Judas! , livre ebook

Pitch Publishing Ltd - Paul Cooke

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162 pages

English

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If you're from Hull you're either black and white or red and white. No ifs, no buts. Judas is the story of Paul Cooke, a gifted rugby league player who enjoyed glory at Hull FC on the west side of the city's rugby league divide - but caused outrage when he walked out of the club to join bitter rivals Hull Kingston Rovers. Magical on the pitch, Cooke was often in trouble off it. Growing up he loved Hull Kingston Rovers, but joined rivals Hull FC. His career flourished, but in 2007, Cooke walked out over a contract dispute. He made the switch to hated rivals Rovers; and became an instant target for abuse. His time in East Hull was dogged with more controversy, and while there were good times, he moved on to Wakefield before eventually turning his back on the game, to spend his time with his mother who had been diagnosed with cancer. After she sadly passed away, Cooke returned to rugby a changed man, to finish his playing career and embark on a new path in coaching. Brutally honest and self-critical, Cooke tells the painful truth in this book, alongside some glorious memories of sporting brilliance. It's the story of the player called 'Judas', Hull's most-hated rugby league son.

Sujets

Rugby League

Condado de Yorkshire (Reino Unido)

History of sport

Yorkshire

Informations

Publié par	Pitch Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	03 octobre 2016
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781785312687
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0374€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2016
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Paul Cooke with Adrian Durham, 2016
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 978-1-78531-205-2
eBook ISBN 978-1-78531-268-7
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Contents
Foreword
Preface
Deathbed
Judas is Born
Born into a Riot
From Boy to Pro
He Trained Hard, He Drank Hard
The Promise
Living the Challenge Cup Dream
Prison Break
Grand Final and Great Britain
Massive Bollocks
Bombshell
The Abuse Won t Ever Stop
Magic!
The Darkest Time
Meltdown at Hull KR
Back to Hull... Almost!
Kath at the KC
My Message to Hull FC Fans
The Best
Acknowledgements
Index
Photographs
What would you like your legacy to be?
Question to Paul Cooke in a radio interview January 2011
Foreword
by Lee Radford, Hull FC coach
I VE known Paul Cooke since we were kids. We re both from Hull, and we were part of an Academy side that was built on friendships and bonds that gave us confidence to go on and have good careers. Paul was always single-minded and stubborn, and that s part of what helped him make it in the game. He was also a bloody good player!
He had some success, but he should have had more. That single-minded stubbornness led to a story of what could have been for my mate Paul Cooke.
When Paul left Hull FC none of us found out why - until now. For most people - including me - reading this book is the first time we can really truly understand why he made that move back in 2007.
I was gutted he went. It hurt us massively because we had just been to a Grand Final, and we all felt that with the closeness of the team we would have gone on to greater success. It was an opportunity missed.
Through it all me and Paul stayed mates, and there is no doubt he took some wrong turns, as you ll read in this book. Paul can tell a fine tale of what not to do in life if you re a professional sportsman and that experience will help him in his coaching career now.
His single-mindedness will also help him be successful. And his work ethic is phenomenal. He s up at 6am watching future opponents on his laptop, and I ve been round to his house in the evening and he s still watching games and players, studying rugby league.
I now know the reasons why Paul left Hull FC, and I m more understanding. I m sure some fans will never accept it - the fierce rugby rivalry in the city of Hull gets personal. It s real hatred.
But common sense tells me that most will sympathise if they put themselves in Paul s situation back then.
He took so much abuse and hate that all these years on, I reckon Paul Cooke deserves a bit of understanding from the people of Hull.
Preface
by Adrian Durham
T WENTY-SEVENTH August 2016; Paul Cooke and I are at Wembley Stadium celebrating after his former club Hull FC won the Challenge Cup at Wembley for the very first time. As a Hull fan, I don t mind admitting I cried. Paul also shed a tear as he thought about how much his mum would have loved to see the black and whites finally win at Wembley.
After the celebrations, Paul met up with some of his old teammates - Lee Radford, Andy Last, Danny Washbrook, Kirk Yeaman and others - in the Great Hall at Wembley to offer congratulations. Paul and I then returned, with his fianc e Emma and my wife Amanda, to my house in Hertfordshire where we cracked open some champagne and happily watched Hull s Wembley win all over again.
It was exactly 11 years to the day since Paul had scored the winning try in the Cup final at Cardiff as Hull FC beat Leeds. From that moment I wanted to tell his story. I can t pretend I was happy that he walked out and went to Hull KR, but I always knew there was more to it, and I wanted to find out the truth and reveal it all. Thankfully I wasn t the only one.
