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Over the course of fifteen years, John Delaney ran the Football Association of Ireland as his own personal fiefdom. He had his critics, but his power was never seriously challenged until last year, when Mark Tighe and Paul Rowan published a sequence of stories in the Sunday Times containing damaging revelations about his personal compensation and the parlous financial situation of the FAI. Delaney's reputation as a great financial manager was left in tatters. He resigned under pressure, and the FAI was left hoping for a massive bail-out from the Irish taxpayer. In Champagne Football, Tighe and Rowan dig deep into the story of Delaney's career and of the FAI's slide into ruin. They show how he surrounded himself with people whose personal loyalty he could count on, and a board that failed to notice that the association's finances were shot. They detail Delaney's skilful cultivation of opinion-formers outside the FAI. And they document the culture of excess that Delaney presided over and benefited from, to the detriment of the organization he led. Champagne Football is a gripping, sometimes darkly hilarious and often enraging piece of reporting by the award-winning journalists who finally pulled back the curtain on the FAI's mismanagement. ISBN 9780241990063 -
Journeying from county to county, this guide to fifty of Ireland's best wild swims will inspire readers to get off the beaten track and find amazing locations for swimming, diving, and snorkeling... ISBN 9781848892804 -
The riveting full-career autobiography of Barry Geraghty, one of the most successful jump jockeys in the sport's history. Now retired, Geraghty takes his rightful place in the pantheon of greats that inclues AP McCoy, Richard Johnson and Ruby Walsh. Barry Geraghty is an Irish horseracing legend. From his first win in 1997 he has gone on to ride almost 2000 winners, making him the fourth most successful jumps jockey of all time. With the second most wins at Cheltenham in the sport's history, he has worked with all the greats - Moscow Flyer, Kicking King, Monty's Pass. Barry finally retired in July 2020, covered in scars. He has broken all of his limbs, his shoulders, his ribs, his nose. He has survived falls too numerous to recall, and spent most of 2019 with a metal cast on his leg. And yet, he kept getting back on the horse, for twenty-three years. His autobiography is about resilience, the mental power that enables the great to keep going despite the pain, despite the odds. It explores how Barry has developed the mind tools to continue to push himself, even when all seems lost. Containing startling revelations and a searingly honest insight into the life of a top jockey, this is a must-read for all sports fans. ISBN 9780717191970 -
Keith Earls started out in senior rugby as a teenage star and during the course of his long career has become one of the most admired and respected players of his generation. A British & Irish Lion at the age of 21, he is now closing in on his 34th birthday and still playing at the top of his game. He has won 93 caps for Ireland and played 179 times in the famous red of Munster. He started every game of the 2018 Six Nations campaign that culminated in an Irish Grand Slam victory. A lethal finisher blessed with thoroughbred speed, Earls is the second-highest try scorer of all time for his country. With Munster he is one try short of the all-time total and looks set to break that record next season. Behind the glittering success, there is another story to be told. He has achieved these milestones whilst being racked by private battles with his mental health for most of his career. A number of crises brought him to the brink of voluntary retirement from the game. A long series of injuries have taken their psychological toll too. A native of Limerick city, Earls grew up in one of its most socially disadvantaged housing estates. Moyross was blighted by crime and violence and he did not escape unscathed from the surrounding fear and trauma visited upon his beloved community. His natural sporting talent brought him into the privileged bastion of elite rugby union. His frank and fearless autobiography tells the story of his long struggle to reconcile the world whence he came with the world opened up by his brilliance with an oval ball. Earls has maintained a low profile throughout his career. For the first time he will talk in depth and at length about the inner turmoil that went unseen by team-mates, friends and fans. It is a confessional, intimate and courageous story of the pain that was a constant companion to the glory. ISBN 9781914197413 -
Take a dive into the deep with writer and swimmer Bonnie Tsui and discover what it is about water that seduces us, heals us and brings us together. Our evolutionary ancestors swam for survival. Now we swim in freezing Arctic waters, wide channels, and piranha-infested rivers just because they are there. Swimming is an introspective and quiet sport in a chaotic age. It is therapeutic for those who are injured and it is one route to that elusive, ecstatic state of Flow. Propelled by stories of polar swim champions, a Baghdad swim club, Olympian athletes, modern-day samurai swimmers and even an Icelandic fisherman who improbably survived a six-hour swim in the wintry Atlantic, Why We Swim takes us around the globe in a remarkable, all-encompassing account of the world of swimming. ISBN 9781846046605 -
"Murakami is best known as a highly original Japanese novelist - but he is also a marathon runner! This thoughtful book on what motivates him to run (and write) is both philosophical and inspiring. It made me buy running shoes (and use them) but also made me appreciative of what life can offer us." Bob ISBN 9780099526155 -
