THE LONGLIST FOR the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2024 has been announced.
17 books have been nominated, including ‘The Racket’ by former Irish tennis player Conor Niland. ‘The Racket’ was written in collaboration with The 42′s Gavin Cooney.
𝑰𝑵𝑻𝑹𝑶𝑫𝑼𝑪𝑰𝑵𝑮…
— William Hill Sports Book Of The Year (@BookiePrize) October 3, 2024
The William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2024 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕! 🏆
Our reading panel have spent months reviewing hundreds of entries and ONE of these books will be crowned William Hill Sports Book of the Year:
These Heavy Black Bones - @raajulubushell… pic.twitter.com/DAxEtrmT5m
The longlist, in full, is as follows:
- These Heavy Black Bones – Rebecca Achieng Adulu-Bushell
- A Culture of Kits – John Blair
- Headshot – Rita Bullwinkel
- When I Passed The Statue Of Liberty I Became Black – Harry Edward
- Searching for Novak – Mark Hodgkinson
- Unique – Kelly Holmes
- More Than A Game – David Horspool
- Extra Time Beckons, Penalties Loom – Adam Hurrey
- Richie Benaud’s Blue Suede Shoes – David Kynaston
- Angel of the Mountains – PaulMaunder5
- The Racket – Conor Niland
- Warming Up – Madeline Orr
- Munichs – David Peace
- My Beautiful Sisters – Khalida Popal
- It’s Not Banter, It’s Racism – Azeem Rafiq
- The Race to be Myself – Caster Semenya
- LIV and Let Die – Alan Shipnuck
Nancy Froston (The Athletic), Neil Foggin (William Hill) and Matt Williams (Greatest Hits Radio) make up this year’s judging panel.
The William Hill Sports Book of the Year is its 36th year, having began in 1989. It is described as the “richest, most prestigious literary sports book prize in the world,” with the prize worth £30,000.
‘Good For a Girl’ by Lauren Fleshman won last year’s edition, while Paul Kimmage is among its previous winners.
You can read an interview with Conor Niland about The Racket on The 42 here >
Excellent news this morning! The Racket has been longlisted for the 2024 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award! Delighted to be included in this fantastic list. @BookiePrize @PenguinUKBooks @PenguinIEBooks @gcooney93 https://t.co/UcuPETVRuU
— Conor Niland (@conorniland1) October 3, 2024
I thought the same thing at the time. Here’s our greatest rugby athlete being let down by the medical staff at the very end of his career (pre one more year). Why there wasnt a bigger outcry and inquiry at the time baffled me. Glad it’s now being centre staged. The medics have questions to answer
I agree completely , unfortunately people are selfish and just want him to continue playing as the man is so important to us. Somebody should have sat the man down and protected him. He has hopefully 40 plus years to live his life and he needs to remember that rugby ain’t everything.
the old saying rings true, ‘nobody shoots a winning race horse’
I imagine the medical staff are under severe pressure to get him back in. Strange decision – the irfu have a fantastic medical team as witnessed by the use of Dr. Falvey with the lions.
Have to admit- on most other things related to rugby I think the use of slow motion constant replays have made things that are quite innocuous look very serious. On this matter this guy is spot on, any brain injury needs the most time to recover- I love the game and selfishly I want him to come back on the field but the best thing for a concussed player is rarely considered in urgent situations. The More debate and awareness of this issue the better, we need to protect guys like these bravery from themselves.
I’m with you, Richard!
Nowinski is a top bloke. He’s done a lot of work to help reducw head trauma and concussions in pro wrestling and other contact sports
Well fair play to him getting involved in rugby.
I agree this guy stepped up after concussion put an end to his pro wrestling career… He had done an epic amount of work in regards to head trauma in sports…. Something that has to be taken more serious here….. As usual Ireland will not act until it takes a life…
I worry about BOD. He is so committed on the field and I hope he doesn’t end up with some long term injury at this stage of his career.
I remember the incident and was equelly amazed that BOD was allowed back on the field,he was very groggy and and unsteady on his feet,and i remember thinking that he must have bypassed the physio and had the final say,but for anyone watching,they just knew that it defied logic to see him back on with his head bandaged, but thats our Brian.
Agree 100 percent ..the hits in the game these days are scary, all players need to be protected and Bod is a national treasure ;)
In light of what we now know regarding knocks to the head and the potential risk of concussion, i think it is incumbent on sports managers to be fully versed on the danger associated with such incidents. Questions have to be asked as to the role of the medical team (or doctor) regarding a player who has suffered a concussion,or a severe head injury being allowed back onto the field of play in such a state.
In such scenario as outlined above, it is much better to err on the side of caution in order to avoid the potential for brain damage to occur and the long term implications that such injuries entail
There has been far too much talk and no action on the concussion issue. Why are the IRFU refusing to comment. The recent Falvey interview was complacency at its worst. Surely there is enough evidence now to warrant some official reaction either by John Treacy becoming involved or The Department of Health arranging proper investigation.