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# essential reading

Last year
2022
essential reading
28 of our favourite sports books of 2022
‘The Rodfather’ and other memorable reads.
21.1k
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Dec 22nd 2022, 7:44 AM
essential reading
Formula One's compulsive perfectionist and more of the week's best sportswriting
The New Yorker’s Sam Knight profiles Toto Wolff, plus other great stories.
4.1k
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Oct 30th 2022, 8:30 AM
All time
essential reading
What it's like to play football on your period and more of the week's best sportswriting
Plus, Tim Keown looks at the NFL’s most beloved player on its most disastrous team.
5.8k
1
Nov 15th 2020, 8:30 AM
essential reading
Ronaldinho's decline from Barcelona greatness to Paraguay prison and more of the week's best sportswriting
Plus, Jonathan Wilson on his parents, loss, memory and Lance Gibbs.
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Aug 16th 2020, 6:31 PM
essential reading
The Second Captain who went in search of George Gibney and more of the week's best sportswriting
Plus, Anthony Daly revists the Offaly trilogy of ’98, the ‘sit-in’ and what haunts him most from a painful year.
9.9k
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Aug 2nd 2020, 8:30 AM
essential reading
James McClean and football’s unhealthy obsession with depoliticising the poppy, and the week's best sportswriting
Plus, the New Yorker’s Louisa Thomas on the ham-handed, money-driven mangling of Sports Illustrated and Deadspin.
12.5k
2
Nov 10th 2019, 8:30 AM
essential reading
A detailed blueprint to fix Manchester United and more of the week's best sportswriting
Plus, a profile of USA Women’s star Rose Lavelle.
12.8k
2
Sep 8th 2019, 12:15 PM
essential reading
Manchester City 'a sportswashing instrument,' and more of the week's best sportswriting
Also featuring a fascinating piece on the unique craft of the hurley maker.
8.0k
7
Aug 11th 2019, 8:30 AM
essential reading
How Martin O'Neill's Nottingham Forest reign crumbled and more of this week's best sportswriting
Plus, a piece on Megan Rapinoe’s greatest heartbreak – and hope.
10.6k
3
Jun 30th 2019, 8:30 AM
Summer Reading
Catastrophe's Sharon Horgan has curated the top 10 perfect books to bring on your holidays
Two Irish authors feature on her desert island list.
7.3k
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Jul 4th 2018, 5:30 PM
essential reading
The story of Arsenal's tragic lost star in the making and more of the week's best sportswriting
Remembering Niccolo Galli and more great reads from this week.
13.4k
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May 27th 2018, 2:42 PM
essential reading
'Sports can’t sink much lower than Mayweather-McGregor' and 25 more of the best articles from 2017
Featuring Wright Thompson, Marina Hyde, Paul Kimmage, Rory Smith and many more of the finest journalists out there.
7.6k
3
Dec 31st 2017, 9:00 AM
essential reading
Dublin GAA star Philly McMahon's 'The Choice' named Sports Book of the Year
The book overcame stiff competition from five other nominees.
7.3k
5
Nov 28th 2017, 10:41 PM
essential reading
Here are the 7 sports books shortlisted for the William Hill prize
The choices, which have been whittled down from a longlist of 16, also include Centaur, the memoir of jockey Declan Murphy.
9.0k
11
Oct 25th 2017, 12:05 PM
essential reading
Here are the 16 sports books longlisted for the William Hill prize
Judy Murray’s book on life with her son Andy and a biography on the late Muhammad Ali are among the contenders.
8.2k
2
Sep 21st 2017, 3:51 PM
essential reading
Controversial portrait of McGregor's Dublin, booing Gatlin and the week's best sportswriting
Plus, an interview with Irish international Lindsay Peat and a piece on the legacy of the 2007 New England Patriots.
9.4k
2
Aug 13th 2017, 8:30 AM
read the game
'The beginnings of the sexual revolution in Derry’ and more of the week's best sportswriting
Plus Sue Ronan banned from street football and ‘Dear Football Gods, we need to talk’.
5.3k
0
Jan 1st 2017, 9:30 AM
essential reading
Conor Murray on Anthony Foley's death and more of the week's best sportswriting
Plus, Paul Kimmage takes a unique look at some of the most celebrated figures in the world of Irish MMA.
5.2k
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Dec 25th 2016, 12:49 PM
essential reading
Here are our 16 favourite sports books from 2016
Paul O’Connell, Joey Barton and John Kavanagh are among the big names to feature in our list.
8.8k
7
Dec 22nd 2016, 7:43 PM
essential reading
Olympic medal predictions, the return of Caster Semenya and the week's best sportswriting
Plus, how Kurt Angle won an Olympic gold medal ‘with a broken freakin’ neck’.