Cast aside by his family at an early age, abandoned and left to fend for himself in the woods of Washington State, young Joe Rantz turns to rowing as a way of escaping his past. What follows is an extraordinary journey, as Joe and eight other working-class boys exchange the sweat and dust of life in 1930s America for the promise of glory at the heart of Hitler's Berlin. Stroke by stroke, a remarkable young man strives to regain his shattered self-regard, to dare again to trust in others - and to find his way back home. Told against the backdrop of the Great Depression, Daniel James Brown's The Boys in the Boat is narrative non-fiction of the first order; a personal story full of lyricism and unexpected beauty that rises above the grand sweep of history, and captures instead the purest essence of what it means to be alive. ISBN 9781447210986 -
Who am I now? That's the dilemma facing many elite athletes when they stop chasing their dreams and transition into retirement. Far too young for slippers and often at anage when non-sporting peers are still climbing the career ladder. For decades, they've trained relentlessly, dedicated to the pursuit of glory - to victory and to defeat. They've made unimaginable sacrifices, sidestepped the trappings of'ordinary' life, invested blood, sweat and tears to represent their people on local, national and international stages. Along the way they've formed tight-knit communities and friendships. Adhering to rigid training schedules, out-of-step with loved ones, they become somewhat institutionalised. But such steadfast, single-minded obsession cannot last forever. When that final whistle sounds, these athletes retire, often left behind by fans and team-mates. An overwhelming uncertainty lingers: 'What now?' Post-sport, life isdaunting. From incredible highs to earth-shattering lows. Studies show that 46% of retired athletes experience depression or anxiety. When the World Stops Watching tells intimate stories of 14 Irish sportspeople. From rugby grand slam winners to Olympic boxers, European Tour golfers to World Cup footballers, from local GAA heroes to international hall of fame winners - offering front-row insight into how elite sports people fare in their sporting afterlife. With searing honesty, these athletes recount dramatic personal and social changes,from loss of income to loss of purpose. A complex journey of resilience and regret, despair and desolation, fear and fulfilment is undertaken as tentative new beginnings dawn. Woven in are gems of guidance from professionals, academics and experts for the rocky retirement road that leads to a life beyond sport. ISBN 9781785303449 -
The Game is a multifaceted reflection on sport. It is part memoir, outlining Tadhg Coakley’s time as a player and fan, and how sport has shaped his life. But it also tackles sport on a universal scale – the good and the bad – and its immeasurable influence on our world. For fans, sport can be all-consuming. Indeed, we are consuming sport in ever greater gulpfuls, often blindly. It has a dark side; it is rife with corruption, sexism, homophobia, nationalism and a raft of toxic masculine behaviour, and Coakley interrogates his own attitudes on each of these fronts. On the other hand, sport builds all manner of valuable connections and communities, and in sport – as in art – people can forge their own identities with grace, imagination and the possibility of what may be. This duality is one of the most fascinating aspects of sport. Written with warmth, openness and keen insight, The Game is an entertaining and thought-provoking meditation on the uniquely intense highs and lows of loving sport in today’s world. ISBN 9781785372971 -
Richie Sadlier's autobiography is a judiciously layered and thoughtful examination of how to live a life and develop as a person despite everything. It's also relentlessly entertaining. A rare and precious example of a sports book that has both story and stories in abundance.' Malachy Clerkin, The Irish Times'The kind of book to stop you in your tracks.' The Irish Farmers JournalWhen a career-ending injury saw former Ireland and Millwall striker Richie Sadlier retire from football at age 24, his life spiraled out of control. Without structure or a sense of purpose, and fueled by a dependency on alcohol, he spent years running from the dark memories and feelings that had haunted him since childhood. Until one day, he hit rock bottom and decided to confront his demons. Now a successful soccer pundit, psychotherapist and mental-fitness teacher, Recovering is about a life shaped by efforts to escape, and how it is possible to rebuild a life, piece by piece, with the right help. Inspiring and groundbreaking, it is an important reflection on the need to move away from perceptions of shame in our discussions about mental health, sex, relationships and addiction. ISBN 9780717189540 -
The hilarious memoir from the funniest man in football!Roddy Collins is a football man - now in the sixth decade of a career as a player (at sixteen clubs), manager (twelve clubs) and commentator. And he is a funny man: an unequalled raconteur with a sharp eye for the absurdities of the professional game and spectacular recall. He has made friends wherever he has gone, along with some high-quality enemies. When John Delaney said he could get Roddy a job if he'd just stop criticising him, Roddy replied that he'd 'rather dig holes in the road'. Now, with the brilliant Paul Howard, Roddy puts it all down on paper for the first time - the adventures, the rows and the craic - in what will be not only one of the funniest but one of the most eye-opening books ever written about professional football. ISBN 9781844885954 -
