Academic writing, not always unfairly, gets a bad rap. but the best combines the true enthusiast’s passion, a forensic eye for evidence, and the ability to tell a compelling story. Those qualities are summed up in The Oval World: A Global History of Rugby by Tony Collins (Bloomsbury). Collins recounts the global reach of the sport’s history, including codes (union and league) and North American variants, using original sources to decipher myths and rumours, and revealing a flair for telling anecdotes and details. The Authorized Account of Her Meets David Goldblatt’s History of Football, The Ball is Round. Similar qualities are on display in Goldblatt’s The Game of Our Lives: The Meaning and Making of English Football (Penguin), whose recent win at the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award reflected a shift in the judges’ emphasis from the personal to the analytical.
that the rebalancing worked against books that might have won earlier. Martin Fletcher’s 56: The Bradford Bloomsbury Fire Story is the compelling memoir of a 12-year-old boy who lost his brother, father, grandfather and uncle in the 1985 football fire. but he is made notable for his adult quest to establish his causes, and should, if justice be done, bring the royal prize of reopening the investigation.
You are reading: Best sport books 2015
A Man’s World (simon & schuster) from the guardian writer and two-time william hill award winner, donald mcrae, offers a sympathetic and superbly researched account of the life of emile griffith, who he fought more world championship rounds than any other boxer, even though he really just wanted to be a milliner. Griffith lived a parallel life as an “out” homosexual. In his most famous fight, in 1962, his opponent Benny Paret made homophobic comments to him before the fight, which Griffith won by knockout. father died 10 days later from his injury.
If there’s a recurring theme in this year’s books, it’s the sometimes abnormal circumstances and psychology that make them winners. speed kings(bantam) – another book by watchdog sportswriter andy bull – takes eddie eagan, the only winner of gold medals at the winter and summer olympics in different events, as his main focus, but he finds so much interest among his noisy colleagues on the 1932 bobsleigh team that eagan soon becomes a subordinate character.
my fight/your fight(century) by mixed martial arts champion ronda rousey, co-written with her sister, maria burns ortiz, is such a vivid account of a fiercely driven competitive temperament that it worries the reader on the psychological effect of losing his undefeated ufc champion title last month in what was arguably, prior to tyson fury’s win against wladimir klitschko, the biggest sports shock of 2015.
if history is rarely written by or about losers, mark turley’s journaleros (pitch) triumphs by breaking the mold, explaining not just the boxing practices that catch the ” professional opponents” as career losers, but also the compulsion that keeps them coming back into the ring.
addiction also figures as a constant undercurrent in michael calvin’s life on the volcano (century), in which in-depth interviews with soccer coaches build a true picture of what it’s like to work in a world where “common sense is not very common” and “there is a lot of undiagnosed depression”, but in which most of those who are laid off only dream of coming back.
Winners emerge from context and culture. bernard hinault and the fall and rise of french cycling by william fotheringham (yellow jersey) shows that a grassroots Breton cycling culture, now in decline, was just as important as a desperate will to win for france were champions of the last tour de france. . robert dineen’s kings of the road (aurum) captivatingly juxtaposes the writer’s own battles as a cyclist with those of british champions like tom simpson, beryl burton and nicole cooke, whose most dangerous opponent is often it was bureaucracy.
in athletics, the bolt supremacy: inside jamaica’s sprint factory (yellow jersey) by richard moore raises the necessary and difficult questions about drugs, but finds more answers in a vibrant national athletic culture; while simon lister’s fire in babylon (yellow shirt) evokes times when west indian cricketers were equally dominant.
German football not only has the world cup, but also excellent writers. das reboot (yellow jersey) by raphael honigstein is a good account of how germany regained hegemony, while matchdays by ronald reng (simon & schuster), elegantly translated by Novelist James Hawes tells the story of the Bundesliga through the life of his own worst enemy, player-turned-manager Heinz Höher.
another football era emerges from andrew clark and matthew watson-broughton’s translation of puskás: madrid, magyars and the amazing adventures of the world’s greatest scorer (freight) by györgy szöllősi, a brief and evocative biography of the Hungarian genius. And a modern story is passionately told in euan mctear’s chronicle of a small basque club’s rise to spain’s top tier in eibar el brave (pitch). Closer to home, but just as poignant, is Sky Sports reporter Bryn Law’s Zombie Nations Wakes (St David’s), the story of how Wales qualified for Euro 2016.
See Also: Dav Pilkey – Book Series In Order
one hundred years after his death, cricketer wg grace remains a formidable challenge for biographers, and richard tomlinson’s extensively researched incredible grace (small, brown) brings us so close the man as the cricketer before, demolishing myths with considerable flair.
one idea is that wg was more bookish than the simple soul of legend. He might have enjoyed The Art of the Centuries (Bantam) by Steve James, which combines anecdotes and insights from personal experience into one excellent book on the art of hitting.
wg would certainly have deplored the deaths detailed in stephen cooper’s revealing history of world war one rugby, after the final whistle (story) and while he was delighted to see his game become extended to new territories, I would have been as taken aback as tim wigmore and peter miller, authors of second xi: cricket in its outposts (pitch), by the indifference, at best, of the rulers of the game in the face of such growth.
Two ex-rugby players offered some decent fiction based on the game. john daniell’s the fixer (upright, nz) has an eerily plausible setting based on french, while eddie butler applies a mockingly satirical eye and witty plot to welsh in gonzo davies: trapped in possession (gomer). meanwhile, novelist philip kerr, author of the superb berlin noir series, brings sharp plot and characterization to football in his scott manson thrillers, january window,hand of god and false nine (head of Zeus).
huw richards writes on rugby and cricket for the new york times international and teaches sports journalism at london college of communication and brighton university.
save at least 30%. explore all the critics options at bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. between now and christmas, 20p from each title you order will go to the guardian and observer charity appeal 2015.
See Also: 10 Thrilling Spy Book Series for Espionage Lovers | Audible UK Blog
best books of 2015
- fiction of the year
- crime and thrillers of the year
- science fiction and fantasy of the year
- biographies and memoirs of the year
- Sports Books of the Year
- Children’s Books of the Year
- Nature Books of the Year
- Politics Books of the Year
- Books history books of the year
- pocket books of the year
- music books of the year
- food books of the year
- drink books of the year
- stocking-filling books of the year
- best art books of the year
- best architecture books of the year
- best graphic novels of the year
- best photography books of the year
- vote now: what was your favorite book of the year?