Dreaming the Impossible: The Battle to Create a Non-Racial Sports World

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Dreaming the Impossible: The Battle to Create a Non-Racial Sports World
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Mihir Bose
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:352
Dimensions(mm): Height 234,Width 156
Category/GenreSports and outdoor recreation
Soccer (football)
Cricket
Tennis
ISBN/Barcode 9781913759063
ClassificationsDewey:796.089
Audience
General
Illustrations 12pp colour plates; 12pp colour plates

Publishing Details

Publisher Birlinn General
Imprint Arena Sport
Publication Date 5 May 2022
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

The British, who are rightly proud of their sporting traditions, are now having to come to terms with the dark, unacknowledged, past of racism in sport - until now the truth that dare not speak its name. Conscious and unconscious racism have for decades blighted the lives of talented black and Asian sportsmen and women, preventing them from fulfilling their potential. In Formula One, despite Lewis Hamilton's stellar achievements, barely one per cent of the 40,000 people employed in the sport are of ethnic minority heritage. In football, Britain's premier sport, the number of non-white managers in the professional game remains pitifully small. And in cricket, Azeem Rafiq's testimony to the Commons select committee has exposed the scandal of prejudice faced by Asian cricketers in the game. Veteran author and journalist Mihir Bose examines the way racism has affected black and Asian sportsmen and women and how attitudes have evolved over the past fifty years. He looks in depth at the controversies that have beset sport at all levels: from grassroots to international competitions and how the 'Black Lives Matter' movement has had a seismic impact throughout sport, with black sports personalities leading the fight against racism. However, this has also led to a worrying white fatigue. Talking to people from playing field to boardroom and the media world, he illustrates the complexities and striking contrasts in attitudes towards race. We hear the voices of players, coaches and administrators as Mihir Bose explores the question of how the dream of a truly non-racial sports world can become a reality.

Author Biography

Mihir Bose is a British-Indian journalist and author who was the first Sports Editor of the BBC. In nearly 50 years in journalism he has worked for the Sunday Times, the Daily Telegraph and written on sport, business and social and historical issues for the Financial Times, Daily Mail, Independent, Sunday People, Evening Standard, Irish Times and History Today and broadcast for Sky, ITV, Channel Four News and was the first cricket correspondent of LBC Radio. He is the author of 37 books. His History of Indian Cricket won the 1990 Cricket Society Silver Jubilee Literary Award. His Sporting Colours was runner-up in the 1994 William Hill Sports Book of the Year.

Reviews

'Bose's book should be a wake-up call to all those running British sports' * The Times * 'Bose has written a thought-provoking, worthwhile and at times fascinating analysis of how racism has blighted sport in Britain, and what might be done to change this' -- John O'Donnell * Irish Times *