The Greater Game

Book excerpt: From the athletic fields to the fields of battle—these great sportsmen gave their all and sacrificed their lives for their countries in World War I. As the First World War swept across Europe, millions of eager and idealistic volunteers lined up to serve in what was to be the War to End All Wars. All were expected to do their duty—and those rare men who were idolized as the greatest athletes of their time were bound and determined to keep up their end. But no one could have foreseen the true horrors of war that awaited them all . . . This fascinating book examines the deadly impact of the Great War on a number of leading professional sportsmen of the age. Their untimely deaths underscored how even the fittest and most gifted were as vulnerable as any normal soldier—and their loss was felt by far more than their families and friends. Among those featured in this illustrated book are such luminaries as Donald Bell, the only professional football player to win the Victoria Cross; Anthony Wilder, the glamorous Wimbledon champion who fell in May 1915; Francois Faber, the Tour de France star; Percy Poulton Palmer, the England Rugby Captain; and many others. Here, the authors explore the effect that famous athletes have on their countrymen and fellow soldiers in a time of war, and the devastating consequences that World War I had on the emerging world of professional sports.