Six books have been shortlisted for the Eason Sports Book of the Year in association with Ireland AM at the An Post Irish Book Awards.
Here they are with excerpts from the Irish Book Awards.
Born to be a Footballer by Liam Brady
After being expelled from school for playing football for his country, fifteen-year-old Liam Brady travelled to London to join Arsenal, and soon became an indispensable part of their glorious 1970s team. Rightly considered one of the Republic of Ireland’s best-ever footballers, he went on to enjoy successes with Juventus, Sampdoria and West Ham, as well as managing Celtic and Brighton and Hove, and becoming assistant manager of his national team. Today he is best known for his much-respected TV punditry and searingly intelligent insights into the game he adores.
Full of honest insights, amusing anecdotes and recollections of extraordinary times, with Born to be a Footballer Brady delivers a compelling story of a fifty-year career that is unparalleled in Irish sport.
This is the Life by Ciaran Murphy
The GAA is Ireland’s largest civil society organisation, woven into the fabric of families and communities – and yet most books about Gaelic games focus on the greatest players and inter-county teams. This is the Life is a book about the 99 per cent: a witty and provocative look at grassroots GAA from the most intelligent and interesting Gaelic games pundit at work today.
This is the Life is a book about the places the GAA comes from, the places it can take a person, and the things that make a local club worth fighting for.
Sport in Modern Irish Life by Paul Rouse
Leading sports historian and bestselling author Paul Rouse grapples with the concept of every individual person’s relationship with sport being unique to him or herself, but also intimately connected with the universal – ‘most sport is a shared experience even if not shared in precisely the same way’ – and many other topics aside.
Throughout this superb collection of articles and essays, Paul explores, in his inimitable and always engaging style, the undeniable fact that for large sections of society there is no greater pastime than the pursuit and discussion of sport in all its guises. Whether it’s describing an annual sports day, the harrowing events of Hillsborough, the intersection of sport and Irish history or the sporting idols who have left an impression upon the author, no stone is left unturned in this essential addition to understanding the pivotal role of sport in life in Ireland and further afield.
As well as the essays and stories published here for the first time, others have evolved from articles written for the Irish Examiner and pieces recorded for RTÉ’s Sunday Miscellany. They are the culmination of sporting experience as a player, manager, supporter, consumer, journalist and historian. They are an attempt to record, in the round, at least some of the sheer variety of experiences available in sport. And they are a reminder, too, that the wheel does not ever stop turning.
In the Blood by Pat Spillane and Michael Moynihan
Pat Spillane is one of the best-known sportspeople in Ireland. Selected for the GAA’s Team of the Millennium and winner of eight All-Ireland senior football medals, he is one of the greatest Gaelic footballers ever. Yet that isn’t half of the Spillane story.
He has also been one of the most controversial GAA pundits of all time, driving the agenda on The Sunday Game and in the Sunday World for thirty years. His analysis and criticism have been headline news everywhere Gaelic football is discussed, and the terms he coined, such as ‘puke football’, have entered the Irish lexicon.
Here, Pat reveals the sadness of his childhood when his father died; his dazzling football career and encounters with other immortals, from Mick O’Dwyer onwards; the reality of life as a pundit under pressure from managers; and the huge stress of dealing with the machinery of government in the aftermath of his spell with CEDRA, the state advisory group on rural affairs.
Like the man himself, In the Blood is uniquely frank, witty, honest and revealing – and a must-read for GAA fans everywhere.
Under Water by Claire Walsh
Claire Walsh spent her twenties living the life she thought she was supposed to live, all the while playing hide-and-seek with depression. In her thirties, finding herself single and living with her parents, she decided it was time to chart a different path.
In Central America, Claire discovered freediving, plunging up to 60 metres below the water’s surface without the use of breathing apparatus. It taught her the power of breathwork, but more importantly, it taught her how to find freedom in the present moment. Under Water is a candid and captivating story of what it’s like to take part in one of the most dangerous sports in the world, and a reminder that sometimes all we need to do is take a deep breath.
The Grass Ceiling by Eimear Ryan
What is it like to be female in a male-dominated sporting world? If you play with the boys, more people pay attention – but you get treated like an alien. Playing with other girls or women means you have to accept smaller audiences, diminished status and – for professionals – lower pay.
And what if, as is the case for camogie player Eimear Ryan, your sport has a completely different name when women play it? What if you don’t feel entirely comfortable in an all-female sporting environment because you’re shy, bookish, not really one of the girls?
In The Grass Ceiling, acclaimed novelist Eimear Ryan digs deep into the confluence of gender and sport, and all the questions it throws up about identity, status, competition and self-expression. At a time when women’s sport is on the rise but still a long way from equality, it is a sharp, nuanced and heartfelt exploration of questions that affect everyone who loves sport.
You can vote for your favourite Books of the Year at AnPostIrishBookAwards.ie and if like me you are an inveterate reader you might also enjoy being part of the Rick O’Shea Book Club where his annual Xmas Appeal will be getting underway shortly and which has raised almost €200,000 for charity since it was first started.
