Review - FOOTBALL MAMBO, Peter Tonkin

Being profoundly disinterested in all things AFL, I will admit that for a while I did think the possibility of a real life Centralian Galahs teams sounded quite feasible. As did the idea that drop kicks weren't just drongo's, but somehow something very undesirable in a game (okay so I had to check with somebody who would know what a drop kick was...).

The idea that cynical PI Bruce Bilger would be called into investigate the mystery of why a famous player would suddenly throw a game via the aforementioned kick didn't seem too far of a stretch as well (although to be honest I've still no idea how or why it would work ... okay so I still don't care). But investigate Bilger does and when the player in question insists "the mambo made me do it" it makes sense that first principles would apply and let's figure out what the mambo is (I was confused about the dance's impact at this stage!).

So we're not talking deep and meaningful. We're talking passages like this:

"Wrong tree! Hell, I'd been trying to pluck a splinter out of my arse while the world wood-chopping championships were in full swing elsewhere."

We're definitely talking tongue in cheek when it comes to FOOTBALL MAMBO by Peter Tonkin. It's humourous, it's a quick and easy read, and whilst it's definitely on the odd side, it might not be quite as odd to anybody with a modicum of an interest in football. Having said that, football allergic types like me shouldn't avoid it either - it's vaguely silly, very amusing and a light, fun book.