England batsman Marcus Trescothick’s award-winning account of his struggle with depression takes on Paul Canoville’s book about life as a black footballer at Chelsea in the 1980s, and the second volume in Bobby Charlton’s ghosted autobiography, after the shortlists for the British Sports Book Awards, organised by the National Sporting Club, were announced yesterday.
Trescothick’s book, Coming Back to Me, co-written with SJA member Peter Hayter, won the longer-established William Hill Sports Book of the Year award, announced last year, and in these awards is in the running for the Best Autobiography and Best Cricket categories. Sir Bobby, who collaborates on his books with another leading SJA member James Lawton, was award-winning for his first volume of memoirs.
Shortlisted in the Best Illustrated category is horse racing photographer Ed Whitaker, of the Racing Post, whose work has already been recognised in the SJA Sports Photography Awards.
The book awards will be presented following lunch at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel in London on March 18.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR
What a Good Do by James Whitham (Haynes Publishing)
Coming Back to Me by Marcus Trescothick (Harper Sport)
Black and Blue by Paul Canoville (Headline Books)
My England Years by Sir Bobby Charlton (Headline Books)
In Pursuit of Glory by Bradley Wiggins (Orion)
Better Than Sex by Mick Fitzgerald (Highdown)
BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR
Boxing A Cultural History by Kasia Boddy (Reaktion Books)
Concrete for Breakfast More Tales from the Shale by Jeff Scott (Methanol Press)
Arnie and Jack Golf’s Greatest Rivalry by Ian O’Connor (Yellow Jersey Press)
Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape- Jacques Anquetil by Paul Howard (Mainstream Publishing)
Regga- Clay Regazzoni by Christopher Hilton (Haynes Publishing)
The Austerity Olympics by Jane Hampton (Aurum Press)
BEST ILLUSTRATED TITLE
When Football was Football by Richard Havers (Haynes Publishing)
Newcastle- My Kind of Toon by Sir Bobby Robson (Hodder & Stoughton)
Golf Architecture A World wide Perspective (Aurum Books)
In the Frame – Great Racing Photographs by Ed Whitaker (Highdown Press)
Rugby Union Manual by Howard Johnson (Haynes Publishing)
BEST NEW WRITER
When Friday Comes by James Montague (Mainstream)
Four Kings by George Kimball (Mainstream)
When the Whistle Blows by Andrew Riddoch (Haynes)
Anfield of Dreams by Neil Dunkin (Know the Score Books)
Bikila Ethiopia’s Barefoot Olympian by Tim Judah (Reportage Press)
BEST FOOTBALL BOOK
Capello by Gabriel Marcotti (Transworld Publishing)
Inverting the Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson (Orion)
Don’t Mention the Score by Simon Briggs (Quercus)
My England Years by Sir Bobby Charlton with James Lawton (Headline)
Black and Blue by Paul Canoville (Headline)
BEST CRICKET BOOK
Bob Woolmer’s Art and Science of Cricket (New Holland Publishers)
Coming Back to Me by Marcus Trescothick (Harper Sport)
Life Beyond the Airing Cupboard by John Barclay (Fairfield Books)
The Way It Was by Stephen Chalke (Fairfield)
What Sport Tells Us About Life by Ed Smith (Viking/Penguin)
BEST RUGBY BOOK
The Accies- Cradle of Scottish Rugby by David Barnes (Birlinn Books)
Shane My Story by Shane Williams and Delme Parfitt (Mainstream)
Playing the Enemy Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation by John Carlin (Atlantic Books)
Seeing Red – Twelve Tumultuous Years in Welsh Rugby by Alun Carter and Nick Bishop (Mainstream)
The Resurrection Men Wales Grand Slam 2008 by Paul Rees (Mainstream)