[[Category:Sport|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|Sport]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->
{{newreview
|author=John Hurst
|summary=Sporting autobiographies are often written by those sports men and women who made it to the very pinnacle of their profession. Their stories surround past glories and how they lifted themselves up above the great to become the very best. However, for every superstar footballer or tennis player, there needs to be a lot more average Joes and Joettes for them to shine against. And who is to say that being an average player in a professional league is not an achievement in itself? Nate Jackson was one such ‘average’ player in the NFL – but would you call him that to his face?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00IO19CYW</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Adam Ruck
|title=The Bluffer's Guide to Golf (Bluffer's Guides)
|rating=4.5
|genre=Sport
|summary=The fly leaf suggests that this Bluffer's Guide is the way to instantly acquire all the knowledge which you need to pass as an expert in the ''arcane and labyrinthine'' world of golf. There's quite a bit there that I'd agree on - the rules (and to an unfortunate extent the ''attitudes'') are arcane and they seem to take a lifetime to master, but there's a surprising amount of information tucked away inside this little book. What I might quibble with is whether or not you would ''pass as an expert'' (which suggests that you're something of a con man): there's enough detail here to give you a solid grounding without needing to bluff.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1909365327</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|title=The Boys In The Boat: An Epic Journey to the Heart of Hitler's Berlin
|author=Daniel James Brown
|rating=4.5
|genre=Biography
|summary=You see, Jesse Owens had it easy – all he had to do was run fast. Alright, he did have to face unknown hardship, heinous prejudice at home and abroad, and make sure he was fast enough to outdo the rest of his compatriots then the world's best to win gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but others who wished to do the same had to do more. People such as those rowers in the coxed eights squad – people such as young Joe Rantz. He certainly had to face hardship, the prejudice borne by those in the moneyed east coast yacht clubs against an upstart from the NW USA, and when he got to compete he had to use so many more muscles, and operate at varying tempi, with the temperament of the weather and water against him, all in perfect synchronicity with seven other beefcakes. Despite rowing being the second greatest ticket at those Games, Joe's story is a lot less well known, and probably a lot more entertaining.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447210980</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|title=Running Like A Girl
|author=Alexandra Heminsley
|rating=5
|genre=Sport
|summary=Running is awful. So starts Heminsley's book about running.
And she's not wrong.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099558955</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|title=Who Invented The Stepover? (And Other Crucial Football Conundrums)
|author=Paul Simpson and Uli Hesse
|rating=4
|genre=Sport
|summary=In 1982, second division Charlton Athletic staged an unlikely transfer coup by signing former European Footballer of the Year Allan Simonsen. If the thought of the Danish superstar forsaking the glamour of Barcelona for south east London seemed unlikely then consider that Simonsen had previously faked his own death during a World Cup qualifier.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781250065</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Harry Redknapp
|title=Harry: My Autobiography
|rating=4.5
|genre=Sport
|summary=Everybody with an interest in football knows who ''Harry'' is. The cover of his book won't tell you who he is, but if you're not in the know it's Harry Redknapp - football manager and for many of us, something of a national treasure. He's the manager who's seen it all, having started at rock bottom - a 70s Portakabin at Oxford City - and risen to the heights of managing Tottenham Hotspur in the Premiership. At the same time he was the popular choice for the England Manager's job when Capello threw in the towel. It's fair to say that Harry has lived his football life to the full and anyone buying this book will get their money's worth.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091917875</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Jim White
|title=Premier League: A History in 10 Matches
|rating=4.5
|genre=Sport
|summary=I go back to the days when the pinnacle of footballing achievement was to be in Division 1, but the stadia and the stands were downmarket. Standing - pushing, shoving and fighting - was the norm and it wasn't the place for a family outing. You could get into a match for less than a fiver and top footballers earned less than four times the average wage. All that changed in 1993 with the birth of the Premier League. This was the brainchild of - amongst others - [[:Category:Greg Dyke|Greg Dyke]] who saw the potential for turning football at the highest level into a business. Twenty one years on the top footballers earn more than thirty five times the average wage.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781854300</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|title=Twirlymen: The Unlikley History of Cricket's Greatest Spin Bowlers
|author=Amol Rajan
|rating=3.5
|genre=Sport
|summary=Although they may lack the bang and bluster of the fast bowlers, the three leading wicket takers of all time in Test cricket are all spinners. They may look calmer in their run ups and action, but the effect they put on the ball can be incredible. Rather than blasting a batsman out, they bamboozle them. That's why Amol Rajan thinks them deserving of a book all of their own, and ''Twirlymen'' is the result of that belief.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224083252</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=John D Barrow
|title=Mathletics
|rating=3.5
|genre=Sport
|summary=As a sports fan and a maths teacher, I was thrilled to get the chance to read a book which claims to give us 'surprising and enlightening insights into the world of sports'. This is rather a frustrating read because it seems to have got the balance wrong in many cases. There are some chapters which are so short as to be barely worth reading – one merely points out that while humans can’t run as fast as cheetahs or perform gymnastics as amazing as that of a monkey, we’re better all-rounders than any other animal. This is true, but hardly seems worth wasting a page on, it’s so obvious. Then there are other chapters, like the interesting one detailing the points scoring system in the decathlon, which are good but could have been much better given more space. The decathlon one is a prime example of this – it’s five pages, so one of the book’s longer sections, but could surely have been excellent if it had gone into more detail. I can’t help thinking that dropping half of the sections and doubling the other half in length might have been the way to go here.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099584239</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Gavin Mortimer
|title=A History of Cricket in 100 Objects
|rating=4
|genre=Sport
|summary=[[A History of Football in 100 Objects by Gavin Mortimer|A History of Football in 100 Objects]] was a brave attempt, but was slightly let down by being a little too clinical. Being a game imbued with passion, the book lacked this which took some of the edge off it. Cricket, whilst inspiring passion amongst devotees, has a slightly more laid back following; one that may work better in this format. That said, being a game that has been played for five centuries, narrowing it down to just 100 objects is no less an undertaking than for football.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846689406</amazonuk>
}}
