SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
‘Night Games: Sex, Power and a Journey into the Dark Heart of Sport’ by Australian investigative journalist Anna Kriens has won the £26,000 William Hill Sports Book of the Year award.
The panel of judges described Kriens book as an intelligent and open-minded examination of sports impact on society, culture and politics.
Night Games investigates the rape trial brought against, AFL Colingwood Australian Football Club. The book delves into Australian social and sexual issues and reflects how sports can reflect societal and political harms upon a society.
The Author beat a memoir by the former Welsh Rugby Union Captain Gareth Thomas ‘Proud’ and a biography of former England Football Captain Bobby Moore by football journalist Matt Dickinson. Kriens is the second female author to win the award, following Laura Hillenbrand’s 2001 winner Seabiscuit: The True Story of Three men and a Racehorse”.
William Hill’s spokesman Graham Sharpe commented on the winner: “Despite the challenging nature of its subject matter, Anna Krien’s book is balanced yet fearless, and as compelling and involving as any previous winner.
“Quite possibly only a woman could have written it in as personal and perceptive a manner. Anna is the second woman to have won the award and she had to beat one of the strongest, most varied line-ups in our 26-year history”.
List of previous Winners of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award.
- 2013 Doped: The Real Life Story of the 1960s Racehorse Doping Gang by Jamie Reid
- 2012 The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France by Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle
- 2011 – A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke by Ronald Reng
- 2010 Beware of the Dog: Rugby’s Hardman Reveals All by Brian Moore
- 2009 Harold Larwood: The Authorized Biography of the World’s Fastest Bowler by Duncan Hamilton
- 2008 Coming Back to Me: The Autobiography by Marcus Trescothick
- 2007 Provided You Don’t Kiss Me: 20 Years With Brian Clough by Duncan Hamilton
- 2006 Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson by Geoffrey Ward
- 2005 My Father and Other Working-Class Football Heroes by Gary Imlach
- 2004 Basil D’Oliveira: Cricket and Controversy by Peter Oborne
- 2003 Broken Dreams: Vanity, Greed and the Souring of British Football by Tom Bower
- 2002 In Black and White: The Untold Story of Joe Louis and Jesse Owens by Donald McRae
- 2001 Seabiscuit: The True Story of Three Men and a Racehorse by Laura Hillenbrand
- 2000 It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life by Lance Armstrong
- 1999 A Social History of English Cricket by Derek Birley
- 1998 Angry White Pyjamas: An Oxford Poet Trains with the Tokyo Riot Police by Robert Twigger
- 1997 A Lot of Hard Yakka: Triumph and Torment – A County Cricketer’s Life by Simon Hughes
- 1996 Dark Trade: Lost in Boxing by Donald McRae
- 1995 A Good Walk Spoiled: Days and Nights on the PGA Tour by John Feinstein
- 1994 Football Against the Enemy by Simon Kuper
- 1993 Endless Winter: The Inside Story of the Rugby Revolution by Stephen Jones
- 1992 Fever Pitch; A Fan’s Life by Nick Hornby
- 1991 Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times by Thomas Hauser
- 1990 Rough Ride: An Insight Into Pro Cycling by Paul Kimmage
- 1989 True Blue: The Oxford Boat Race Mutiny by Daniel Topolski and Patrick Robinson
