[1][2] Tracklist:[3] In a stark contrast to the band's debut Love, And Other Catastrophes, This Sporting Life was recorded without a budget at their home studio in Sheffield.

Whilst not receiving the same level of national coverage as the first album during the first month of release, This Sporting Life has managed to slowly gather a strong spectrum of positive reviews on smaller websites and blogs.

[11] The video for the second single from the album - a free download of opening track 'Hogmanay Heroes'[12] - was premièred exclusively on the Artrocker website[13] ahead of its release in September 2011.

Abbott has cited James Joyce's Dubliners and Alan Sillitoe's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning as the main influence and inspiration for these stories, and many of the lyrics were inspired by the kitchen sink dramas that fuelled the British New Wave of cinema in the late 1950s and early 1960s, such as the film adaptation of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning as well as other classics such as A Taste of Honey, Room at the Top and A Kind of Loving.

[14] A booklet called The Franco Files was made available on the band's merchandise site and also at gigs, featuring six short stories - five of which were written alongside the album in late 2010.