Shane Carthy writes frankly and eloquently about his journey over the last five years. He details, without overdramatising, the downward spiral which, days after producing a man-of-the-match display in Dublin's 2014 Leinster under-21 final win over Meath, saw him wake up in St Patrick's Mental Hospital. Carthy also explains what ultimately brought him back to where he is now, discovering a path where life is worth living. He hopes that through his words and actions he can show people that there is a way out of the suffering they may be experiencing and the path, although difficult, is worth travelling. ISBN 9781788491501 -
The world's foremost designer in Formula One, Adrian Newey OBE is arguably one of Britain's greatest engineers and this is his fascinating, powerful memoir. How to Build a Car explores the story of Adrian's unrivalled 35-year career in Formula One through the prism of the cars he has designed, the drivers he has worked alongside and the races in which he's been involved. A true engineering genius, even in adolescence Adrian's thoughts naturally emerged in shape and form - he began sketching his own car designs at the age of 12 and took a welding course in his school summer holidays. From his early career in IndyCar racing and on to his unparalleled success in Formula One, we learn in comprehensive, engaging and highly entertaining detail how a car actually works. Adrian has designed for the likes of Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, David Coulthard, Mika Hakkinen, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, always with a shark-like purity of purpose: to make the car go faster. And while his career has been marked by unbelievable triumphs, there have also been deep tragedies; most notably Ayrton Senna's death during his time at Williams in 1994. Beautifully illustrated with never-before-seen drawings, How to Build a Car encapsulates, through Adrian's remarkable life story, precisely what makes Formula One so thrilling - its potential for the total synchronicity of man and machine, the perfect combination of style, efficiency and speed. ISBN 9780008196806 -
An insightful, comprehensive and always entertaining appreciation of how European football has developed over the last three decades by the author of the much heralded The Mixer. Continental football has always cast a spell over the imagination. From the attacking flair of Real Madrid of the 50s to the defensive brilliance of the Italians in the 60s and onto the total football of the Dutch in the 70s, the European leagues have been where the game has most evolved and taken its biggest steps forward. And over the last three decades, since the rebranding of the Champions League in 1992, that pattern has continued unabated, with each major European footballing nation playing its part in how the game's tactics have developed. From the intelligent use of space displayed by the phenomenal Ajax team of the early 90s, to the dominance of the highly strategic Italian league in the late 90s and onto the technical wizardry of Barcelona's tiki-taka, the European game continues to reinvent the tactical dimension of the game, creating blueprints which both club and national teams around the world strive to follow. In Zonal Marking, Michael Cox brilliantly investigates and analyses the major leagues around Europe over specific time periods and demonstrates the impact each has made on how the game is now played. Highly entertaining and packed full of wonderful anecdotes, this is the first book of its kind to take an overview of modern European football, and lays bare just how much the international language of football can be shaped by a nation's unique identity. ISBN 9780008291174 -
From the bestselling co-author of Soccernomics comes the story of how FC Barcelona became the most successful football club in the world - and how that envied position now hangs in the balance. Barca is not just the world's most popular sports club, it is simply one of the most influential organisations on the planet. With almost 250 million followers on social media and 4 million visitors to its Camp Nou stadium each year, there's little wonder its motto is 'More than a club'. But it was not always so. In the past three decades, Barcelona has transformed from regional team to global powerhouse, becoming a model of sporting excellence and a consistent winner of silverware. Simon Kuper unravels exactly how these transformations took place. He outlines the organisational structure behind the club's business decisions, and details the work of its coaches, medics, data analysts and nutritionists who have revolutionised the sporting world. And, of course, he studies the towering influence of the club's two greatest legends, Johan Cruyff and Lionel Messi. Like many leading global businesses, FC Barcelona closely guards its secrets, granting few outsiders a view behind the scenes. But, after decades of writing about the sport and the club, Kuper was given unprecedented access to the inner sanctum and to the people who strive daily to keep Barcelona at the top. Erudite, personal, and capturing all the latest successes and upheavals, his portrait of this incredible institution goes beyond football to understand Barca as a unique social, cultural, and political phenomenon. "I began my research thinking I was going to be explaining Barca's rise to greatness, and I have, but I've also ended up charting the decline and fall." 'This is a masterfully written history of the world's greatest football club. Mes que un book!' - GARY LINEKER ISBN 9781780724744 -
