William Hill Sports Book Of The Year: 2020 Shortlist

The 2020 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Longlist was released back in September, and that fifteen book list has now been reduced to the Shortlist of five titles. Both football books in that Longlist didn’t progress, with the topic distribution for the finalists as follows: Cricket (2) Drugs in Sport, Mountaineering and Thai Boxing (all 1). A brief summary of the final five:

Born Fighter – Ruqsana Begum (Pub: Simon & Schuster UK) [Thai Boxing]

Born Fighter is an inspirational account of how Ruqsana Begum battled against the odds to achieve her dream and become a Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) world champion. Having to fight in secret as her family would not allow her to participate, Ruqsana’s story is an inspirational tale of empowerment and how to overcome opposition to achieve your goal.

The World Beneath Their Feet: The British, the Americans, the Nazis and the Mountaineering Race – Scott Ellsworth (Pub: John Murray) [Mountaineering]

In the 1930s, contingents from Great Britain, Germany and the United States set up rival camps at the base of the Himalayas, seeking to become recognised as the fastest, strongest, and bravest climbers in the world. Scott Ellsworth’s The World Beneath Their Feet brings to life this unforgettable saga of survival and breath taking human physical achievement set against the backdrop of a world headed towards war.

The Unforgiven: Missionaries or Mercenaries? The Untold Story of the Rebel West Indian Cricketers Who Toured Apartheid South Africa – Ashley Gray (Pub: Pitch Publishing Ltd) [Cricket]

In the 1980s, 20 West Indian cricketers were paid more than $100,000 each to take part in tours of South Africa. When they returned home to the Caribbean they were banned for life and shunned by their countrymen. This is their fascinating untold story from Ashley Gray.

The Breath of Sadness: On Love, Grief & Cricket – Ian Ridley (Pub: Floodlit Dreams Ltd) [Cricket]

When Ian Ridley’s wife died, in an attempt to make sense of it all and seek some solace, he embarks on a summer of watching county cricket. The Breath of Sadness is an unflinching account of how we carry on when we are left behind, and a poignant exploration of love and loss.

The Rodchenkov Affair: How I Brought Down Russia’s Secret Doping Empire – Grigory Rodchenkov (Pub: W H Allen) [Drugs in Sport]

In 2015, Russia’s Anti-Doping Centre was suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency following revelations of an elaborate programme at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. The programme was masterminded by Grigory Rodchenkov who, in the The Rodchenkov Affair, tells us the whole story.

The winner will be announced on 03 December 2020.

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William Hill Sports Book Of The Year: 2020 Longlist announced

Now in its 32nd year, the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award is the world’s longest established and most valuable literary sports-writing prize.

First awarded in 1989, the award is dedicated to rewarding excellence in sports writing, and this year the prize for winning will be £30,000, with shortlisted authors receiving £3,000 cash and a leather-bound copy of their book.

The Longlist was announced on September 29 with fifteen books in the running, following a record 152 entries this year. This will then be whittled down to a shortlist on October 27, with the winner being announced at an awards ceremony on December 03 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The winner will be decided by a judging panel chaired by Alyson Rudd. Following Duncan Hamilton’s historic triple crown in 2019, organisers will be naming a new winner this time around – with no previous victors featured on the longlist.

Football is represented by two books, The Farther Corner by Harry Pearson and Out of the Darkness: From Top to Rock Bottom: My Story in Football – Matt Piper and Joe Brewin.

The full fifteen books in the longlist are as follows:

Born Fighter – Ruqsana Begum

Born Fighter is an inspirational account of how Ruqsana Begum battled against the odds to achieve her dream and become a Muay Thai world champion. Having to fight in secret as her Bangladeshi family would not allow her to participate, Ruqsana’s story is an inspirational tale of empowerment and how to overcome opposition to achieve your goal.

A People’s History of Tennis – David Berry

Going beyond Centre Court, David Berry’s A People’s History of Tennis reveals the hidden history of the game, providing a rich account of the challenges faced and victories won over the years. Scratch beneath the surface and there’s a different story about tennis to be told, one of untold struggles on and off the courts.

This is eSports (and how to spell it) – Paul Chaloner

Paul Chaloner’s This is eSports (and how to spell it) marks a first in the history of the William Hill Sports Book Of The Year award: a longlisted book on eSports. Chaloner takes you inside the unstoppable rise of professional gaming to reveal the bitter rivalries, scandals and the never-before-told history of eSports.

