{"product_id":"crossing-the-line-hb","title":"Willie Anderson: Crossing The Line [2021] hardback","description":"Irish rugby has produced many charismatic figures over its history. None more\u003cbr\u003ethan Willie Anderson. Immortalised for his defiant stance in the face of the All\u003cbr\u003eBlacks' Haka, the Ulsterman is notorious also for his time spent locked up by the\u003cbr\u003emilitary junta in Argentina for a prank gone wrong. But there is more to Willie\u003cbr\u003eAnderson than newspaper headlines. Crossing The Line is the story of a life\u003cbr\u003echallenged by sectarianism, alcohol addiction, and personal tragedy. It is the\u003cbr\u003estory of a triumph over adversity.\u003cbr\u003eAnderson is unique in his range of experience across Irish rugby. During his three\u003cbr\u003emonths in custody in Buenos Aires, between remand and house arrest, he kept a\u003cbr\u003ediary, including the love letters written to the woman he would marry, Heather\u003cbr\u003eBuckley. Almost a decade later he earned further notoriety when, as Ireland\u003cbr\u003ecaptain, he marched into the middle of the All Blacks' Haka in Lansdowne Road,\u003cbr\u003eprompting the International Rugby Board to put in place a protocol around that\u003cbr\u003epiece of theatre.\u003cbr\u003eAnderson describes how alcohol was a factor in his life from his teenage years,\u003cbr\u003etaking control of him by the time his coaching career was in full flow. When\u003cbr\u003erugby went professional his coaching talents were sought by London Irish,\u003cbr\u003eLeinster and Scotland - but the head coach role in Ulster, the job he wanted\u003cbr\u003emost, never came his way.\u003cbr\u003eHis lowest point came with the accidental death in a road accident of a\u003cbr\u003eneighbour's child. Although exonerated of any blame in the tragedy it took\u003cbr\u003eits toll on him and how he lived. Willie is the father of JW Anderson, a uniquely\u003cbr\u003esuccessful figure in the fashion world. He still lives in Northern Ireland, still\u003cbr\u003ecoaches rugby, and is still married to the woman he credits with saving\u003cbr\u003ehis sanity.","brand":"Anderson, Willie","offers":[{"title":"Very Good","offer_id":46924523766099,"sku":"XV81914197154","price":3.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false},{"title":"Like New","offer_id":47899100971347,"sku":"XE81914197154","price":4.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"New","offer_id":42502841139385,"sku":"9781914197154","price":9.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0616\/4001\/6057\/files\/anderson-willie-willie-anderson-crossing-the-line-2021-hardback-55188685029715.jpg?v=1711733889","url":"https:\/\/theirishbookshop.live\/products\/crossing-the-line-hb","provider":"Chapters Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}