An inspiring and intimate self-portrait of the champion of equality that encompasses her brilliant tennis career, unwavering activism, and an ongoing commitment to fairness and social justice. In this spirited account, Billie Jean King details her life's journey to find her true self. She recounts her groundbreaking tennis career -- six years as the top-ranked woman in the world, twenty Wimbledon championships, thirty-nine grand-slam titles, and her watershed defeat of Bobby Riggs in the famous "Battle of the Sexes." She poignantly recalls the cultural backdrop of those years and the profound impact on her worldview from the women's movement, the assassinations and anti-war protests of the 1960s, the civil rights movement, and, eventually, the LGBTQ+ rights movement. She describes the myriad challenges she's hurdled -- entrenched sexism, an eating disorder, near financial ruin after being outed -- on her path to publicly and unequivocally acknowledging her sexual identity at the age of fifty-one. And she talks about how her life today remains one of indefatigable service. She offers insights and advice on leadership, business, activism, sports, politics, marriage equality, parenting, sexuality, and love. She shows how living honestly and openly has had a transformative effect on her relationships and happiness. Hers is the story of a pathbreaking feminist, a world-class athlete, and an indomitable spirit whose impact has transcended even her spectacular achievements in sports. ISBN 9780241988466 -
He is one of the most beloved athletes in history and one of the most gifted men ever to step onto a tennis court - but from early childhood Andre Agassi hated the game. Coaxed to swing a racket while still in the crib, forced to hit hundreds of balls a day while still in grade school, Agassi resented the constant pressure even as he drove himself to become a prodigy, an inner conflict that would define him. Now, in his beautiful, haunting autobiography, Agassi tells the story of a life framed by such conflicts. Agassi makes us feel his panic as an undersized seven-year-old in Las Vegas, practicing all day under the obsessive gaze of his violent father. We see him at thirteen, banished to a Florida tennis camp. Lonely, scared, a ninth-grade dropout, he rebels in ways that will soon make him a 1980s icon. By the time he turns pro at sixteen, his new look promises to change tennis forever, as does his lightning fast return. And yet, despite his raw talent, he struggles early on. We feel his confusion as he loses to the world's best, his greater confusion as he starts to win. After stumbling in three Grand Slam finals, Agassi shocks the world, and himself, by capturing the 1992 Wimbledon. Overnight he becomes a fan favorite and a media target. Agassi brings a near-photographic memory to every pivotal match, and every public relationship. Alongside vivid portraits of rivals, Agassi gives unstinting accounts of his brief time with Barbra Streisand and his doomed marriage to Brooke Shields. He reveals the depression that shatters his confidence, and the mistake that nearly costs him everything. Finally, he recounts his spectacular resurrection and his march to become the oldest man ever ranked number one. In clear, taut prose, Agassi evokes his loyal brother, his wise coach, his gentle trainer, all the people who help him regain his balance and find love at last with Stefanie Graf. With its breakneck tempo and raw candor, Open will be read and cherished for years. A treat for ardent fans, it will also captivate readers who know nothing about tennis. Like Agassi's game, it sets a new standard for grace, style, speed and power. ISBN 9781529362442 -
'An ode to the ocean, and the generations of women drawn to the waves or left waiting on the shore' Guardian In Salt On Your Tongue, Charlotte Runcie explores what the sea means to us, and particularly what it has meant to women through the ages. In mesmerising prose, she explores how the sea has inspired, fascinated and terrified us, and how she herself fell in love with the deep blue. This book is a walk on the beach with Turner, with Shakespeare, with the Romantic Poets and shanty-singers. It's an ode to our oceans - to the sailors who brave their treacherous waters, to the women who lost their loved ones to the waves, to the creatures that dwell in their depths, to beachcombers, swimmers, seabirds and mermaids. Navigating through ancient Greek myths, poetry, shipwrecks and Scottish folktales, Salt On Your Tongue is about how the wild untameable waves can help us understand what it means to be human. ISBN 9781786891211 -
Megan Rapinoe is one of the world's most talented athletes. But beyond her massive professional success on the soccer field, Rapinoe has become an icon and ally to millions, boldly speaking out on the issues that matter most. In recent years, she's become one of the faces of the equal pay movement and her tireless activism for LGBTQ rights has earned her global support. Raised in a conservative small town in northern California, the youngest of six, Rapinoe was four years old when she kicked her first soccer ball. Her parents encouraged her love for the game, but also urged her to volunteer at homeless shelters and food banks. Her passion for community engagement never wavered through high school or college, all the way up to 2016, when she took a knee during the national anthem in solidarity with former NFL player Colin Kaepernick, to protest racial injustice and police brutality - the first high-profile white athlete to do so. The backlash was immediate, but it couldn't compare to the overwhelming support. Rapinoe became a force of social change, both on and off the field. Using anecdotes from her own life and career, from suing the United States Soccer Federation alongside her teammates over gender discrimination to her widely publicized refusal to visit the White House, Rapinoe discusses the obligation we all have to speak up, and reveals the impact each of us can have on our communities. As she declared during the soccer team's victory parade in New York in 2019, "[T]his is everybody's responsibility, every single person here, every single person who is not here, every single person who doesn't want to be here, every single person who agrees and doesn't agree.... It takes everybody. This is my charge to everybody. Do what you can. Do what you have to do. Step outside yourself. Be more. Be better.Be bigger than you've ever been before." ISBN 9781984881168 -
