Anna Krien's 'Night Games: Sex, Power and a Journey into the Dark Heart of Sport,' has been announced as the winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award; beating off competition from the likes of Run, Bobby Moore and Alone.
Krien's book follows the rape trial of an Australian Rules player, with judges describing it as a 'painstaking, intelligent, but above all, open-minded examination of an immensely complicated area.'
William Hill's spokesman Graham Sharpe said:
Despite the challenging nature of its subject matter, Anna Krien’s book is balanced yet fearless, and as compelling and involving as any previous winner.
Quite possibly only a woman could have written it in as personal and perceptive a manner. Anna is the second woman to have won the award and she had to beat one of the strongest, most varied line-ups in our 26-year history.
The book obviously centres on a very difficult subject, with Krien calling it the 'grey area' of sexual consent. Journalist Allison Rudd noted how the case Krien followed has an added interest this side of the world also:
Night Games is not about English football but its relevance to the game is all too clear in the context of the conviction for rape of Ched Evans. Anna Krien seeks to understand why some sportsmen treat sex as a warped kind of sport in itself and women with little or no respect. Hopefully, if such men read her book they would be horrified at the repercussions of such behaviour.
The full list of nominees for the award were:
- Bobby Moore: The Man in Full by Matt Dickinson (Yellow Jersey Press)
- Played in London: Charting the Heritage of a City at Playby Simon Inglis (English Heritage)
- Alone: The Triumph and Tragedy of John Curryby Bill Jones (Bloomsbury)
- Run or Dieby Kilian Jornet (Viking)
- Night Games: Sex, Power and a Journey into the Dark Heart of Sportby Anna Krien (Yellow Jersey Press)
- Floodlights and Touchlines: A History of Spectator Sportby Rob Steen (Bloomsbury)
- Proud: My Autobiographyby Gareth Thomas and Michael Calvin (Ebury Press)
hat-tip: The Score.ie, The Guardian
