Sports writing

Custodians and Champions: The Story of the City of Perth Surf Life Saving Club

ISBN 0731642570

Custodians of the public safety and champions of the surf — these are the men and women who have served the City of Perth Surf Life Saving Club in the course of its proud history. Reminiscences are skilfully woven into a sparkling narrative, accompanied by more than a hundred stunning photographs.

A Club for All Seasons: The Story of the Wembley Athletic Club 1926-1996

ISBN 0646323555

Co-authored by Andy Collins, A Club For All Seasons is packed with detail and enlivened by anecdotes. It tells the story of a club that was founded on a beach and is now one of Western Australia’s oldest and most successful amateur sporting organisations, with a proud record in cricket, football, basketball and baseball.

Diehards: The Story of the Subiaco Football Club

In three volumes, Ken Spillman has written the most comprehensive history of any sporting club in Australia. Diehards is sporting history at its best. Carefully researched, delightfully written and lavishly illustrated, it recalls some of the greatest names in Australian football.

The titles are:
Diehards: The story of the Subiaco Football Club 1896-1945 ISBN 0646358340
Diehards: The story of the Subiaco Football Club 1946-2000 ISBN 0957818505
Diehards: The story of the Subiaco Football Club: The Glory Years 2000-2010 ISBN 9780957818514

Australia’s Game

ISBN 9780987500205

Edited and compiled by Ken Spillman and Ross Fitzgerald, Australia’s Game is a collection of writing capturing the agony and the ecstasy of a national sport. Contributors include Martin Flanagan, Peter Helliar, Serge Liberman, John Harms, Basil Zempilas, Jon Doust, Don Watson, Barry Oakley, Peter Corris, Peter Schwab, singer/songwriter Paul Kelly, and many more.

The Greatest Game

ISBN 0855612703

Edited and compiled by Ken Spillman and Ross Fitzgerald, this book is widely considered a classic of Australian sports literature. It immortalises the football passions of many luminaries including novelists Frank Hardy and Gerald Murnane; playwrights David Williamson, Jack Hibberd and Barry Dickins; poets Bruce Dawe, Philip Hodgins and Fay Zwicky; historians Manning Clark and Geoffrey Blainey; and broadcasters Ramona Koval, Andrea Stretton and Phillip Adams.

Heartfelt Moments in AFL/VFL Football

ISBN 9781925138948

Edited by Ross Fitzgerald, this volume cuts across all divides, including contributions by and about football players, supporters and administrators who are vastly different in politics, religion, class, income, ethnicity, gender, race and sexual preference. Ken Spillman contributes a painfully vivid reminiscence on a famous clash between Leigh Matthews and Barry Cable. He is joined in the collection by Geraldine Doogue, Jeff Kennett, Susan Alberti, Chris Bowen, Amanda Vanstone, Sally Murphy and John Elliott.

Coach! Inspiration and Perspiration

ISBN 9781863503129

Edited by Jim Main, Coach! brings together contributions by some of the best writers on Australian football. Ken Spillman joins Mike Coward, Martin Flanagan, Robert Walls, Michelangelo Rucci and many others.