Brendan Murphy

Author of historical books, picture books, screenplays & young adult novels. Irish DNA, raised in Sheffield, studied in London, calls Melbourne home.

Brendan Murphy's new book, The Game That Would Be King: The Uncharted History of Soccer 800-1800 AD was published by Meyer & Meyer on 1 December 2025.

Murphy traces a family tree of games long forgotten . . . Soccer remains centre stage, but the wider cast gives the book its colour, strangeness and charm.

Irish Post

The Game That Would Be King arrives as a revolutionary text that challenges everything we thought we knew about the beautiful game’s origins.

Soccer Book UK

Packed with oddities, anecdotes and ephemera

Irish America