Press Release
11th December 2008
Crashed and Byrned is the William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year for 2008
Crashed and Byrned by Tommy Byrne with Mark Hughes has today been named the William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year for 2008 following a presentation in Dublin.
The book details the story of Tommy Byrne from Dundalk, and his controversial career in motor sport. From a poverty-stricken childhood in Dundalk to becoming the only racing driver that Ayrton Senna ever feared and how it all went wrong when he was so close to the top of world motorsport.
Byrne’s tale is one of the great untold stories of Irish sport. He depicts his tough battle to the top and his spectacular fall from grace when for a brief period he was arguably the world’s greatest driver. The book goes into every harrowing detail of Tommy’s life from his fame in motor sport, to his drug problems, driving for a billionaire madman and working for gun-toting Mexicans in the 1990’s.
Tony Kenny, William Hill PR manager for Ireland, said, "This is a fantastic story from start to finish and is one of the best sports books you will read. To win when up against such a strong shortlist will show everyone how good the book is. The judging panel felt the book displayed a level of honesty that many books fail to reach and it was a story which everyone with an interest in sport and further afield deserves to hear."
Journalist Mark Hughes, who wrote the book with Tommy, was delighted to receive the award and be a part of the remarkable story; "It may not be the award Tommy was figuring on back in the day, when he was giving Ayrton Senna plenty to worry about on the race track, but it means a lot to both of us and I'm particularly pleased that it will play its part in ensuring this guy and his extraordinary story doesn't get forgotten."
The book had stiff competition from a range of Ireland’s sporting heroes who made the six-book shortlist. This included Ronan O’Gara’s autobiography with Denis Walsh, Tom Humphries account of the life of Sonia O’Sullivan, two horse racing books on Mouse Morris and Mick Fitzgerald and Keith Duggan’s story from behind the doors of Mayo football, House of Pain.
Crashed and Byrned was also the public’s favourite book as it topped the poll on the Irishsportsbookoftheyear.com website. The website received nearly 3,000 votes since it went live in October.
This is the third year of the William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year Award. The inaugural award was won by Paul McGrath with Vincent Hogan for Paul’s autobiography "Back from the Brink". Last year’s award was won by Trevor Brennan with Gerry Thornley for "Heart and Soul", which documented Trevor’s highs and lows through his rugby career in Ireland and France.
This year’s judging panel is made up of eleven of Ireland’s best sports commentators and experts. The panel includes RTE rugby pundit and Newstalk presenter George Hook, RTE’s Eamon Dunphy, Today FM and TV3 presenter Matt Cooper, UTV’s Adrian Logan and Setanta Sports’ Paul Dempsey.
William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year – Judging Panel
Ends
For further information:
Declan Lee – O’Herlihy Communications – 01 660 2744 / 087 695 7451
Tony Kenny – William Hill – 086 858 9276
Press Release
8th December 2008
Shortlist is announced for William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year
The shortlist of six books has been announced for this year’s William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year Award with the names of some of Ireland’s top sportspeople to the fore in the list.
The top six books have stories on some of Ireland’s greatest ever sports stars. Sonia O’Sullivan’s autobiography with Tom Humphries is included, as is Ronan O’Gara’s story of his glittering career with Ireland and Munster.
Keith Duggan’s depiction of life behind the doors of Mayo football, House of Pain, is included in the shortlist along with the great highs and lows of a career in motorsport with arguably Ireland’s greatest driver, Tommy Byrne, in Crashed and Byrned.
The shortlist for 2008 is completed by two horse racing books focusing on a couple of Ireland’s most famous and interesting characters, jockey Mick Fitzgerald with his story Better than Sex which was written with Donn McClean and trainer Mouse Morris who tells his extraordinary tale of life within horseracing.
Tony Kenny of William Hill said, "The top six for this year’s award shows how great the competition is. We have stories of success, failure, happiness and heartache and all six are brilliantly written by some excellent sports writers. With a range of books covering five different sports it highlights that the standard of Irish sports books is getting better every year. This year’s winner will be guaranteed stocking filler for any sports fan across the country."
This is the third year of the William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year Award. The inaugural award was won by Paul McGrath with Vincent Hogan for Paul’s autobiography "Back from the Brink". Last year’s award was won by Trevor Brennan with Gerry Thornley for "Heart and Soul", which documented Trevor’s highs and lows through his rugby career in Ireland and France.
This year’s judging panel is made up of eleven of Ireland’s best sports commentators and experts. The panel includes RTE rugby pundit and Newstalk presenter George Hook, RTE’s Eamon Dunphy, Today FM and TV3 presenter Matt Cooper, UTV’s Adrian Logan and Setanta Sports’ Paul Dempsey.
The winner of the William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year Award for 2008 will be announced in Dublin on Thursday the 11th of December.
William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year 2008 - Shortlist
William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year – Judging Panel
Ends
For further information:
Declan Lee – O’Herlihy Communications – 01 660 2744 / 087 695 7451
Tony Kenny – William Hill – 086 858 9276
Press Release
4th November 2008
Contenders for William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year are announced
The contenders for this year’s William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year Award were announced today. There are 23 books in this year’s long list for award with the winner being announced in early December
Being Olympic year there are five athletics books in contention for the award. Of those five two were penned by a couple of Ireland’s running greats; Sonia O’Sullivan and Eamonn Coghlan, with both documenting their lives both on and off the track.
Gaelic Games is also a dominant sport in this year’s contenders with four books up for the award. These include an autobiography of famed GAA referee Paddy Russell, “Final Whistle”, and a look at some of the greats of Gaelic Games who hailed from Connacht in “The Best of the West” by John Scally.
Horse racing will be well represented in the award again this year. Declan Colley looks at the life of Mouse Morris in “Mouse Morris – His extraordinary racing life”, while Mick Fitzgerald’s autobiography, “Better than Sex”, should also prove to be a strong contender.
Rugby fans will also be interested to see two of Ireland’s most successful players represented in this year’s competition. Anthony Foley’s “Axel, A Memoir”, looks back at Ireland’s most capped player and one of the games most respected competitors. Ronan O’Gara also documents his life in “My Autobiography”, which looks at his career with Munster and Ireland to date and also his life off the pitch.
With such a range of sports represented this year there is something for everyone and Tony Kenny, PR Manager for William Hill in Ireland, believes the standard is extremely high again this year. “We’re absolutely thrilled with the selection of books that have made the long list” He continued “There are some very strong entries for this year’s award and it will be fascinating to see who our judging panel select as the overall winner”
This is the third year of the William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year Award. The inaugural award was won by Paul McGrath with Vincent Hogan for Paul’s autobiography “Back from the Brink”. Last year’s award was won by Trevor Brennan with Gerry Thornley for “Heart and Soul”, which documented Trevor’s highs and lows through his rugby career in Ireland and France.
This year the public will also get a chance to have their say in the award. You can vote for your favourite book on www.irishsportsbookoftheyear.com . The book that receives the highest number of public votes will be the public choice and it will be added to the votes of the eleven judges in determining the William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year for 2008.
This year’s judging panel is made up of eleven of Ireland’s best sports commentators and experts. The panel includes RTE rugby pundit and Newstalk presenter George Hook, RTE’s Eamon Dunphy, Today FM and TV3 presenter Matt Cooper and Setanta Sports’ Paul Dempsey.
William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year 2008 – Long List
Ends
For further information:
Declan Lee – O’Herlihy Communications – 01 660 2744 / 087 695 7451
Tony Kenny – William Hill – 086 858 9276
