In October 1999, 40,000 people flooded downtown Sydney to protest against South Sydney Rabbitohs being thrown out of the premiere Rugby League Competition.
Undeterred, Souths took to the courts, first losing an injunction and then their case, which lasted forty days and forty nights. In November 2000, 80,000 people took over central Sydney to vent their anger at the failure to reinstate Souths. It was the biggest sporting rally in Australia’s history.
Then in July 2001, the Federal Court voted two to one to support Souths appeal and the NRL invited the Rabbitohs to rejoin the competition. An impoverished inner-Sydney working class football club had taken on the biggest corporation in the world and won.
In the spirit of Aftershocks and The Laramie Project, Alana Valentine has collected the furious, passionate and deeply moving stories of past players, supporters, club staff and lawyers, and woven them into a remarkable human drama of courage, honour, loyalty and friendship.
Whether you are a rugby fan or not Run Rabbit Run will make you laugh, and perhaps unexpectedly cry, as this group of quintessential Australians honour the great Aussie tradition of the underdog and express their passions in their own words.