Les Murray is the face and voice of football broadcasting in Australia and is one of our nation's most influential people in sport. In this tell-all memoir Les reveals his humble origins as a migrant to Australia, lays bare his struggles with life in a country that did not embrace the beautiful game, and details his rise to the top of football media and commentary. At the same time Les documents football's spectacular surge in popularity within an Australian sporting culture dominated by other codes for decades.
If fleeing a crumbling Stalinist Hungary with his family in 1956 was shocking for László Urge as a young boy, discovering that Australia was a veritable football desert was even worse. From Budapest to Port Kembla is a huge cultural leap in anyone's language but Les Murray, as he became known, had a single-minded passion for the game and
shaped his future - and a nation's - by choosing it as a faith. Following moderate success as a semi-pro player, Les dabbled in rock and roll and then went on to become one of football's most respected journalists, commentators and broadcasters. Well known beyond SBS as presenter and producer of SBS football programs, he has been directly involved in all major events covered by SBS Sport, including
five World Cup tournaments. It was Les Murray who coined the term 'the World Game', and who, with Johnny Warren, made it his mission to make football in this country count.