8.2k
5
Aug 7th 2016, 8:30 AM
essential reading
The world champion Irish wrestler, Michelle Smith revisited and the week's best sportswriting
Plus, why the 1916 Philadelphia A’s might have been the worst team ever.
9.8k
4
Jul 24th 2016, 9:00 AM
essential reading
The football-loving terrorist, Caitlyn Jenner's complex Olympic memories and the week's best sportswriting
Also, Steven Gerrard on England and detailed look at the harrowing process of sex-testing female athletes.
6.4k
1
Jul 3rd 2016, 8:30 AM
essential reading
Watching Rocky II with Muhammad Ali and more of the week's best sportswriting
Also, a tribute to the late Kimbo Slice and partying with Ronaldo in Bolivia at Copa America ’97.
4.7k
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Jun 12th 2016, 8:30 AM
essential reading
The rugby star given a shot at the NFL and all the week's best sportswriting
Also, how Match of the Day has become relevant again and why Claudio Ranieri has been underestimated all these years.
8.7k
1
Feb 14th 2016, 7:50 AM
essential reading
Why Conor McGregor is UFC's most important fighter - 50 of the best sports articles of 2015 (part 1)
Also, ‘The Education of Alex Rodriguez,’ Kerry GAA’s lost years and parallells between Roy Keane and Bobby Moore.
10.3k
1
Dec 28th 2015, 9:00 PM
essential reading
Why Chelsea players have a right to feel betrayed by Mourinho and all the week's best sportswriting
Also, the unlikely link between Andy Lee and Anton Chekhov.
7.3k
0
Dec 20th 2015, 8:30 AM
essential reading
Tyson Fury's 'disturbed' mental state & David Simon on baseball; the week’s best sportswriting
Also, why Fifa needs more women and the man whose football dreams were ended by concussion.
6.7k
3
Nov 22nd 2015, 7:15 AM
essential reading
Brendan Rodgers is Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting and all the week’s best sportswriting
Plus, an insightful look at Romanian rugby and why bridge is not a sport.
6.1k
1
Sep 27th 2015, 6:00 AM
essential reading
25 years on from Friday Night Lights, a day with JJ Watt and all the week's best sportswriting
Also, seriously injured jockey Robbie McNamara opens up about his ‘dark days’.
6.2k
1
Aug 2nd 2015, 7:30 AM
good reads
Incredible Gatlin, pre-season insight and all the week’s best sportswriting
Grab a cuppa and settle in to catch up on some superb articles.
7.9k
4
Jul 26th 2015, 8:30 AM
essential reading
Brazil's demise, Sampras' reflection and all the week’s best sportswriting
Also, men fighting bears, men fighting men, and NASCAR fighting the Confederate flag.
5.1k
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Jul 5th 2015, 8:30 AM
essential reading
Mo's missed drug tests, Kimbo v Shamrock and all the week's best sportswriting
This week also features a 1980s arcade game and a look at basketball’s mysterious triangle offence.
6.3k
0
Jun 28th 2015, 7:17 PM
essential reading
'Farcical' LOI, Di Maria an uninterested bystander and the week's best sportswriting
Also featuring ‘The Unbearable Lightness of [Billy] Beane’ and a heartfelt tribute to Tony McCoy.
6.5k
1
Mar 15th 2015, 3:06 PM
good reads
Tiger's fall, Ireland to win the World Cup and cricket emerging: It’s the week’s best sportswriting
There are also superb pieces on a homeless former college footballer and how the All Blacks coach their players.
5.9k
1
Mar 8th 2015, 8:30 AM
essential reading
Ken Early on Steven Gerrard and the rest of the week’s best sportswriting
Also featuring Barcelona’s identity crisis under Luis Enrique and the baddest motherf***er on the planet.
5.5k
10
Jan 4th 2015, 8:45 AM
essential reading
The other Irish cricketer who captained England and the rest of the week’s best sportswriting
Also featuring the weird world of footballing memorabilia.
2.1k
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Dec 28th 2014, 8:15 AM
essential reading
Remembering Páidí Ó Sé and David Gillick on mental strength; the week’s best sportswriting
Put the kettle on and relax with these fine articles.
4.5k
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Dec 21st 2014, 8:30 AM
essential reading
Cruyff on football's lost values and Roger Goodell's parental paradox; it's the week's best sportswriting
Also, the divisive Joey Barton talks Immanuel Kant while a NBA curiosity is remembered.
4.8k
0
Sep 14th 2014, 9:30 AM
Well read
The GAA's role in the NFL's future and the craziest stunt in wresting; it's the week's best sportswriting
Why would you go outside when there is so much good stuff you haven’t read yet.
4.6k
0
Sep 7th 2014, 9:05 AM
Best Sportswriting
The value of Di Maria and behind the scenes of MNF; it's the week's best sportswriting
Plus, a look inside the world of dodgy internet Premier League streams.
7.3k
2
Aug 31st 2014, 9:30 AM
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