Where There’s a Will – Emily Chappell

In 2015, Emily Chappell embarked on a gruelling new bike race: The Transcontinental. 4,000km across Europe, unassisted, in the shortest time possible. This is Emily’s remarkable story – a compelling tale of transformation from courier to cross-continental bike racer, pushing herself to the limits of her endurance.

The World Beneath Their Feet – Scott Ellsworth

In the 1930s, contingents from Great Britain, Germany and the United States set up rival camps at the base of the Himalayas, seeking to become recognised as the fastest, strongest, and bravest climbers in the world. Scott Ellsworth’s The World Beneath Their Feet brings to life this unforgettable saga of survival and breath-taking human physical achievement set against the backdrop of a world headed towards war.

The Unforgiven – Ashley Gray

In the 1980s, 20 West Indian cricketers were paid more than $100,000 each to take part in rebel tours of apartheid South Africa. When they returned home to the Caribbean they were banned for life and shunned by their countrymen. This is their fascinating untold story from Ashley Gray.

Niki Lauda – Maurice Hamilton

Maurice Hamilton first came across Formula One legend Niki Lauda in 1971 and in this definitive biography tells his remarkable story. Based on interviews with friends, family, rival drivers and colleagues, it’s the most comprehensive and detailed biography of Lauda ever published.

Surf, Sweat and Tears – Andy Martin

Surf, Sweat and Tears tells the story of the epic life and mysterious death of Edward George William Omar Deerhurst, the son of the Earl of Coventry and an American ballerina who dedicated his life to becoming a professional surfer. Andy Martin guides us through the world of global surfing while revealing a dark side beneath the sun, sand and sea.

Fringes – Ben Mercer

Ben Mercer is a former rugby player turned writer and Fringes is Ben’s story about how it feels and what it means to play the sport for a living, to dedicate yourself to an uncompromising game. Ben brings to life what it’s like to be a professional athlete in the lower reaches of professional sport – where your employment status is as precarious as your health and barely anyone will know your name.

The Farther Corner – Harry Pearson

A generation on from writing The Far Corner – which was a vivid portrait of football in the north-east of England and of the people who bring such passion to it – Harry Pearson has returned to the region to discover how much things have changed and how much they have remained the same.

Out of the Darkness: From Top to Rock Bottom: My Story in Football – Matt Piper & Joe Brewin

Former Leicester and Sunderland winger Matt Piper retired aged 24, after 16 knee operations, and his life soon spiralled out of control, becoming dependent on alcohol and Valium. In Out of the Darkness: From Top to Rock Bottom: My Story in Football, Piper collaborates with deputy editor of FourFourTwo, Joe Brewin, to tell his extraordinary life story – one that brought about light after hitting rock bottom.

The Breath of Sadness: On Love, Grief & Cricket – Ian Ridley

When Ian Ridley’s wife died of cancer at the age of 56, he found himself plunged deep into a sadness. In an attempt to make sense of it all and seek some solace, he embarks on a summer of watching county cricket. The Breath of Sadness is an unflinching account of how we carry on when we are left behind, and a poignant exploration of love and loss.

The Rodchenkov Affair – Grigory Rodchenkov

In 2015, Russia’s Anti-Doping Centre was suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency following revelations of an elaborate state-sponsored doping programme at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. The programme was masterminded by Grigory Rodchenkov who, in the The Rodchenkov Affair, tells us the whole story.

Mud, Maul, Mascara – Catherine Spencer

Catherine Spencer was the captain of the England women’s rugby team for three years – all while holding down a full-time job because the women’s team, unlike the men’s, did not get paid for their efforts. Mud, Maul, Mascara is Catherine’s story, showing the woman behind the international sporting success.

The Russian Affair – David Walsh

David Walsh’s The Russian Affair is the true story of the couple who uncovered one of the greatest sporting scandals: the unearthing of Russian athletics’ institutionalised doping. Walsh reveals the full truth of what went on in Russia, but also via a warm and human story of a couple fighting to tell the truth and to save their family at the same time.

1986/87 European Cup Winners’ Cup Final

Final programme cover

Wednesday 13 May 1987

Venue: Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece.

