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William Hill has announced the seven books which have made its ‘Sports Book of the Year’ 2017 award shortlist, the most prestigious prize in English sports literature.
The bookmaker’s diverse ‘final seven’ encompasses swimming, football, cycling, boxing and horse racing and are united by the rich and complex history running through their titles and storylines.
The SBOTY 2017 shortlist features three football accounts, with David Bolchover’s ‘The Greatest Comeback: From Genocide to Football Glory’ portraying the remarkable story of Holocaust Survivor Béla Guttmann who would revolutionise football, becoming the game’s first ‘superstar coach’.
Coaching grandeur is further acknowledged by Ian Herbert’s ‘Quiet Genius: Bob Paisley, British Football’s Greatest Manager’ which depicts how Paisley converted Liverpool FC into a European football powerhouse.
SBOTY 2017 will feature its first ever crowd-funded book in ‘Breaking Ground: Art, Archaeology and Mythology’. Composed by the literary trio Neville Gabie, Alan Ward and Jason Wood, ‘Breaking Ground’ is a collection of essays which seeks to uncover the mystery the ‘lost’ place of Bradford Park Avenue football club.
Two female authors make William Hill’s final seven, with Swimming historian Jenny Landreth’s ‘Swell: A Waterbiography’, which pays homage to the 1900’s ‘Swimming Suffragettes’ who fought for women to have equal rights through access to sport.
Ami Rao’s heartfelt biography of Irish jockey Declan Murphy ‘Centaur’, recounts the journey of the jockey’s miracle recovery from riding injuries so bad that he was presumed dead.
The character and psyche of champions is a core theme throughout SBOTY 2017 shortlist. ‘Ali: A Life’ by Jonathan Eig uncovers the personal traits, peculiarities and flaws of heavyweight boxing behemoth Muhammad Ali through 500 interviews conducted with close associates of the legendary boxer.
Completing the SBOTY shortlist is Andy McGrath’s ‘Tom Simpson: Bird on the Wire’ which depicts the raw and tragic story of cyclist Tom Simpsons during the 1960s in which he became the first Briton to win the elite men’s World Championships and to wear the Tour de France’s Yellow Jersey.
Commenting of the final seven, William Hill Chairman of Judges and co-founder of the Award, Graham Sharpe, said: “Creating a shortlist from a Bookie Prize longlist has never been less than a mind-scrambling task. However, such is the nature of prizes that where there is delight there must elsewhere be a disappointment, and the expert panel was enthralled by the final shortlist.
“Never have we created a list including a dead-man walking, let alone riding; never had we even heard of a ‘waterbiography’, let alone a tide-turning tale of swimming emancipation. Football archaeology ever featuring as the theme would have been at least a 50/1 shot. Then there’s the previously unknown, almost miraculous tale of Holocaust survival up against the now legendary story of a British cycling superstar who died during a race, and whose reputation is enhanced every time a Chris Boardman, Chris Hoy, or Chris Froome triumph comes along. And then there is perhaps the ultimate contrast, between one of British football’s quietest and most modest over-achievers who virtually hid his light under a bushel, and world sport’s loudest and greatest practitioner, whose finest, quietest moment was when he fought his body’s unfamiliar frailty to light the Olympic flame.”
The William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award is the world’s longest established and most valuable literary sports-writing prize. As well as a £29,000 cheque, this year’s winning author will receive a free £2,500 William Hill bet.
The winner of the William Hill SBOTY 2017 will be announced at an afternoon reception at BAFTA, in central London, on Tuesday 28th November.
