True Professional

The Clive Sullivan Story

James Oddy

• Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• eBook ISBN:
  9781785313578
• Year: 2017

True Professional tells the story of Clive Sullivan, who emerged from one of Cardiff's toughest neighborhoods to become an icon of rugby league. Overcoming a major childhood injury and a car crash early in his career, he was a ruthless and thrilling presence on the wings of both Hull FC and Hull KR teams for more than 20 years, scoring more than 300 tries.The first-ever black Briton to captain a British sports team, Sullivan did so with great success, even lifting a World Cup and being awarded an MBE. He was loved by rugby league fans and revered following his untimely and tragic death. Yet the wider sporting public overlooked his achievements at the time and his name is rarely mentioned when discussing Britain's sporting greats. The book is a snapshot of the working class Northern towns that have long been the heartland of rugby league, and the communities that gave them their unique character. It is also a look at how Clive's career developed against the backdrop of a declining fishing industry, the lifeblood of the city of Hull. 

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Dedication
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• A World Cup
• A Proper Introduction
• Setting the Scene
• Clive Sullivan Arrives
• The Airlie Bird Catches the Worm
• Dicing With Death
• Meeting Rosalyn
• Beauty and Brutality
• A Clear Run – Finally
• Breakthrough and Breakdown
• Married Life
• Down and Out
• Triumph, at Last
• Upheaval
• French Flair
• World Cup and Coach Clive
• The Second Division
• Making the Switch
• Family Man
• Indian Summer
• Close to the Promised Land
• ‘Turn off the lights’
• Moving On
• The Ecstasy
• The Agony
• Never Forgotten
• Legacy
• Bibliography
• Photographs