“Fagan skilfully pieces together the jigsaw – of a time long ago when football wars broke out in Australia, when Kangaroos played against Wallabies, when Dally Messenger thrilled the crowds, and our sporting winters changed forever.”
Ian Heads, rugby league author and historian.

“Revelations of biblical proportions for rugby league tragics - continually springing surprises in the style of a real-life thriller."
Illawarra Mercury

"A brilliantly researched and revealing book."
Big League

- Birth of Rugby League (England, 1895): the history of how the rugby codes first split, details of the founding clubs and the first round of rugby league matches in 1895.

- Rugby League Rules (1895–1908): details the founding period of rule changes (including which season each was introduced), all of which gave rugby league its distinctive signature features.

- Laws of the Game of Football (NSWRL 1908): a FULL reproduction of the first set of playing laws used to play rugby league in NSW and QLD in 1908, signed-off as the official version by James J. GIltinan.

- Improvement of Rules — Rugby League: a preview article from a major Sydney newspaper the week before league kicked-off in 1908, detailing and explaining the rule differences fans can expect to see in the "new rugby".

- The Northern Union Game: written by Albert Baskerville (the father of New Zealand rugby league) in Leeds in October 1907, the "All Golds" manager details his own and his team's impressions and opinions after watching their first rugby league game (Leeds v Hunslet).

- Referee's Challenge — 1908: compiled from similar Q&A Challenge documents of the time, using the laws of 1908 (see above), these 51 questions put forward different on-field scenarios asking how you, as the referee, should respond. Each is provided with an answer, detailing how the laws are to be applied.

- Evolution of Point Scoring Values: Details the various points scoring methods and values used in rugby league and rugby union from 1871 to the present (did you know that for a time both codes allowed field goals to be kicked "soccer-style"?).

- Origin of the “Play-the-Ball”: how did the idea for rugby league's most distinctive feature come about, what was its original purpose and why was it successful.

- Rugby League Clubs of 1908: details of every NSWRL founding club, including meeting dates and venues, jersey designs, club nicknames and home grounds.

- Foundation Meeting: reproduced from a major Sydney newspaper in January 1908, a full record of what typically occurred at the founding meetings of the district clubs is provided - who the primary speakers were, what they said (including Harry Hoyle and James J Giltinan), what issues were discussed, and what questions they were asked.

- The Origin of the Kangaroos War Cry: where the lyrics for the now long-forgotten war cry came from, why the Kangaroos had war cry, what the English thought of it (includes the full Aboriginal lyrics and English translation).

- Swapping Allegiances Between Countries: Dally Messenger, who played for the New Zealand "All Golds" in 1907, was only one of the footballers who played for more than one country.

- When Dally Kicked the Goal: in the story-telling style of 'Banjo' Paterson, a poem from 1910 re-living the magic of a goal kick of Messenger.

- Match Results and Player Registers (1908-10): details (including scores, dates and venues) of every Sydney club game, as well as inter-state, international and other representative match. Also lists every player chosen to represent Australia up to the end of 1910.