Pat Smullen was one of the greatest Irish jockeys ever. In a career laden with success, his position as one of the best Irish flat jockeys ever was long established, yet he never felt that he had arrived. Despite being a nine-time champion jockey, there was a humility about him that defined him. It was this strength of character that got him through when in March 2018, Pat was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. There was never any self-pity. He just dealt with it. More than just dealing with it, he brought it centre stage, raised funds and awareness, and channelled his energies into helping others. He was a champion in all aspects of life, no matter what setbacks were thrown at him. Pat was one of life's givers, and he majored in giving that most precious of commodities: time. Tragically his own time was cut short far too early in September 2020. Assisted by Donn McClean and completed by Pat's wife Frances, Champion is his story. ISBN 9780717195046 -
The 1997 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa is one of the most iconic in rugby history. Written off at home and abroad, Martin Johnson's men were given no hope of success against the world champion Springboks in their own backyard. But a combination of brilliant coaching, astute selections and outstanding players laid the foundations for the touring side's outstanding attacking mindset and brutal stonewall defence. On the other side was a team expected to stamp their authority on the tourists and confirm their place as the best side on the planet. But with political, racial and economic scandals swirling around the Springbok camp, plus a rookie coach parachuted into office just before the tour began, the hosts were under huge pressure. In a Test series that will go down in legend as one of the most compelling of all time, the sides could barely be separated. This is the inside story from both camps as they battle for supremacy, lifting the lid like never before as a huge cast of characters look back on those extraordinary weeks and the impact it had on their lives and careers thereafter. Hilarious, insightful and spine-chilling, Tom English and Peter Burns provide the perfect read for all Lions fans. ISBN 9781913538125 -
My hope is to inspire you to retake control of your body and life by unleashing the immense power of the mind. The 'Iceman' Wim Hof shares his remarkable life story and powerful method for supercharging your strength, health and happiness. Wim Hof is widely celebrated for his astounding achievements, breaking world records withstanding extreme temperatures and running barefoot marathons over deserts and ice fields. Most of all, he's shown us that these feats are not superhuman - but that all of us have the ability to be stronger, healthier and happier than we've ever imagined. In The Wim Hof Method, this trailblazer of human potential shares his simple three-pillar approach that anyone can use to improve health and performance - and see real results within just a few days. Refined over forty years and championed by scientists across the globe, you'll learn how to harness three key elements of Cold, Breathing and Mindset to master mind over matter and achieve the impossible. ISBN 9781846046308 -
For four decades HEALY RACING has photographed the world of Irish horse racing. Delving into an archive of thousands of images, photographer Pat Healy and sports journalist Donn McClean selected over 200 golden Irish jump-racing moments. Their book captures the last decade of thrills and spills (2011-2020) - the sheer spectacle that is the Irish horse-racing scene. The sport's biggest personalities, and their horses, are celebrated through the lens: JP McManus, Michael O'Leary and Gigginstown House Stud, Rich and Susannah Ricci, Willie, Patrick and Danny Mullins, Gordon Elliott, Jessica Harrington, Jonjo O'Neill, Henry de Bromhead, Nina and Paul Carberry, Ted, Ruby and Katie Walsh, Barry Geraghty, Davy Russell, AP McCoy, Paul Townend, Jack Kennedy, Rachel Blackmore, Bryan Cooper, Robbie Power, Jamie Codd, Lisa O'Neill and so many more. For every leap of victory and fist pump, there is a crunching fall or a win that almost was: HEALY RACING has captured it all. ISBN 9781788491358 -
The myth-busting science behind our modern attitudes to exercise: what our bodies really need, why it matters, and its effects on health and wellbeing. In industrialized nations, our sedentary lifestyles have contributed to skyrocketing rates of obesity and diseases like diabetes. A key remedy, we are told, is exercise - voluntary physical activity for the sake of health. However, most of us struggle to stay fit, and our attitudes to exercise are plagued by misconceptions, finger-pointing and anxiety. But, as Daniel Lieberman shows in Exercised, the first book of its kind by a leading scientific expert, we never evolved to exercise. We are hardwired for moderate exertion throughout each day, not triathlons or treadmills. Drawing on over a decade of high-level scientific research and eye-opening insights from evolutionary biology and anthropology, Lieberman explains precisely how exercise can promote health; debunks persistent myths about sitting, speed, strength and endurance; and points the way towards more enjoyable and physically active living in the modern world. 'Myth-busting, illuminating, brilliant - Lieberman will completely change the way you think about your body' Professor ALICE ROBERTS. 'Endlessly fascinating and full of surprises. Easily one of my books of the year' BILL BRYSON. ISBN 9780241309278 -
