A packed stadium. An international footballing fiesta. The crowd expects..... Someone else! Sun, fun, romance and Norwegian supermodels. Comedy is back!
Play Away (now updated) is a comedy founded on a true story.
In 1989, my amateur football team flew to Spain for an end-of-season football tour. Sun, fun and a holiday kickaround. Or so we thought. Unintentional impostors, we faced two matches against professional clubs, one from the same league as Barcelona and Real Madrid. The Spanish FA had mistaken us for Bristol City!
This is a footballing Full Monty with the bumbling, unravelling plotline of Four Weddings and Funeral. Through the conversion to a novel, the natural comedy of real interchanges between real people remains intact. If you’ve ever been on a single-sex group holiday or played team sports you will see yourself reflected in the book.
Underlying the main plot is a reassurance that, given time and the right stimulus, most boys will leave behind their laddishness and mature into fully-functioning, responsible members of society. But some need more help than others…..
Fun, sun, romance and comedy, this is something to make everyone smile.
2009 marks the twentieth anniversary of the tour, which is a great hook for publicity and another good reason for publishing it now.