Kimmage hails Hampson

AUTHOR Paul Kimmage has paid tribute to the life-affirming struggle of Matt Hampson, the English rugby player whose paralysis and rehabilitation is told in the book ‘Engage’ which was yesterday voted the williamhill.com Irish sports book of the year.

Hampson was a teammate of Johnny Wilkinson and James Haskell when he was left paralysed from the neck down after a scrum collapsed during an England U21 training session in 2005 since when he has raised money and awareness for other spinal injury victims.

“The writing of ‘Engage’ pushed me to the brink of insanity but the response has been fantastic and I’m thrilled to have won the award,” said Kimmage.

“I’m thrilled for myself, obviously, but mostly for my friend, Matt Hampson, whose guts and courage and unique sense of fun, inspires me every day.

“Over the last few weeks, we’ve had tons of newsprint devoted to the tragedy of sport stars who choose death but almost nothing devoted to those like Matt who choose life. Funny old game.”

‘Engage – The Fall & Rise of Matt Hampson’ won the award ahead of runners-up ‘Life, Death and Hurling’ by Michael Duignan and ‘One Hell of a Ride’ by Paul Carberry. Kimmage is the first person to win both the Irish and International William Hill award, which he won for “Rough Ride” in 1990.

Previous winners of the Irish award, include Paul McGrath’s ‘Back from the Brink’, Dónal Óg Cusack’s ‘Come what May’ and last year’s winner, ‘The Club’ by Christy O’Connor.

* Don’t miss our book review special of all the best sportswriting from 2011 on Saturday, December 17.