Weekend Review- Mon 19th March

• 19th Mar 2007 at 12:39:27 GMT by Liam Doyle
• 0 comments

Premier League Reading Stars, excellence in sportswriting and the end of sportswriting.

Well, if you can't even rely on your mates to read your book, it's no wonder that your sales are doing so badly. But before we start to feel sorry for poor Frank, how do we know he's not being read? Well, a survey for The Premier League Reading Stars scheme reveals what players are reading. Somewhat surprisingly, there's not much in the way of sporting reflection although Alan Smith has a liking for Valentino Rossi and Tim Cahill displays some Aussie solidarity with Shane Warne's autobiography.

Whilst these surveys are a bit of fun, there is a serious point behind them. Encouraging children to read is a vital component of a child's development and boys in particular are known to have difficulty engaging with books. If footballer players can use their status to encourage greater readership, then all power to the scheme. If you want more details on the initiative visit Reading the Game.

Andy Martin's Stealing the Wave continues to generate plenty of coverage and it was reviewed in depth in yesterday's Observer. Also reviewed, albeit briefly, in the Observer is The Match. I must admit that I wasn't overly impressed with The Match when I read the hardback, but I know my fellow blogger Jacques Claw, thought it was excellent. Just shows how much notice you can take of me!

A couple of other articles worthy of a mention. Paul Kimmage, recently awarded the Sports Journalists' Association Sports Interviewer of the Year award, is on top form with an article on Matt Hampson. On occasion I've found Kimmage affords himself too much prominence in his interviews for my liking, but here he lets the subject takes centre stage and it's much the better for it.

The end of Sportswriting? A heartfelt outpouring against what Rick Rockwell perceives against the dumbing down of the current generation of sportswriters. Don't necessarily agree with absolutely everything that he suggests, but it's hard to disagree with the assertion that although we might have more in terms of volume, we certainly have less of substance.

Finally, the Cricket World Cup. Astonishing games, astonishing results. Drama, intrigue and just pure enjoyment - apart from England obviously. Let's hope the rest of the tournament can continue in similar vein.