Jonny: My Autobiography - Softcover

Jonny Wilkinson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0755313402 ISBN 13: 9780755313402

Publisher: Headline, 2012

Synopsis

Jonny Wilkinson''s career has crossed three decades and four World Cups. He has accumulated phenomenal achievements, world points records, an impressive list of broken body parts, and a drop goal that will be remembered for ever. But the peculiar calmness with which he played the game masked a very different reality. In JONNY, he reveals the extraordinary psychology that he had to tame in order to be able to dominate his sport. For most of his life, he was driven by a quest for perfection and an obsession to be the best player in the world; here he shows how these two facets of his competitive mind took such a hold of him that they sent him to the top of the world, then swept him up and dragged him down into a spiral of despair. Jonny''s career has spanned the far reaches: amazing highs and iconic moments, then a fight against injury that culminated in a battle with depression. Here he tells of the physical toll he knew his body was taking from rugby, even from his youth; he tells of how he never wanted to be a kicking fly-half but learned to adapt his natural game to play the style that Clive Woodward believed necessary to win a World Cup, and how he nearly walked out on Martin Johnson''s England team 13 years later.

About this title

About the Author

Jonny Wilkinson became England`s youngest international for 71 years when he made his debut at 18 in March 1998. He has since won 87 caps for his country and is the leading point-scorer in test rugby. In the 2003 World Cup he scored the drop goal that won the tournament. He endured a succession of injuries that kept him out of international action for over three years but he returned to kick the England rugby team to the final of the 2007 World Cup. He has also won five British Lions caps. He was awarded the MBE in January 2003, and the OBE a year later.

Review

'A remarkable account of an obsessive perfectionist trapped in a desperately imperfect world' -- The Guardian 'This autobiography is different. Penned with the bravery with which Jonny played the game' -- The Sun 'A candid and deeply personal voyage into the farthest reaches of Wilkinson's complex character... a gripping read and an examination of the human psyche that throws up many thoughts and experiences that will be uncomfortably but reassuringly familiar to others haunted by self-doubt' -- www.thesportsbookshelf.com '...an excellent memoir, a compelling portrayal of the psychological drawbacks of his fabled quest for perfection' -- The Times 'Searingly honest' -- Daily Telegraph

Edition details

• Publisher: Headline
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0755313402
• ISBN 13: 9780755313402
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368