The Chairman of the Boards - Eamonn Coghlan

emerald007

Just finished reading the book and was wondering what impressions others had on it. I prefered the later chapters about the marathon and masters mile record training. I think the chapter on the BLE could be a book on its own.

http://www.eason.ie/look/9780954865344/Chairman-of-the-Boards/Eamonn-Coghlan

25posts...

violator13

It was a great read.I liked the way he went on the beer after races. He knew how to live.To run sub 4 at 41 is something else. To be fair could not put the book down.

Abhainn

Just finished it recently myself.
Yes an excellent read. Well balanced throughout and I think you really get a great insight to his personnel and professional experiences.

To pick just a few:
From his account of his few beers he had the night before his World Championship 5000m success in 1983 and the looks he got from colleagues, to the terrible lows and on his returning to Ireland, to his moaning of his sore arse in training for the master WR.

shels4ever

Abhainn wrote: »

Just finished it recently myself.
Yes an excellent read. Well balanced throughout and I think you really get a great insight to his personnel and professional experiences.

To pick just a few:
From his account of his few beers he had the night before his World Championship 5000m success in 1983 and the looks he got from colleagues, to the terrible lows and on his returning to Ireland, to his moaning of his sore arse in training for the master WR.

the Physio treatment that he recieved around the masters mile sounded horrible.. really enjoyed the book had a chat to him about it at the marathon expo

BeepBeep67

very enjoyable - have moved onto Sonia now as I page through the Christmas pressies

Rineanna

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

very enjoyable - have moved onto Sonia now as I page through the Christmas pressies

I loved Sonia's book. Was great to get the full story behing the immortal Atlanta pictures, and not just rely on completly false third part accounts of what exactly went wrong. Plus, I did NOT know about the, shall we say, choice 'friendship' between herself and Cathy Freeman.

Racing Flat

Rineanna wrote: »

Plus, I did NOT know about the, shall we say, choice 'friendship' between herself and Cathy Freeman.

Ya, when you wake up in the morning try saying to the wife 'I'm off to spend the day coaching my ex, who has publicly declared her dislike of you. Make sure the dinner's ready when I get back. Thanks, love'.:p:p:p

DangerMouse27

Great inspiration to train, having read both books.Considering our huge success at indoor athletics,i really hope rte push the boat out and deliver great coverage for the indoor euro championships

eltuerto

Dangermouse...

Rte covering the Euro Indoors?? They will probably be covering some nothing GAA match in some hamlet in the middle of nowhere. Do people know that they will not televise events like the T & F Champs or Marathon unless they get paid for doing so?? That is nothing short of disgraceful.

I'll be watching the BBC coverage.

Metar

In the middle of reading "Chairman of the Boards" and just finished the chapter on the "Dopers". Was very disppointed with the chapter. No real insight into what was happening, just fairly mundane stuff that anybody reading the paper would have known. Slated Ben Johnson, yet glossed over Carl Lewis indiscretions, beause he was a "buddy". I felt he had a cheap shot at Flo Jo, (whether she was innocent or not) as she is no longer around to defend herself. Also very poor research getting her name wrong. She was Florence Griffith Joyner, not Florence Joyner Kersey. (He must have been getting her mixed up with Jackie Joyner Kersey, Flo-Jo's sister-in-law, i think).

Another observation on the book is it brought home how much they (professional athletes) had to be focussed on what they were earning. My take on it, is the glory was great but it all boiled down to how many $ were involved a lot of the time. Eamonn seems to have been very driven by money, and was no fool when it came to fighting his own corner when the $ were been handed out.

But have to say, I'm enjoying the book, and having plenty of late nights (too late) recently on account of reading it!

Rineanna

DangerMouse27 wrote: »

Great inspiration to train, having read both books.Considering our huge success at indoor athletics,i really hope rte push the boat out and deliver great coverage for the indoor euro championships

For the '07 indoors, they had live streaming on rte.ie. Not sure about this year, though.

eltuerto

Eamonn is a real legend and very nice guy. The author of the book is George Kimball and I felt he let Eamonn down somewhat. It seemed to me that the material was there but perhaps not very well put together by Kimball.

Looking at Sonia's book it was written by Tom Humphreys and it is a cracking read. Very well and imaginatively put together.

Still I will treasure Eamonn's book .......

Running Bing

eltuerto wrote: »

Eamonn is a real legend and very nice guy. The author of the book is George Kimball and I felt he let Eamonn down somewhat. It seemed to me that the material was there but perhaps not very well put together by Kimball.

Looking at Sonia's book it was written by Tom Humphreys and it is a cracking read. Very well and imaginatively put together.

Still I will treasure Eamonn's book .......

Agree with this. I think the fact that Coughlan was such an amazing athlete and person and its such a great story it cant help but make a great read but it is badly written. Its also absolutely littered with spelling and grammatical errors which usually I could'nt care less about but I found the sheer volume of them distracting. I also noticed, and was disappointed by, the Flo-Jo discrepancy....you'd think they'd make sure to get something like that right.


Having said that I loved hearing Eamonns story and I find him very inspiring.

Another observation on the book is it brought home how much they (professional athletes) had to be focussed on what they were earning. My take on it, is the glory was great but it all boiled down to how many $ were involved a lot of the time. Eamonn seems to have been very driven by money, and was no fool when it came to fighting his own corner when the $ were been handed out.

It takes a lot of world records to fill a dinner plate.

I think thats a bit harsh tbh...its was'nt like it is now with huge sponsorship deals and things like the golden league. You must remember for most of his career he was working as well as running!!! I think he's a very smart fella. He realised it was'nt going to last forever and he did everything he did to make sure his family was provided for. Absolutely nothing wrong with that and I think he should be commended for being a shrewd business dealer.


I think its clear as well the joy he got from winning and setting records and the importance he attached to it....but if he is the one out there doing the running and putting bums on seats why should'nt he have got his fair share?

Metar

Babybing,

Wasn't slagging him off for his attitude to earning, just was really an eye opener on how big a part the money played (probably naivity on my part). Also, surprised at how savvy he was in relation to knowing his worth and getting paid what he was worth. The incident with the sport mgmt company IMG was a prime example. Wasn't prepared to play ball with them for something he was already earning. He was no fool and a very strong character. I think when you compare this with todays sports stars, where it seems everything gets done through agents (including thinking for the star it seems), it was a different world back then.

Finished the book last night, and have to say overall enjoyed it and was a good read.

Koroibos

Metar wrote: »

Babybing,

I think when you compare this with todays sports stars, where it seems everything gets done through agents (including thinking for the star it seems), it was a different world back then.

No one had agents as there was offically no money in athletics just a few hundred pounds (even for world records) for travel. Good to hear he talked openly about it, other biographies from the same era maintain no money was envolved.