Attendance: 35,017

Ajax (1) 1 – 0 (0) 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig

[Ajax scorer: Van Basten 21’]

Ajax: Stanley Menzo, Sonny Silooy, Frank Verlaat Frank Rijkaard, Peter Boeve, Aron Winter, John van ‘t Schip, Jan Wouters, Marco van Basten (c), Arnold Muhren (Arnold Scholten 83’), Rob Witschge (Dennis Bergkamp 65’)                           

Unused Substitutes: Netherlands Erik de Haan (GK), Ronald Spelbos, Petri Tiainen

Manager: Johan Cruyff

I. FC Lokomotive Leipzig: René Müller, Ronald Kreer, Frank Baum (c), Matthias Lindner, Uwe Zötzsche, Uwe Bredow, Heiko Scholz, Matthias Liebers (Dieter Kühn 76′), Frank Edmond (Hans-Jörg Leitzke 55’), Hans Richter, Olaf Marschall

Unused Substitutes: Torsten Kracht, Wolfgang Altmann, Maik Kischko (GK).

Manager: Hans-Ulrich Thomale

Referee: Luigi Agnolin (Italy)

 

This was the 27th Final of the Cup Winners Cup and the third final (and last) to be played in Greece. The Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus hosted the 1970/71 contest and replay between Real Madrid and winners Chelsea, with the Kaftanzoglio Stadium in Thessaloniki the venue for the controversial game between AC Milan, who lifted the trophy, and Leeds United in 1972/73.

The game was settled by a single first-half goal from Marco Van Basten after twenty-one minutes. It came from a move which started in their own half, with Frank Rijkaard carrying the ball forward. It was then whipped down the line after some short inter-play, with a cross that Van Basten met just on the edge to the six yard box to head across the despairing dive of Müller in the Leipzig goal. Overall, the game was not considered to be a classic.

The programme from the last Final in 1999 summarised the game under the following headline:

Ajax revive their traditions

The final is remembered because Marco van Basten took centre stage for the first time by scoring the winning goal. It was his sixth of the campaign and fellow striker Johnny Bosman, who missed the final contributed eight. Along with Frank Rijkaard, Jan Wouters, Aron Winter, Arnold Muhren, Johnny van’t Schip and Rob Witschge, they formed a team which coached by Johann Cruyff who was making his debut on the bench, lived up to the finest AFC Ajax traditions. A certain Dennis Bergkamp came on as a sixty-fifth minute substitute in the Athens final.

Their opponents were 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig, a solid if unimaginative team from the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) with an excellent goalkeeper in René Müller. They made unspectacular but solid progress, beating Glentoran FC of Northern Ireland 3-1 and, in the Second Round, raised a few eyebrows by eliminating SK Rapid Wien after extra-time. The draw gave them FC Sion in the quarter-finals, and they beat the Swiss 2-0. A curious semi-final against Girondins de Bordeaux produced two 1-0 away wins and victory for Lokomotiv in a penalty shoot-out.

The final in Athens was disappointing. Marco van Basten’s twenty-first minute header led the 35,000 fans to believe that the match would burst into life. But the East Germans spent the rest of the match confirming that they were durable and obstinate opposition capable of barring Ajax’s path to their goal but lacking the technical resources required for a come-back.

Two players from Ajax that night will be familiar to fans in England in Arnold Muhren and Dennis Bergkamp with both at very different stages of their career path. Muhren in this final was very much the senior-pro of the side. He had started his career at Dutch side FC Volendam in 1970/71, before signing on for Ajax where he won domestic honours as well as a European Cup in 1972/73. He stayed at the Amsterdam club until 1974, before transferring to FC Twente. After four years at the club, he moved to England to sign for Ipswich Town and became part of the side that won the UEFA Cup in 1980/81 beating ironically the Dutch side AZ Alkmaar 5-4 on aggregate. In 1982 he moved on again, this time to Manchester United and enjoyed success in picking up a FA Cup winners medal in the 1982/83 replay as United beat Brighton 4-0 in the replay. At the beginning of the 1985/86 season Muhren returned to Ajax and was instrumental in the club winning the KNVB (Dutch) Cup that season and the next and retiring from the game in 1989. On the international front he was part of the Netherlands side that won the 1988 European Championship In West Germany.

