A Delicate Game: Brain Injury, Sport and Sacrifice - Sports Book Award Special Commendation

by Hana Walker-Brown

Overview

A footballer dies of dementia, younger than he should.
A teenage rugby player plays on through multiple blows - and never wakes up from the last one.
A scientist reveals endemic brain disease in NFL players and is discredited.

From the gladiator arenas of history to the rugby pitches of today, athletes have always forfeited their bodies for sport, with grievous bodily contact consistently celebrated as the ultimate performance of toughness and masculinity. But at what cost? This is the story of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) - a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated blows to the head, and whose impact in the sporting world is only now coming to light.

A Delicate Game is a searing investigation that explores the truth about brain injury in sport and beyond it, from the social dynamics that send young men into violent and dangerous pursuits, to the scientists searching for truth and the families living with the consequences - and it will change the way you think about sport forever.

'Beautifully written, deeply moving and absolutely mind-blowing' Julia Ebner

'A clarion call of great conviction and urgency' Irish Examiner

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781529348095
Publisher:	Hodder & Stoughton, Ltd.
Publication date:	03/31/2022
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Hana Walker-Brown is a multi-award-winning audio documentary maker, writer and the Creative Director for Broccoli Productions, a London based podcast production company founded in direct response to the lack of opportunities for minority talent both in front of and behind the mic. In 2019, Hana Walker-Brown created the Audible original, The Beautiful Brain, a multi-award-winning podcast docuseries about West Bromwich Albion hero Jeff Astle and CTE.

Hana is a fearless and passionate advocate of multi-media storytelling and has covered an exceptional range of stories, taking the big world stuff and making it human. She is a guest lecturer at Goldsmiths College, University of London and has given talks and masterclasses around the world about her work and creative processes.

Hana has created work for Audible, the BBC, the Guardian, National Geographic, Spotify and Warner Brothers among many others.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

1 A Controversial Issue 1

2 Play On 39

3 The Perfect Storm 62

4 The Triumph of the Human Spirit 87

5 Media, Myth and Medicine 113

6 A Culture of Pain 138

7 The Tip of the Iceberg 159

8 The War Zone 188

9 A Delicate Game 234

10 The Frontline 261

Acknowledgements 305

Notes 307