The world of sports books is, as you might imagine, dominated by the most popular sports. Football (both soccer and American football), boxing, basketball and baseball all tend to figure very heavily in sports book releases. There have been countless books about icons like Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Cristiano Ronaldo, and the like.
But within the rich tapestry of sport books, there is also room for incredible stories of those who made their names in more niche sports. Those books can dazzle in a different way to the well-worn tales of Ali’s knockouts or Pele’s goals. If the reader knows little about the sport in question, they are forced to confront universal themes that transcend sport.
Below we are going to pick out five books worth reading that deal with niche sports. All five of them appeared in MansionBet’s list of the 100 greatest sports books, which is worth browsing if you are looking for the next good book to read. But if you want something a little different, this quintet will keep you occupied in the coming months:
Pocket Money – Gordon Burns
Is snooker a niche sport today? Perhaps. But in 1985, around one-third of the UK’s population was tuned in after midnight to watch the epic World Championship Final between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis. The 80s was boom time for snooker, and Gordon Burn’s page-turner charts how it got there from very humble beginnings. The scribe travelled for a year with the stars and money-men of the sport, all of whom seemed surprised at the rise of snooker in popular culture. That has changed now, but the circus around the sport at that time was extraordinary. Burns tries to make sense of it all with the backdrop of a changing Britain looming behind him.
True Blue: The Oxford Boat Race Mutiny – Daniel Topolski and Patrick Robinson
The UK does not put the same emphasis on college sports as the United States does, but the Boat Race – the annual rowing competition between Oxford and Cambridge University is as fierce as it gets. The co-author of the book, Daniel Topolski, who was the coach for the Oxford team, pulls no punches as he weaves this tale of rebellion among the students. It might not seem like a riveting read when you consider it’s about some seemingly spoilt students falling out with a coach over training methods, but True Blue is so much more than that. Years later, the story of the so-called Oxford Mutiny is still debated. If you want to hear the students’ side of the story, you can read The Yanks at Oxford by Alison Gill afterwards.
Dust Bowl Girls – Lydia Reeder
In the era of WNBA and huge growth in women’s sport generally, we will refrain from calling women’s basketball niche. However, back in 1930s Oklahoma, women in basketball wasn’t just niche – it was frowned upon. This story of a female college basketball team struggling for acceptance during the Depression can be a tough read at times, but it can also be incredibly uplifting. It says so much about the power of sport, and the human spirit. And, it poses questions that remain relevant today.
When the World Stops Watching – Damian Lawlor
There are some popular and some niche sports dealt with in Damian Lawlor’s study of sport’s after-life. The author speaks with 13 former stars of sport in Ireland, ranging from Olympic medallists to Gaelic football and rugby players. It explores the concept of what happens when the lights go out on a sporting career, and how those athletes deal with their sporting mortality. Lawlor’s book is an important one, particularly now that athletes’ mental health is in focus. While each story is unique, the author says something important about the mentality of elite competitors, and how harrowing it can be when that is taken away.
Angry White Pyjamas – Robert Twigger
With the extended title, Angry White Pyjamas: An Oxford Poet Trains with the Tokyo Riot Police, you get the gist that this is a fish-out-of-water book. But it’s far from being a one-dimensional laugh at an unfit writer struggling to learn tough martial arts. Twigger is a poet and social commentator, and he casts an eye over Japanese culture as a whole. It’s funny, poignant and insightful, and it will leave you looking to learn more about Japan and the enigmatic Twigger.
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