Whilst Muhren was in the back-end of his career, Dennis Bergkamp was only just starting. The 1986/97 campaign saw him made his senior debut for the club, culminating in a substitutes appearance in the Cup Winners Cup Final in Athens. Bergkamp became a legend at the club picking up domestic and European honours along the way and at by the time he left in 1993 for Inter Milan he had scored 122 goals in 239 matches for his hometown club. He had two season in Italy, securing a UEFA Cup winners medal in 1993/94 in a 2-0 aggregate win over Austria Salzburg. Bergkamp then became a Gunner in 1995 signing for Bruce Rioch’s Arsenal in a then record £2.5 million deal. The Dutchman was to stay at the club until he retired at the end of the 2005/06 season. During his time in London he won three Premier League titles, and three FA Cup triumphs (including a league and cup ‘double’ in 2001/02). As at Ajax he became a legend at Highbury and when the club moved to the Emirates Stadium, the first match played there was a testimonial for the Dutchman on 22 July 2006 between Arsenal and Ajax. Bergkamp played 79 times for the Netherland scoring 39 goals in an international career that spanned 1990 through to 2000.

2018 William Hill Sports Book of the Year: Winners

The 2018 William Hill Sports Book of the Year winners

For the first time in the Awards history, the prize was awarded to two books, with boxing and swimming taking the honours. Indeed, Tom Gregory’s book A Boy in the Water, is the first swimming related title to capture the prize.

The Lost Soul of Eamonn Magee by Paul D. Gibson, is the fourth boxing book to take the crown following on from 1991 winner, Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times, Dark Trade: Lost in Boxing in 1996 and 2006 winner, Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson.

Brief details of the winners:

The Lost Soul of Eamonn Magee by Paul D. Gibson (Mercier Press)

Eamonn Magee is widely regarded as one of the most gifted fighters to ever emerge from Ireland. Yet, despite becoming a world champion in 2003, drink, drugs, gambling, depression and brushes with the law all took Eamonn away from his craft. Then there was the violence: a throat slashed, an IRA bullet in the calf, a savage, leg-shattering beating, and the brutal murder of his son. The Lost Soul of Eamonn Magee is an intimate telling of a barely believable life story, filled with heartache and laughter, violence and love, unthinkable lows and fleeting, glorious highs.

Paul D. Gibson is a former journalist whose work has appeared regularly in the Guardian, on the BBC and Boxing Monthly, amongst many others. His first book, an autobiography of the UFC fighter Dan Hardy, was released in March 2017. Now fully immersed in the professional boxing world, Gibson’s current projects include works on Carl Frampton and Michael Conlan. He lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

A Boy in the Water by Tom Gregory (Particular Books)

On 6 September 1988, aged 11, Tom Gregory became – and will forever remain – officially the youngest person to swim the English Channel, mentored and encouraged by an extraordinary local coach. Tom’s full story has never been told, until now. Written with rare charm, enriched by a vividly-remembered, child’s-eye view of the world, Tom’s story is an inspirational tale of love, courage and opportunity which leaves a lingering question in the mind about the constraints of modern childhood: is there something in this tale that we have lost?

Tom Gregory holds the record of being the youngest person to swim the English Channel. Following a career in the army and investment banking, he now works as a Director for accountancy firm Deloitte. A Boy in the Water is his first book. He lives in Godalming, Surrey, England.

Image credit: William Hill Sports Book of the Year

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2018 William Hill Sports Book of the Year: Shortlist

The 17 books nominated in the Longlist for the 2018 William Hill Sports Book of the Year has now been whittled down to the final 7 titles, and they are as follows:

  1. Fear and Loathing on the Oche: A Gonzo Journey Through the World of Championship Darts by King ADZ (Yellow Jersey)
  2. Tiger Woods by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian (Simon & Schuster)
  3. The Boy on the Shed by Paul Ferris (Hodder & Stoughton)
  4. The Lost Soul of Eamonn Magee by Paul D. Gibson (Mercier Press)
  5. A Boy in the Water by Tom Gregory (Particular Books)
  6. Berlin 1936: Sixteen Days in August by Oliver Hilmes (The Bodley Head)
  7. Sevens Heaven: The Beautiful Chaos of Fiji’s Olympic Dream by Ben Ryan (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

 

The only surviving book focusing on football is The Boy on the Shed by Paul Ferris.

About the author: Paul Ferris was a teenage prodigy, becoming Newcastle United’s youngest-ever player in 1982, only for injury to ensure his promise went unfulfilled. He later returned to the club as a physiotherapist before earning a Master’s degree and beginning a successful quest to qualify as a barrister. But the lure of football was always strong and he went back for a third spell at Newcastle, as Head of the Medical Department, again working closely with a host of big-name players and managers. Paul also became a novelist and now runs a successful health and fitness business.

