Description

*WINNER of the Pinsent Masons Best Sports Writing Award at The British Sports Book Awards 2024*

*SHORTLISTED for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2023*

*SHORTLISTED for Rugby Book of the Year at The British Sports Book Awards 2024*

*A TIMES AND DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR*

*A WATERSTONES BEST SPORTS BOOK OF 2023*

*FOREWORD BY SIR CLIVE WOODWARD*

‘There is a real sense of mission in his voice – and vitriol for those who held back the sport for so long’ The Observer

The definitive account of sport’s concussion crisis, how its ‘dirty secret’ was finally made public and what rugby union must now do to save itself.

‘Peters’ work is in the greatest tradition of British journalism: fearless, unstoppable and committed to righting a profound wrong.’ DAN SNOW

‘Sam Peters has fought a truly magnificent campaign on concussion in rugby . . . sport will be safer because of it.’ STEPHEN JONES

By recounting the untold story of the most influential sports campaign in British newspaper history, which turned concussion in professional rugby from a niche issue into front and back page news, Concussed poses the questions all sports lovers need answering as evidence grows linking sports-related concussions to premature deaths and dementia.

Expanding his research from rugby to football, NFL and other contact sports, Sam Peters brings an unparalleled breadth of experience, depth of knowledge and journalistic rigour to a subject he has written about and campaigned over for a decade.

Now sport’s ‘dirty secret’ is out in the open, Peters asks: how can rugby and other sports save themselves from the vested interests which threaten their very existence?

Publisher Review

'Sam's work is comparable to David Walsh exposing Lance Armstrong. It should go down along with Walsh and the work of someone like Marie Colvin as one of the great pieces of investigative journalism.' * Stephen Jones, Sunday Times rugby correspondent * 'Peters is driven, balanced, incredibly bright and appropriately relentless.' -- David Flatman 'Sam achieved more in a year than most journalists achieve in their lifetimes. There's no doubt his work saved lives.' -- Alison Kervin 'Rugby will never be the same again knowing what we now know. In a time when others obfuscated and trod water, Peters asked the difficult questions and told the terrible stories. Sport needs voices like Sam's.' -- Alan Dymock, editor of Rugby World