Sports books for Christmas: Rewarding journey into the poignant nature of heroism

Biographies of major rugby league figures take pride of place in the best buys on the books for Christmas list. Dave Hadfield picks his favourites

If there is a theme running through many of this year's books, it is - fittingly for a game which demands so much of its participants - the meaning and nature of heroism.

The two major biographies of 2005 describe the careers of two players of genuinely heroic stature - one recently departed, the other still very much with us.

Trevor Foster, the man who was, in many ways, rugby league in Bradford, lived just long enough to see his story published.

Trevor Foster: The Life of a Rugby League Legend by his son, Simon Foster, Robert Gate and Peter Lush (LLP, £14.95) is a worthy memorial.

The indefatigable Gate flies solo with an even more substantial volume, Neil Fox: Rugby League's Greatest Points Scorer (LLP, £18.95). Fox's mighty career statistics are all detailed, but they are only part of the story.

The former Great Britain coach, Maurice Bamford, has been busy this year, with Play With a Smile: Funny Stories in Rugby League (Vertical, £10.99) and a book that continues the heroic thread, Play to Win: Rugby League Heroes (LLP, £12.95). One refreshing aspect of the latter work is that, along with the obvious names, Bamford celebrates the achievements of some of the unknowns he coached in the amateur game.

If I can be forgiven for mentioning a book to which I contributed a chapter, I can recommend Seasons in the Sun (Impress, £17.99). It is a sparkling series of essays on the first 10 years of Super League and is full of wit and wisdom.

Also casting its sights back to cataclysmic events of the relatively recent past is Rugby's Berlin Wall by Graham Williams, Peter Lush and David Hinchliffe, which concentrates on the relationship between the two codes over the last decade.

And, back to the main theme, Hero by Graham Morris (Vertical, £19.99) is a handsome study of the players who have won the game's major individual awards.

There is heroism of a different order in Missing in Action by Tom Mather (self-published, £7.95), a tribute to the players who were killed in the two World Wars. These are poignant stories, guaranteed to make you wonder what some of them might have achieved had they survived.

Castleford: Life in League One by Chris Walton (£15, from the club shop only) is the result of a year following the Tigers through their promotion season. It contains some of the best behind-the-scenes pictures of a rugby club that you will see.

Finally, the Rugby League Journal Annual 2006 (£12.95) bills itself as being "for fans who don't want to forget." It is an unashamed wallow in nostalgia and a delight from cover to cover.