Description:
The Kirkwall Ba' ~ between the Water and the Wall is a much revised and expanded edition of John Robertson's classic book Uppies and Doonies, now long out of print. It is an exhaustive enquiry into the origin and history of this most traditional of all football games conducted with meticulous scholarship and detective ingenuity. Colourful tales, reminiscences and the folklore of the game have been woven into the text to ensure that entertainment goes hand in hand with information.

The book is also a study of mass football in the British Isles from the earliest of times. The author traces the beginnings of football to ancient fertility rites and follows the story of football's development stage by stage through street and village green games to modern soccer and rugby. The text is replete with illustrations, throughout the text, many of them reproductions of rare or unique photographs of the Ba' in the past.

The Kirkwall Ba' will have a wide audience amongst those who have never seen the game but who are interested in the origins of the modern sports that entertain the world. For readers in Orkney it encapsulates a strong part of the Orcadian's distinctive heritage.

Born in Golspie, Sutherland John Robertson returned with his parents to their native Orkney in 1943. Educated at Kirkwall Grammar School and a law graduate of Edinburgh University he has played in the Ba' himself and was adjudged the winner of the men's Ba' of New Year's Day 1966. His book, An Orkney Anthology has been widely and well received.