinnon the elder with an umbrella at the NSO after Don made an comment about their mother [in response to the usual Farrell 'aggression']. Lots of other little bits and pieces about Norths [and Newtown obviously].
That said, in many ways a book like this isn't going to get written unless the writer is in love with the subject of the book, or at least the idea of what the man represented. To write his book, the author obviously did a lot of work with the Farrell family, friends [like Frank Hyde's brother] and ex colleagues so he won't necessarily want to kick him or delve too deeply past the larrikin streak as he'd be seen by the family to have let them down. Farrell was also in direct 'conversation' with both the later era Tilly Devine and Kate Leigh, and the whole range of Eastern Sydney 'underworld' for the best part of 40 years-so his story would have an attraction to a crime writer anyway.
League was so much more dirtier that it is today [society was more physically violent too], a given. England RL players in those days were hard and tough and not adverse to below the belt stuff that would get you suspended for years today. Farrell was the same but also a 100% grub and grub not in a good way. The book spends a great deal of time talking round the McRitchie ear biting incident, but doesn't fess up to the fact that everyone under the sun knew what happened and the RL sweep it under the carpet because of the scandal.
This man just liked bashing people, and when he had a uniform on [white line fever on the field AND everytime he went to work] he got away with it. He got so miffed at his own testimonial dinner when a former team mate made a comment about him not being the player he was in his prime, that at the end of the night he kicked over a poor old horse attached to a milk cart to prove to himself he was still 'tough'.
He had robin hood qualities and he never indulged [if you believe this book at least] in free benefits from the working girls, other the a drink. He certainly had a loyalty to friends and family, a morality but he wasn't adverse to kick backs and whacking the life out of any man that got in his way professionally-whether they deserved or not-and in the 1960's that included any 'protestor' types. Would it surprise you to know he was a big John Wayne fan [probably liked arguable the worse war movie ever The Green Berets].
More hagiography than biography, but still worth getting for those that like reading old RL/social/crime history work.