The winner will be announced at an afternoon reception at BAFTA on Tuesday 27 November.

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2017 William Hill Sports Book of the Year: Winner

Tom Simpson: Bird on the Wire by Andy McGrath has won the 2017 WHSBOTY Award. It is the fourth book to scoop the prize following on from, Rough Ride: An Insight into Pro Cycling (1990), It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life (2000) and The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs (2012).

The book is published fifty years after Simpson’s death in the 1967 Tour de France, when it was discovered that there were drugs and alcohol in his system. A press release for the book explains:

Tom Simpson is British cycling’s greatest icon. Fifty years after he conquered the continental sporting scene, he still captivates people around the world. After his dramatic death on Mont Ventoux during the 1967 Tour de France, amphetamines and alcohol were found in his system, a fact which often dwarfs his pioneering achievements.

 From a humble upbringing in a Nottinghamshire mining town, Simpson became the first Briton to win the elite men’s World Championships and to wear the Tour de France’s yellow jersey. He also took victory at Milan Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders and the Tour of Lombardy, three of cycling’s most prestigious races. A charismatic and impulsive character, Simpson lived life fast, with a penchant for spectacular racing, sports cars and fanciful dreams.

 This man of contradictions was both people’s champion and pariah, gentleman and rogue. Guided by rare photography of Simpson, this book explores the Briton’s feats and complexities through untold stories from those closest to him.

 Main protagonists and interviews: Jan Janssen, Raymond Poulidor, Gianni Motta, Barry Hoban, Emile Daems, Brian Robinson, Vin Denson, Helen Hoban, Joanne Simpson, Henri Duez, Charly Wegelius, Dave Bonner, Billy Holmes, Keith Butler, Pete Ryalls and Professor Greg Whyte OBE.

 

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2017 William Hill Sports Book of the Year: Shortlist

Having reviewed the 16-strong Longlist, the panel has now announced the 7-strong Shortlist for 29th William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award, which are the following books:

  • Ali: A Life by Jonathan Eig (Simon & Schuster)
  • Breaking Ground: Art, Archaeology and Mythology edited by Neville Gabie, Alan Ward and Jason Wood (Axis Projects)
  • Centaur by Declan Murphy and Ami Rao (Doubleday, Transworld)
  • Quiet Genius: Bob Paisley, British Football’s Greatest Manager by Ian Herbert (Bloomsbury Sport, Bloomsbury)
  • Swell: A Waterbiography by Jenny Landreth (Bloomsbury Sport, Bloomsbury)
  • The Greatest Comeback: From Genocide to Football Glory by David Bolchover (Biteback Publishing)
  • Tom Simpson: Bird on the Wire by Andy McGrath (Rapha Editions)

 

Football dominates the list with three titles, with one each from the world of boxing, cycling, horse racing and swimming.

The winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2017 will be announced at an afternoon reception at BAFTA, in central London, on Tuesday 28 November 2017.

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2016 – William Hill Sports Book of the Year – Winner

The 2016 William Hill Sports Book of the Year has be won by William Finnegan, with his book, Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life. It is another major award after the book won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Biography/Autobiography earlier this year.

Read reviews about the book via the following links:

www.thepenguinpress.com/book/barbarian-days-a-surfing-life-2/

www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/14/barbarian-days-surfing-life-william-finnegan-review

www.pulitzer.org/winners/william-finnegan

www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/barbarian-days-a-surfing-life-by-william-finnegan-review-waves-of-emotion-in-a-compelling-surfing-10498919.html

 

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2016 William Hill Sports Book of the Year – Shortlist

The 2016 William Hill Sports Book of the Year has announced it Shortlist, which consists of seven titles:

  • Endurance: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Emil Zatopek by Rick Broadbent (Wisden)
  • Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan (Corsair)
  • Forever Young: The Story of Adrian Doherty, Football’s Lost Genius by Oliver Kay (Quercus)
  • Chasing Shadows: The Life & Death of Peter Roebuck by Tim Lane and Elliot Cartledge (Hardie Grant Books)
  • Mr Darley’s Arabian: High Life, Low Life, Sporting Life – A History of Racing in 25 Horsesby Christopher McGrath (John Murray)
  • Find a Way: One Untamed and Courageous Life by Diana Nyad (Macmillan)
  • Mister: The Men Who Taught the World How to Beat England at Their Own Game by Rory Smith (Simon & Schuster)

The winner will be announced at an afternoon reception at BAFTA, in central London, on Thursday 24 November 2016.

