Few rugby league players are more notorious than John Elias. The fearsome-looking forward not only intimidated his opponents on the field for first grade clubs like Canterbury, Wests and Balmain, he also led a double life off the pitch as a career criminal.
After serving an eighteen-month sentence in Long Bay Goal at the age of sixteen, in his life away from football he became a part of the seamy Sydney underworld, working as a standover man and enforcer, and orchestrating illegal bookmaking rings.
Loved by his friends and feared by his enemies, John Elias life story is one of the most colourful in Australian sport, as he careered between league at the highest level, and long years in jail for crimes as various as gun and drug dealing and the shooting of a hated rival.
Sin Bin is John's incredible story. You'll never look at John Elias, or Rugby League, the same way again.
John was born in Lebanon in 1962 and after moving to Punchbowl in Sydney's west played in the NRL for clubs including Newtown, Brisbane Souths, Wests, Easts and Canterbury. Several stints in Goal, including an eighteenth month sentence in Long Bay at age sixteen, and his other off field activities saw John become a fixture in Sydney's underworld scene. He went on to set up the Lebanese national team, The Cedars, and has played, captained and coached the side in numerous successful campaigns.
ISBN:
9781405040211
Binding:
Paperback
Pub. Date:
01/08/2010
Category:
Biography: General
Imprint:
Macmillan Australia
Pages:
Stock:
In stock
Price:
$34.99 AUD
Sin Bin The Untold Story of a True Footy Bad Boy
Elias, John
P/B, A$34.99, Available