Pissants
3499
Pissants
3499
Nothing like this has ever happened at a footy club. Honest.
The embittered fringe players of an unnamed football club follow rules of their own. Kidnapping a teammate’s dog for a gag. Taking potent painkiller suppositories to get through the living nightmare of a sponsors’ event. Ticking off their Pissants bingo cards to survive the weirdness of meetings with the club psych. Fangs, Stick, Squidman and Shaggers speak in a cryptic code of inside jokes and WhatsApp exchanges, chained to each other by their place on the outskirts of the team.
Together, these characters present a jaw-dropping snapshot of life within the chaotic world of a professional sports club. The psychotic rituals. The dementing cliches. The adulation. The pressure. The broken staff. The despair. The towering egos. The flatlining sexual encounters. The life-saving friendships.
Trainspotting gets munted with A Visit from the Goon Squad in Ted Lasso’s Front Bar in this brutally hilarious, unhinged and at times surprisingly moving insider’s glimpse into one anonymous footy club – and what might happen behind the headlines, off the field and out of sight.
'Brandon Jack has talent and daring in abundance'  -- Christos Tsiolkas
‘I’ll probably never look at Aussie Rules in quite the same way. While redefining the Australian literary boundaries of bacchanalia, in Pissants Brandon Jack – startlingly, shockingly and often hilariously – turns the footy sausage inside-out to expose the blood, guts, desperation and human frailty at its core. It ain’t pretty. But it sure is a powerfully evocative, elegant, and very daring novel.’ -- Paul Daley, Guardian writer and author of Jesustown
'Brandon Jack is a force for good'  -- Michelle Andrews and Zara McDonald, hosts of the Shameless podcast
 'Like Andre Agassi's Open, this is a transformative book; it is going to change our way of seeing'  -- Malcolm Knox
‘A yearning heart and mind propels Brandon’s writing. I’m hugely expectant for what is next.’  -- Tim Rogers
‘I’ll probably never look at Aussie Rules in quite the same way. While redefining the Australian literary boundaries of bacchanalia, in Pissants Brandon Jack – startlingly, shockingly and often hilariously – turns the footy sausage inside-out to expose the blood, guts, desperation and human frailty at its core. It ain’t pretty. But it sure is a powerfully evocative, elegant, and very daring novel.’ -- Paul Daley, Guardian writer and author of Jesustown
The embittered fringe players of an unnamed football club follow rules of their own. Kidnapping a teammate’s dog for a gag. Taking potent painkiller suppositories to get through the living nightmare of a sponsors’ event. Ticking off their Pissants bingo cards to survive the weirdness of meetings with the club psych. Fangs, Stick, Squidman and Shaggers speak in a cryptic code of inside jokes and WhatsApp exchanges, chained to each other by their place on the outskirts of the team.
Together, these characters present a jaw-dropping snapshot of life within the chaotic world of a professional sports club. The psychotic rituals. The dementing cliches. The adulation. The pressure. The broken staff. The despair. The towering egos. The flatlining sexual encounters. The life-saving friendships.
Trainspotting gets munted with A Visit from the Goon Squad in Ted Lasso’s Front Bar in this brutally hilarious, unhinged and at times surprisingly moving insider’s glimpse into one anonymous footy club – and what might happen behind the headlines, off the field and out of sight.
Details
ISBN13: 9781761633072
Format: Paperback / softback
Number of Pages: 336
Edition:
Publication Date: 02 Jul 2025
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia
Publication City, Country: Australia
Dimensions (cm): 23.4(H)x15.3(L)
Weight (gm):
Author Biography
Brandon Jack played for the Sydney Swans for five years. He is the author of the acclaimed 28: A memoir of football, addiction, art, masculinity and love.Reviews
‘The footballer’s language knocked me around with its fantastical crudity and wildness; yet under its foul-mouthed, laughing bravado lie deep wounds, a humble and endearing loneliness that moved me.’ -- Helen Garner, author of The Season'Brandon Jack has talent and daring in abundance'  -- Christos Tsiolkas
‘I’ll probably never look at Aussie Rules in quite the same way. While redefining the Australian literary boundaries of bacchanalia, in Pissants Brandon Jack – startlingly, shockingly and often hilariously – turns the footy sausage inside-out to expose the blood, guts, desperation and human frailty at its core. It ain’t pretty. But it sure is a powerfully evocative, elegant, and very daring novel.’ -- Paul Daley, Guardian writer and author of Jesustown
'Brandon Jack is a force for good'  -- Michelle Andrews and Zara McDonald, hosts of the Shameless podcast
 'Like Andre Agassi's Open, this is a transformative book; it is going to change our way of seeing'  -- Malcolm Knox
‘A yearning heart and mind propels Brandon’s writing. I’m hugely expectant for what is next.’  -- Tim Rogers
‘I’ll probably never look at Aussie Rules in quite the same way. While redefining the Australian literary boundaries of bacchanalia, in Pissants Brandon Jack – startlingly, shockingly and often hilariously – turns the footy sausage inside-out to expose the blood, guts, desperation and human frailty at its core. It ain’t pretty. But it sure is a powerfully evocative, elegant, and very daring novel.’ -- Paul Daley, Guardian writer and author of Jesustown