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WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025: JANUARY NEWSLETTER

9 months ago

| BY News Team

A new year can only mean one thing…it’s time to find the next winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year.

Entries for this year’s competition are now open, and our reading panel have already begun reading some of the early entrants. Will one of them take the crown from Conor Niland?

This month’s newsletter has details of the 2025 awards and some titles to consider reading as sporting action unfolds.

WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK CLUB

Every month, the William Hill Sports Book Club discusses current or previous entries on Talksport. This month, Adrian Durham and our very own Neil Foggin chat to the Independent’s chief football writer Miguel Delaney about his book States of Play: How Sportswashing Took Over Football. Hear from the author on how capitalism and the world’s elite have corrupted modern football.

Watch the podcast here.

WHAT TO READ THIS MONTH

The opening month of 2025 sees more fantastic sport, including the Australian Open, snooker’s Masters, darts’s World Masters and the Pegasus World Cup from Gulfstream Park.

Here are some books to whet your appetite:

Australian Open

The Racket: On Tour With Tennis’s Golden Generation (2024 Winner)

Our current champion. Conor Niland’s book is the story of pro tennis’s 99%: the players who roam the globe in the hope of climbing the rankings and squeaking into the Grand Slam tournaments. He paints a vivid picture of the social dynamics on tour, the economics of the game, and the shadows cast by gambling and doping.

Althea: Life of Tennis Champion Althea Gibson (2023 shortlist)

Sally Jacobs tells the heart-rending story of this pioneer. This first full biography of a remarkable woman reminds the world that Althea Gibson was a trailblazer, a champion, and one of the most remarkable Americans of the 20th century.

Snooker Masters

Unbreakable (2023 shortlist)

This is Ronnie O’Sullivan as you’ve never seen him before, the definitive and unflinching story of a true British icon and a fascinating insight into the mindset of the world’s greatest snooker player.

Snooker’s Bad Boys

Matt Bozeat’s book takes you back to a time when snooker players were better paid than footballers and lived like rock stars. It looks at the feuds, fist fights, fixes and playboys who put the sport on the front and back pages of the national press.

Darts World Masters

Fear and Loathing on The Oche: A Gonzo Journey Through The World of Championship Darts (2018 shortlist)

King ADZ dives headfirst into the tempestuous world of darts, meeting former legends, future stars, dominant internationals, the owners, the referees and, of course, the fans. Darts may be a simple game to many, but to most, it’s absolute mayhem.

Pegasus World Cup

Doped: The Real Life Story of the 1960’s Racehorse Doping Gang (2013 winner)

A gripping true-story racing thriller set in Britain in the 1950s and early 1960s. Combining a potent mix of horseracing, drugs, sex, class, crime, gambling and the monarchy, it tells the true story of one of the biggest doping scandals in British racing history.