Back in 2011, completely out of nowhere, I contacted Paul to ask if he wanted to work with me on his autobiography. I had no idea when I posed the question that only a few weeks earlier his mum had made him promise to tell his story in a book. The timing was spectacular, and as soon as Paul and I met up to discuss it in detail, it was obvious our working relationship would be good. All I asked of Paul was total honesty from him. I had no cause for concern on that score, he was ready to reveal everything, even the bad stuff.
As the story went on, Paul and I watched rugby, chatted through good times and bad times, visited various places, and watched even more rugby. There were tears, and there was laughter.
Paul was even happy with the idea of me interviewing others involved in the story, regardless of what they said. He wanted honesty from them too. Consequently the words of some, including his dad Roy, and his former coach Richard Agar, may shock readers. It s the brutal honesty Paul Cooke demanded from this book.
A few cynics have suggested Paul is writing this book for the money. That s simply not true. As I write this he has not asked for a penny, and not received a penny. Neither have I. In fact the only time money was mentioned was when Paul offered to pay a fee for use of a photograph. It s really not about the money, it s all about Paul Cooke fulfilling a promise, and doing the right thing.
The story that follows goes to some very dark places, as well as some great ones. Paul has soaked all the good and bad stuff up, and is now applying it in his coaching career. It s clear he has learnt from his mistakes.
I really admire the player Paul Cooke was, and I totally respect the man Paul Cooke has become.
1
Deathbed
I ll defend you until the day I die, but you have to defend yourself, for me. You owe me that!
I T S Sunday 24 January 2016. I m in the place where my mum died. It would have been her 63rd birthday today.
She would have loved the fact that later I ll be making my way to the KC Stadium to watch the pre-season derby between Hull FC and Hull Kingston Rovers.
Before that, I ve come to Dove House Hospice, where lung cancer took her away from me; away from us, in 2011.
I remember the rooms she was in when she was here - in that one over there when she first came for respite care. Then into that one when things got worse, that s where she gave me my Challenge Cup winner s medal back. She knew she was going, so she handed it back to me for safe-keeping. I had given it to her the night of Hull s success at the Millennium Stadium in 2005. My parents mean so much to me, I left the lads for their night out celebrating in Cardiff to join them at their hotel in Bristol. We had a few quiet drinks together to celebrate and that s when I gave her the medal. I remember her proudly showing it off in a picture in the Hull Daily Mail . She told the reporter she had carried it with her ever since that night.
There s a door to an outside area in this room, and this is where she used to sit outside, still smoking. She wouldn t give up. She tried to when I was a teenager but she couldn t help herself. I d come home and, as soon as I got through the door, she d be frantically wafting the smoke trying to pretend she hadn t been puffing away. She smoked all her life, she died of lung cancer - you can t ignore the connection.
I go out into the garden at Dove House, they ve made it nice out there. My mum used to sit outside in the open, but now there s a roof over it. This is East Hull - outside there are cars, there is noise, there are people, houses and everyday life. But this is like an oasis in the middle of all that. They ve built a lovely water feature in the garden, it s peaceful, it s calm.
I walk over to the memorial wall with so many names inscribed on to metal doves for everyone to read and pay their respects. My mum has two of them up there - Christine Cooke.
The memories are flooding back: the emotions are very real and very strong right now. I knew I d be like this, with it being her birthday and everything.
I m thinking back to that time, and that whole period. Late 2010 and then into 2011 was such a difficult time in my life. But it was also the turning point for me.
Before then I had been such an idiot, I was a nob. I was out of control. I m not talking about the move - THAT move - from Hull FC to Hull KR in 2007. That caused massive problems, of course it did. But I stand by my decision to make that move, and my conscience is clear on that.
It was the other stuff, court cases, being a dickhead, drinking, treating people around me badly; all the times I properly fucked up in my life.
But mum was always on my side: when I got done for drink-driving, she blamed the car! When there was trouble in town, it was everyone else, not me! That was how she was with her children. While my dad was straight with me, even if the brutal truth from him hurt, she was always there to comfort me. It s been so hard losing her, losing her support.
I remember in my darkest times, sitting in a pub all day drinking, alone, lonely. I texted my mum and dad asking them to come and drink with me. They were on a bus, so my mum got off to be with me, she couldn t ignore my cry for help. My dad was livid, raging at me for being so selfish. He texted me, You re a prick. You might wince at that, you might think it sounds harsh, a father saying that to his son. But my dad was absolutely correct. I was a prick back then.