While six sports are covered in the seven-strong shortlist, the majority of titles dig deep into their subjects’ psyches to reveal the inner sportsman or sportswoman, showing how their strengths and weaknesses helped and hindered them in the pursuit of their dreams. This is demonstrated in two memoirs set mainly amongst the waves: Barbarian Days by journalist William Finnegan and Find a Way by swimmer Diana Nyad. The elegiac Barbarian Days, surfing’s first appearance in the Bookie Prize and already a Pulitzer Prize-winner, tells the story of a restless young man whose sport both anchors him and takes him around the world as he becomes an adult. Diana Nyad’s inspirational memoir is a testimony to the indomitability of the human spirit: a world class swimmer at a very young age, Nyad first attempted to swim the 100 miles between Havana, Cuba and the coast of Florida without a shark cage aged 28. She finally became the first person to complete the treacherous crossing over three decades later, aged 64.

Oliver Kay’s Forever Young investigates the short life of eccentric football prodigy Adrian Doherty, who was offered a five-year contract with Manchester United on his 17th birthday, yet died in mysterious circumstances having never realised his true potential. Controversial cricketer, writer and broadcaster Peter Roebuck, another figure who died before his time, has his unpredictable character and sudden death examined in Tim Lane and Elliott Cartledge’s Chasing Shadows.

Rick Broadbent receives his third shortlisting for the Prize for Endurance, which looks at the life of Olympic track legend Emil Zatopek. The greatest runner of his generation, Zátopek’s character was sorely tested as he fell from favour with his country’s Communist rulers, suffering countless indignities before coming in from the cold following Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution.

Rounding off this year’s shortlist: Rory Smith’s Mister, which looks at how English football managers helped the ‘beautiful game’ become the global sport it is today; and Christopher McGrath’s Mr Darley’s Arabian, which tells the story of horse racing by following the bloodline of twenty-five thoroughbreds, from a colt bought from Bedouin tribesmen over 300 years ago, to the modern champion, Frankel.

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2015 William Hill Sports Book of the Year – shortlist

The shortlist has been published for the contenders in the 2015 William Hill Sports Book of the Year. The winner will be announced on Thursday 26 November.

Speed Kings by Andy Bull

In the 1930s, as the world hurtled towards terrible global conflict, speed was all the rage. It was described by Aldous Huxley as ‘the one genuinely modern pleasure’, and one of the fastest and most thrilling ways to attain it was through the new sport of bobsledding. Exotic, exciting and above all dangerous, it was by far the most popular event at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics. It required an abundance of skill and bravery. And the four men who triumphed at those Games lived the most extraordinary lives.

Billy Fiske was an infamous daredevil, blessed with a natural talent for driving. He would later become the first American airman to die in the war – flying for the RAF. Clifford Gray was a notorious playboy and a player on both Broadway and Hollywood. Or was he? His identity was a mystery for decades. Jay O’Brien was a gambler and a rogue who, according to one ex-wife, forced women to marry him at gunpoint. And Eddie Eagan, a heavyweight boxer and brilliant lawyer, remains the only man to win gold at both the Summer and Winter Olympics.

This is their story, of loose living, risk-taking and hell-raising in an age of decadence, and of their race against the odds to become the fastest men on ice. We will never see their like again. Especially after the world did descend into that second, terrible global conflict.

Living on the Volcano: The Secrets of Surviving as a Football Manager by Michael Calvin

A man punches the wall in a strategic show of anger. Another complains he has become a stranger to those he loves. A third relies on “my three a day: coffee, Nurofen and a bottle of wine.” Yet another admits he is an oddity, who would prefer to be working in cricket. A fifth describes his professional life as “a circus”. These are football managers, live and uncut. Arsene Wenger likens the job to “living on a volcano: any day may be your last”. He speaks with the authority of being the longest serving manager in the English game, having been at Arsenal for 17 years. The average lifespan of a Football League manager is 17 months. Fifty three managers, across all four Divisions, were sacked, or resigned, in the 2012-13 season. There were fifty seven managerial changes in the 2013-14 season. What makes these men tick? They are familiar figures, who rarely offer anything more than a glimpse into their personal and professional lives. What shapes them? How and why do they do their job? Award-winning writer Michael Calvin provides the answers.

