Dreaming the Impossible

Shortlisted for the 2023 Sports Book Awards for Best Sports Writing of the Year

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.

The Marcus Rashford mural featured on the cover was commissioned by the Withington Walls community art project, created by artist AskeP19 (@akse_p19) and based on photography by Danny Cheetham (@dannycheetham). To find out more about the Withington Walls project, you can follow them at @Withingtonwalls on both Twitter and Instagram, or visit their website: www.withingtonwalls.co.uk