This is the list of top 10 sports books according to TheGuardian. These books are also winners of William Hill Awards.
So, here's the list:
1. Fever Pitch: A Fan's Life by Nick Hornby
A blindingly obvious choice perhaps, but it was a hugely significant, ground-breaking book, and it's also sublimely written, telling more about what sport means to fans than almost any other. We now see it as an established classic, but at the time it was a brave piece of publishing. I remember the publishers consulting me about it – they were not at all convinced there was really a market for an "intelligent" football book. I assured them there was, and once I'd read the manuscript, and been utterly bowled over, urged them to get it out as soon as they could.
2. A Rough Ride: An Insight into Pro Cycling by Paul Kimmage
This was a revelation. For the first time a young ex-cyclist spilt the beans about what went on behind the scenes in the world of professional cycling, detailing the dilemma he faced – to dope or not to dope. There have of course been many books since about performance-enhancing drug use in cycling, but this one still stands out for its urgency and raw honesty.
3. Dark Trade: Lost in Boxing by Don McRae
For five years McRae lost himself in the bleak and shadowy world of boxing, spending time with a host of fighters, trainers and managers. His book is a vivid and illuminating account of this personal journey, ultimately a quest to understand why men might choose this brutal path. What I most admired about it was not only his steadfast determination to get to the bottom of it, and record what he discovered, but also the qualities he himself brought to the task: his wit, compassion, lucidity and eloquence.
4. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis
I couldn't convince my colleagues on the panel of the merits of this one. "It's about baseball!" they exclaimed. Indeed it is, and you do need to know the game pretty well to really appreciate it. But I do know (and love) baseball, and I found it absolutely fascinating. It tells the story of how the Oakland Athletics, the paupers of the major leagues, adopted a new strategy on player recruitment based on a new way of analysing baseball statistics, which led them to pick up players none of the other franchises, using traditional evaluation methods, rated or wanted. The glory is that it worked; the Oakland As became a powerhouse, at least until all the other teams began to copy what they'd done. I loved the audacity of it all, and the wonderful intricacy of this account of it.
5. Provided You Don't Kiss Me: 20 Years with Brian Clough by Duncan Hamilton
This is not just a strikingly intimate and vivid portrait of an unforgettable character but also, between the lines, the story of a young man learning to be a sports journalist. From his first day on the job as a green 16-year-old, politely declining Clough's offer of a morning whisky, Hamilton recounts their interplay with vigour and panache. I simply loved
6. Endless Winter: The Inside Story of the Rugby Revolution by Stephen Jones
Rugby has always had a special place in my heart. In the early 90s, rugby was changing, rapidly and dramatically. In the course of reporting what happened in international rugby between August 1992 and July 1993, Jones offered a wise and perceptive analysis of the hows and the whys, a clear-eyed and sure-footed appraisal of what the rush towards professionalism might mean for the game. While he didn't hide his anxieties about what might be lost, it was clear his love of rugby wouldn't waver. It's rare indeed to find a rugby book written with such crisp intelligence and such a delicate touch.
7. Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream by HG Bissinger
They do love their football in Texas; this offers an engrossing portrait of high school football in smalltown west Texas. The hard-luck town of Odessa follows its Permian High School Panthers with a passionate and single-minded devotion; Bissinger's chronicle of their 1988 season reveals how the enormous emotional investment in the team shapes the community and inspires, or shatters, the teenagers who play for them. It's a sensitive account, both frank and compassionate, yet the picture it paints is ultimately almost horrifying; one of fandom gone wrong.
8. Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times by Thomas Hauser
How do you write a biography of the most recognised man on the planet? Hauser's answer was to weave together the testimonies of the more than 200 people he'd interviewed in depth, whose lives had been touched by Ali and who knew him best – family, associates, opponents, friends, enemies, and others, plus of course Ali himself. The result retains all their individual voices, and offers a vivid and authentic picture of Ali's life and significance, in a way that is at once comprehensive and magisterial.
9. My Father and Other Working-Class Football Heroes by Gary Imlach
Fathers, sons and football – it's been done before, but rarely as well as this. After his father died, Imlach realised to his dismay that while he'd seen the mementos – the shirts, medals, programmes, photos – he'd never talked to his father about his memories, about what it was like to play in the days of the maximum wage. His book is a record of his quest to find out, retracing the steps his father had taken, and offers a thoughtful and heartfelt blend of the personal and the historical. I found it captivating.
10. Road Swing by Steve Rushin
I finish with a very personal choice, included because I like the author so much. Steve had written a wonderful piece in Sports Illustrated about my bookshop, Sportspages, and after that we all got to know him. Whenever he was in London we'd all go out for a few beers and lots of talk, and I was always charmed by his acerbic wit and penetrating verbal thrusts. His book is very much him – a quirky, very wry account of his journey, as a fan, in search of the soul, the essence, of sport; what could be better than that?
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