Insecurity is a unifying factor, but managers at different levels face different sets of problems. Depending on their status, they are dealing with multi-millionaires, or mortgage slaves. Living on the Volcano charts the progress of more than 20 managers, in different circumstances and in different phases of their career. Some, like Brendan Rodgers and Roberto Martinez, are at the peak of their profession. Others, like Chris Hughton, Brian McDermott and Gary Waddock, have been sacked, and are seeking a way back into the game. They offer a unique insight into a trade which is prone to superficial judgement and savage swings in fortune. Management requires ruthlessness and empathy, idealism and cunning. Stories overlap, experiences intermingle, and myths are exposed.

Fifty-Six: The Story of the Bradford Fire by Martin Fletcher

On May 11 1985, fifty-six people died in a devastating fire at Bradford City s old Valley Parade ground. It was truly horrific, a startling story and wholly avoidable but it had only the briefest of inquiries, and it seemed its lessons were not learned.

Twelve-year-old Martin Fletcher was at Valley Parade that day, celebrating Bradford s promotion to the second flight, with his dad, brother, uncle and grandfather. Martin was the only one of them to survive the fire the biggest loss suffered by a single family in any British football disaster.

In later years, Martin devoted himself to extensively investigating how the disaster was caused, its culture of institutional neglect and the government s general indifference towards football fans safety at the time. This book tells the gripping, extraordinary in-depth story of a boy s unthinkable loss following a spring afternoon at a football match, of how fifty-six people could die at a game, and of the truths he unearthed as an adult. This is the story thirty years on of the disaster football has never properly acknowledged.

gameThe Game of Our Lives: The Meaning and Making of English Football by David Goldblatt

In the last two decades football in Britain has made the transition from a peripheral dying sport to the very centre of our popular culture, from an economic basket-case to a booming entertainment industry. What does it mean when football becomes so central to our private and political lives? Has it enriched us or impoverished us?

In this book David Goldblatt argues that no social phenomenon tracks the momentous economic, social and political changes of the post-Thatcherite era in a more illuminating manner than football, and no cultural practice sheds more light on the aspirations and attitudes of our long boom and subsequent bust.

Fire in Babylon: How a West Indies Cricket Team Brought a People to its Feet by Simon Listerfire

Cricket had never been played like this. Cricket had never meant so much.

The West Indies had always had brilliant cricketers; it hadn’t always had brilliant cricket teams. But in 1974, a man called Clive Lloyd began to lead a side which would at last throw off the shackles that had hindered the region for centuries. Nowhere else had a game been so closely connected to a people’s past and their future hopes; nowhere else did cricket liberate a people like it did in the Caribbean.

For almost two decades, Clive Lloyd and then Vivian Richards led the batsmen and bowlers who changed the way cricket was played and changed the way a whole nation – which existed only on a cricket pitch – saw itself.

With their pace like fire and their scorching batting, these sons of cane-cutters and fishermen brought pride to a people which had been stifled by 300 years of slavery, empire and colonialism. Their cricket roused the Caribbean and antagonised the game’s traditionalists.

Told by the men who made it happen and the people who watched it unfold, Fire in Babylon is the definitive story of the greatest team that sport has known.

A Man’s World: The Double Life of Emile Griffith by Donald McRae

‘I kill a man and most people forgive me. However, I love a man and many say this makes me an evil person.’

On 24 March 1962, when Emile Griffith stepped into the ring in Madison Square Garden to defend his world title against Benny Paret, he was filled with rage. During their weigh-in, the Cuban challenger had denounced Griffith as a ‘faggot’ and minced towards him. In the macho world of boxing, where fighters know they are engaged in the hurt game, there could be no greater insult. At that time, it was illegal for people of the same gender to have sex, or even for a bar to knowingly serve a drink to a gay person. It was an insinuation that could have had dangerous consequences for Griffith – especially as it was true.

In the fight that followed, Griffith pounded Paret into unconsciousness, and the Cuban would die soon after, leaving Griffith haunted by what he had done. Despite this, he went on to fight more world championship rounds than any other fighter in history in a career that lasted for almost 20 years.

In Donald McRae’s first sports book in more than a decade, he weaves a compelling tale of triumph over prejudice – Griffith was black, so doubly damned by contemporary society, but refused to cower away as society wished. A Man’s World is sure to become a classic among sports books.

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