Neil Balme cover art

Neil Balme

A Tale of Two Men

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Neil Balme

By: Anson Cameron, Neil Balme
Narrated by: Nick O'Rourke
Try Premium Plus free

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

 'You've got to have that madness in your mind to win, win, win. You've got to have that somewhere, but it can't consume you.'

This story begins in infamy. Everyone's first glimpse of the man is of ferocious blows struck in Grand Finals, his name splashed in headlines across the back pages of the tabloids. It's the 1970s, it's Richmond: kill or be killed.

There was a time when almost every football watcher who heard Neil Balme's name would react with disapproval. My God, what a bruiser . . . A dangerous fellow . . . And those who knew him would quickly deny these accusations. He's not a brute, you know, he's a thinker . . . A mild-mannered bloke, easygoing. The great paradox of Balme is the violence and the pacifism, the mayhem and the calm, the rough justice and the gentleness. He's a cold-blooded thug; he's a soft-hearted healer; he's a villain and a hero.

Balme is unique in having spent longer than anyone else in clubland. Richmond, Norwood, Melbourne, Collingwood, Geelong and Richmond again - over fifty years. He's seen and created limitless change in those decades. So how did Neil Balme go from being the infamous on-field enforcer of the 1970s to the avuncular guru the football world knows and loves today?

After eleven premierships, an aura surrounds the man. Get Balme to your club and premierships will follow. What has he to tell us of football, of the high times and the low, of the champs and the egos? Of Royce and GR, of Diamond Joe, of Eddie and Mick, of Bomber, of Dimma? And of life and the human heart?

Balme's tale is, unsurprisingly, a mix of hard truth and unerring compassion.©2022 Anson Cameron and Neil Balme (P)2022 Penguin Random House Australia Football (Soccer) Sports Heartfelt
All stars
Most relevant  
A good eat book - inspirational man was Neil. Congratulations on a great career all the accolades well deserved

Brilliance

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The Godfather of footy.
Great read. Thanks for putting it together. So glad he was a Tiger.
Recommended.

Balmey what a life in footy!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved this book from start to finish. I’m a big tigers fan and always thought highly of Balmey but wasn’t aware of why he is such a highly regarded figure, so it was good to learn about how he became such a legend of a bloke. ❤️

Loved this book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I've read one or two of Anson Cameron's fiction books and loved his writing style, and he absolutely brings this story to life. It is SO beautifully written - unlike any other sport auto/biography I've read. This is a fascinating story -- I thought it would be about just Balmey but it transcends his journey and explores behind the scenes of a number of footy clubs and stories, as well as general concepts of friendship, loyalty, communication and the formula behind ultimate sporting success,
Listened to it in two days - couldn't get enough of it! I'm a Tigers fan but there are some great tales behind Collingwood, Melbourne, Geelong and Norwood. I honestly think all Aussie Rules fans would find the insights extremely interesting.

Fascinating insight for all footy fans

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Seems like half the stories about Balme were just taken from excerpts from other books. When the author tried to deep dive into a topic like the Melbourne- Hawthorn merger, we only got a brief insight into what Balme actually thought and did. The narrator was pretty average- if you can't pull off an accent, don't even bother. Pronunciation of names of players should've been looked into as well. I did get a chuckle out of Dipperdominenko

Borrowed from other books

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Not what I expected but still worth the listen. The narrator showed a small lack of Subject knowledge

Underwhelming

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.