A hilarious diary of married life with the sensible, no-nonsense man of all our dreams: Jurgen Klopp, from critically-acclaimed comedian and Twitter sensation Laura Lexx. Inspired by the viral tweet: 'If I ever met Jurgen Klopp I'd say "omg if we have a baby we should call it Klipp" just so he'd raise an eyebrow at me and tell me I'm a moron and I'd be so naked by the time he'd finished doing that...' In these uncertain times we all need a coping mechanism. And Laura Lexx has found the obvious one - imagining life married to the sensible, no-nonsense man of our dreams, Jurgen Klopp. She thinks maybe he has something to do with football? More importantly, he definitely knows how to efficiently stack a dishwasher and would tell you honestly if you were being unreasonable about a colleague. From job interviews to furniture shopping in IKEA to making a birthday cake for their daughter, Klipp, Klopp Actually is a hilarious, warm and deeply silly diary of life with everyone's favourite baseball-cap-wearing, bespectacled German football manager. 'I shiver, my skin breaking out into tiny goosebumps. "Are you cold?" He whispers, his lips brushing my ear, making the fine hairs ripple. "A little." I grin, pressing against his thigh. He runs a hand down the curve of my spine... "You should put a jumper on." 'I'd LOVE to read a whole book of Laura's funny, clever, sweet imagination... it made me laugh a huge amount!' Marian Keyes. ISBN 9781529348217 -
The most comprehensive and detailed biography of Formula One legend Nick Lauda ever published, as told by Maurice Hamilton, who knew him for more than forty years. From the famous rivalry with James Hunt in the 1970s, as depicted in the film Rush, to working with Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, Lauda's career helped define modern F1. In 1975, Lauda became world champion for the first time. Driving for Ferrari, he looked to retain his title in 1976 and was dominating the campaign ahead of James Hunt in his McLaren. Then, on 1 August, he was involved in a horrendous crash at the Nurburgring and was badly burned and in hospital he was given the last rites, so severe were his injuries. Remarkably, six weeks later, he was back racing again, determined to show he could still compete. As they came to the final race of the season in Japan, Lauda held a narrow lead in the championship, but in appalling weather conditions, Lauda withdrew from the race, while Hunt went on to secure the points he needed to become world champion. It was high-speed drama at its best. Lauda came back to win the title again in 1977 and then, having temporarily retired, he won it for a third time in 1984, driving for McLaren. When he finally finished as an F1 driver, he started his own airline, before he returned to the sport in various management roles, latterly as chairman of Mercedes, where he helped in the negotiations to bring Lewis Hamilton to the team. Maurice Hamilton, who first met Lauda in 1971, draws together the remarkable story of one of the greatest stars in Formula One history. Based on interviews with friends and family, rival drivers and those he worked with later in his career, Niki Lauda is a superb and definitive tribute to a remarkable character, who died in May 2019 at the age of seventy. ISBN 9781471192029 -
Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump is a fascinating on-the-ground and behind-the-scenes survey of Donald Trump's ethics deficit on and off the golf course.Renowned sports writer Rick Reilly transports readers onto the greens with President Trump, revealing the absurd ways in which he lies about his feats, and what they can tell us about the way he leads off the course in the most important job in the world. 'Golf is like bicycle shorts. It reveals a lot about a man.'Reilly has been with Trump on the fairways, the greens and in the rough, he has seen how the President plays - and it's not pretty. Based on his personal experiences, and interviews with dozens of golf pros, amateurs, developers, partners, opponents, and even caddies who have first-hand involvement with Trump out on the course, Reilly takes a deep and often hilarious look at how Trump shamelessly cheats at golf, lies about it, sues over it, bullies with it, and profits from it. 'Somebody should point out that the way Trump does golf is sort of the way he does a presidency, which is to operate as though the rules are for other people.'From Trump's ridiculous claim to have won eighteen club championships, to his devious cheating tricks, to his tainted reputation as a golf course tycoon, Commander in Cheat tells you everything you need to know about the man. 'You could write a book about what Trump's golf reveals about him. Here it is.' SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR ISBN 9781472266118 -
