John Gaustad, who died in June, argued that “the best sports books are about life itself as much as they are about sports.” the scope, depth and ambition of the books published in 2016 prove his point. The judges at Gaustad’s creation, William Hill’s sportsbook of the year, made him proud with a winner so far left: William Finnegan’s exquisitely observed surfing memoir Barbarian Days (Corsair). – that even its author questioned its eligibility. but more conventional works also show sport illuminating life.
the angels with dirty faces (orion) by jonathan wilson offers an insightful and wide-ranging history of argentina seen through the prism of soccer. Messi, Maradona, Boca Juniors and the 1978 World Cup have their expected places, but also Juan and Evita Perón, the Malvinas and refrigerated meat to explain a nation so unique that the economist Simon Kuznets divided countries into “developed, underdeveloped, Japan, and Argentina”. Similarly, The People’s Game (Cambridge), by academic Alan McDougall, uses football to examine life and explore the limits of authoritarian state power in the little-lamented German Democratic Republic.
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Australian writer Gideon Haigh’s stroke of genius (Simon & Schuster) brings a virtuoso’s breadth of reference and insight to a famous photograph of cricketer Victor Trumper. His book explores wide-ranging topics, ranging from the aesthetics and business of commercial photography to the lives of Trumper and photographer George Beldam, Australian cricket, and his wider history.
in june, the united kingdom voted to leave the european union and england, with less will, left the european soccer championships. good books help explain both. rory smith’s mister (simon & schuster) presents a new long-term perspective on footballing insularity, showing how British managers helped bring the game to the world, but found themselves and their your ideas forgotten or ignored at home. Anthony Clavane’s compelling A Yorkshire Tragedy (Riverrun) highlights both the decline of the county’s sports teams and their many “drop out” votes by detailing the destruction of once-thriving industrial communities. .
yorkshire at least still makes good history. john dewhirst’s life at the top and space at the top (bantamspast) are well-researched accounts of earlier and happier sporting times in bradford, while memories of leeds rugby league appears in bev risman’s widely read memoir of a life through two codes on both sides of the fence (scratch shed). Elsewhere, spurs fans were equally well catered for by martin cloake and alan fisher’s a people’s history of tottenham hotspur (pitch), a splendid chronicle of the club’s fans and an evocation of the best spurs years at cliff jones’s it’s a wonderful life (visual sports).
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It wasn’t quite a year of British football failure. wales’s joyously unexpected advance to the european championship semi-finals will be understandable to anyone who reads stronger together (st david) by chris wathan, while the 50th anniversary of england’s victory in the world cup inspired peter chapman out of time (widen). his memories of a post-war childhood in islington, as a goalkeeper for leyton orient juniors and turning 18 in 1966, with numerous rites of passage, are vivid, sharp and affectionate while avoiding the trap of sentimentality.
more British historical figures in mr darley’s arabian by christopher mcgrath (john murray), a picaresque chronicle of horse racing whose witty storytelling across bloodlines gives both the pleasure of a chapter titled “a groom with a view” and offers the alarming fact that all British thoroughbreds can be traced back to aleppo.
if some books explain the world, others hope, and deserve, to change it. eat sweat play (macmillan) by watchdog writer anna kessel indicts the social and cultural forces that deny women access to sport. it’s personal, passionate and controversial, drawing on her own story and the experiences of others, from sports enthusiasts to Olympic medalists, to reveal the real spoilers. they are not, as the taunts would have us believe, the women’s rights activists, but the body-shamers who deny women the direct fun associated with sport. Meanwhile, Carrie Dunn’s Lionesses Roar (pitch) offers valuable insight into women’s football.
The biographies shelves contain three fabulous lives of long-distance runner extraordinaire emil zátopek. All do justice to both his athletic achievements and his contested role in Czech national life, particularly after the 1968 Soviet invasion. shortlisted by william hill, with its compelling subplot about zátopek’s maverick coach jan haluza, and richard askwith’s today we die a little (yellow jersey), while the quicksilver > shorter, quirkier and more personal by pat butcher (globerunner) is based on the author’s experience as an athlete and track journalist and includes some sharp political insights.
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Frank Keating, the much-missed Guardian sports writer, might have seen three of William Hill’s shortlist as new ammunition for a complaint about his taste for “misery memoirs.” And there’s little to cheer about in Chasing Shadows (Hardie Grant), the life of cricketer and writer Peter Roebuck, by Tim Lane and Elliot Cartledge, who died in controversial circumstances in 2011. But it’s an investigation brilliance of a gifted and deeply troubled man.
both oliver kay’s forever young (quercus) and diana nyad’s marathon swim memoir find a way (macmillan) carry stigmas of “misery,” but they also lift your spirits. Kay’s story of Adrian Docherty, a Manchester United shooting star cut down by injury and untimely death, is as much a celebration of a captivating and original personality as it is a lament over the loss of her. Meanwhile, Nyad, abused by her father and her school’s swim coach, recounts her amazing achievement at age 60.
Readers who still need to cheer up can turn to The Illustrated History of Football(Century) by cartoonist David Squires, which should leave them happier and better informed, a difficult combination to pull off in 2016.
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lists of the best books of 2016
- best fiction
- best crime and thrillers
- best science fiction and fantasy
- best biography and autobiography