Based on three years of extensive research and reporting, two of today's most acclaimed investigative journalists, Jeff Benedict of Sports Illustrated and eleven-time Emmy Award winner Armen Keteyian, deliver the first major biography of Tiger Woods - sweeping in scope and packed with groundbreaking, behind-the-scenes details of the Shakespearean rise and epic fall of a global icon. In 2009, Tiger Woods was the most famous athlete on the planet, a transcendent star of almost unfathomable fame and fortune living what appeared to be the perfect life - married to a Swedish beauty and the father of two young children. Winner of fourteen major golf championships and seventy-nine PGA Tour events, Woods was the first billion-dollar athlete, earning more than $100 million a year in endorsements from the likes of Nike, Gillette, AT&T and Gatorade. But it was all a carefully crafted illusion. As it turned out, Woods had been living a double life for years - one that exploded in the aftermath of a late-night crash that exposed his serial infidelity and sent his personal and professional life off a cliff. In Tiger Woods, Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian dig deep behind the headlines to produce a richly reported answer to the question that has mystified millions of sports fans for nearly a decade: who is Tiger Woods? Drawing on more than four hundred interviews with people from every corner of Woods's life - friends, family members, teachers, romantic partners, swing coaches, business associates, Tour pros and members of Woods's inner circle - Benedict and Keteyian construct a captivating psychological profile of an African-American child programmed by an attention-grabbing father and the original Tiger Mom to be the 'chosen one', to change not just the game of golf, but the world as well. But at what cost?Benedict and Keteyian provide the startling answers in a biography, updated for this edition, destined to make headlines and linger in the minds of readers for years to come. ISBN 9781471175398 -
Remarkable Football Grounds is a collection of some of the most memorable places to watch and play football around the world. They range from the stellar stadiums of the Premier League to windswept islands in the Scottish Hebrides or the far-flung Pacific, including stadia that resemble flying saucers, a crocodile and an armadillo! Remarkable Football Grounds features a range of the oldest, biggest, highest, quirkiest and furthest flung stadia and the stories behind their existence. Italian Serie B team Venezia can be reached by canal, with moorings nearby; Bamburgh Castle football ground lies in the shadow of a Game of Thrones-scale fortress, while Estadio Silvestre is a full-size pitch on the roof of a building in Tenerife. Some of the oldest, storied stadiums are here, including Anfield for Liverpool, Fulham, which has a tunnel under the pitch and the two Dundee football clubs, that have sizeable grounds, Tannadice and Dens Park, just 183 metres (200 yards) apart. At the quirkier end of the scale, the Aveiro stadium in Portugal looks like a giant children's playset, while in Gangwon, South Korea, the football pitch doubles as a ski jump landing area. Many of the stadiums come with spectacular views. The Faroe Islands have produced some strong football teams in the past and many of their grounds are set in picture perfect landscapes. The same can be said of Norway's Lofoten Islands where flat land is at a premium and the pitch sides are used for drying fish. In Slovakia, the Janosovka football pitch has a narrow gauge railway that runs between the pitch and the grandstand. Others are located in some of the most dangerous parts of the world. Nobody loves the 'away' fixture at Coroico which entails tackling the 'Death Road'. Grounds include: the impressive new Qatari World Cup venues, Wembley Stadium, Camp Nou, Monaco, Old Trafford, Allianz Arena, Petrovsky (Zenit St.Petersburg), Trogir in Croatia, Longgang in China and the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. ISBN 9781911682202 -
Unlock the secrets of high performance. Jake Humphrey has spent decades interviewing the world's greatest sportspeople, seeking to understand first-hand what drives their success. And in his multi-million download podcast, High Performance, he teams up with Professor Damian Hughes to examine the secrets of the world's highest-performing people - in sport, in business and in life. Now, Jake and Damian reveal how we can all become high performers. Drawing on interviews with leading athletes and entrepreneurs, they uncover the nine hidden principles that high performers use to excel: from taking absolute responsibility for their situation, to working out their non-negotiable 'trademark behaviours', to getting the very best out of their teammates. And they draw on cutting-edge psychology to explain why these methods have such a transformative impact. Above all, Jake and Damian reveal how to build the principles of high performance into our own lives, whether on the pitch, in our careers, or at home. You too can harness the secrets of high performance. This book explains how. Drawing on interviews with: Robin Van Persie | Tom Daley | Osi Umenyiora | Eddie Jones | Siya Kolisi | Dilbagh Gill | Ole Gunner Solskjaer | Matthew McConaughey | Lily Cole | Rio Ferdinand | Steven Gerrard | Jo Malone | Sir Chris Hoy | Kelly Jones | Frank Lampard | Ant Middleton | Phil Neville | Ben Ainslie | Kelly Holmes | Nims Purja | Mauricio Pochettino | Jonny Wilkinson | Clive Woodward | and many more . . . ISBN 9781847943705 -
Widely regarded as one of the greatest ever sportspeople, Roger Federer is a beloved as a phenomenon, a symbol of enduring greatness and yet is intensely private. But his path from temperamental, bleach-blond teenager with dubious style sense to one of the greatest, most self-possessed and elegant of competitors has been a long-running act of will, not destiny. Based on 20 years of one-on-one interviews with Federer and with wide access to Federer's inner circle, including his coaches and key rivals, legendary sports reporter Christopher Clarey's account will be a must-read retrospective for the loyal sports fan, and anyone interested in the inner workings of unfaltering excellence. The Master tells the story of Federer's life and career on both an intimate and grand scale. ISBN 9781529342079 -
In 2012, Joe Barr almost died from altitude sickness on the infamous 11,000-ft Wolf Creek Pass in a Race Across America attempt. The infamous 3,200-mile race is non-stop, ultra-cycling at its most extreme. In 2014, Joe returned and received the coveted Finisher's medal, and in 2019, at the age of 60, he went back again and won his category. This story of extreme perseverance begins on a yellow Raleigh Chopper on the streets of Co. Derry, where Joe, trying to escape the harsh everyday reality of the Troubles as a young Catholic boy in an all-Protestant school, went on long bicycle rides into the countryside, dreaming of one day taking part in cycling's grand tours. When his baby son was diagnosed with cancer, Joe got on the bike with a different purpose and won his first endurance race, the 1,300-mile, non-stop Race Around Ireland. Since then, Joe has won major World Cup races all over the world. This is a story of unimaginable grit, and of what it takes to keep going despite countless obstacles and to persevere when failure seems inevitable. ISBN 9780717190607 -
Through the prism of sport and conversations with its legends, including Usain Bolt, Adam Goodes, Thierry Henry, Michael Johnson, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Makhaya Ntini, Naomi Osaka and Hope Powell, Michael Holding explains how racism dehumanises people; how it works to achieve that end; how it has been ignored by history and historians; and what it is like to be treated differently just because of the colour of your skin. Rarely can a rain delay in a cricket match have led to anything like the moment when Holding spoke out in the wake of the #BlackLivesMatter protests about the racism he has suffered and has seen all around him throughout his life. But as he spoke, he sought not only to educate but to propose a way forward that inspired so many. Within minutes, he was receiving calls from famous sports stars from around the world offering to help him to spread the message further. Now, in Why We Kneel, How We Rise, Holding shares his story together with those of some of the most iconic athletes in the world. He delivers a powerful and inspiring message of hope for the future and a vision for change, and takes you through history to understand the racism of today. He adds: 'To say I was surprised at the volume of positive feedback I received from around the world after my comments on Sky Sports is an understatement. I came to realise I couldn't just stop there; I had to take it forward - hence the book, as I believe education is the way forward.' ISBN 9781398503243 -
A moving and lyrical memoir about life, love and loss, from a true giant of Gaelic games. In a frenetic seven-year spell at the outset of his senior managerial career, Mickey Harte led Tyrone to four Ulster Championships and three All-Irelands. It was a run that shifted football’s balance of power, changed the way the game would be played for over a generation, and cemented his reputation as one of the most transformative figures in GAA history. Then, in January 2011, the visitation of a shocking tragedy changed everything: Mickey’s daughter Michaela was murdered while on honeymoon in Mauritius, and the Harte family, grief-stricken, awoke to find themselves at the centre of an international news story. Devotion, the product of a collaboration between Mickey and author Brendan Coffey, is many things. The story of a family’s decade-long struggle to come to terms with an almost unimaginable loss. A meditation on the ways in which faith, community, and sport can sustain us in our most difficult moments. And, finally, a portrait of one of Irish sport’s true icons, as he brings one legendary era to a close and steels himself for a final assault on the history books. ISBN 9780008473068 -
Discover the hard science that will help you run faster, endure for longer, and avoid injury. Analyse your running style and learn how to enhance your gait for optimum efficiency and safety. Transform your performance with exercises targeting strength, flexibility, and recovery - each exercise annotated to reveal the muscle mechanics so you know you're getting it right. Understand the science behind your body's energy systems and how to train to maximise energy storage and conversion. Follow training and exercise programmes tailored to different abilities and distances, from 5K to marathon. Whether you are new to running or an experienced racer, this book will help you achieve your goals and stay injury-free. ISBN 9780241394519 -
FC St. Pauli is a football club unlike any other. Encompassing music, sport and politics, its fans welcome refugees, fight fascists and take a stand against all forms of discrimination. This book goes behind the skull and crossbones emblem to tell the story of a football club rewriting the rulebook. Since the club's beginnings in Hamburg's red-light district, the chants, banners and atmosphere of the stadium have been dictated by the politics of the streets. Promotions are celebrated and relegations commiserated alongside social struggles, workers' protests and resistance to Nazism. In recent years, people have flocked from all over the world to join the Black Bloc in the stands of the Millerntor Stadium and while in the 1980s the club had a small DIY punk following, now there are almost 30,000 in attendance at games with supporters across the world. In a sporting landscape governed by corporate capitalism, driven by revenue and divorced from community, FC St. Pauli demonstrate that another football is possible. ISBN 9780745340906