Ben Dobson

Ben's first book has a publication date of 28th April 2022. CHASING RAINBOWS - From Innocence to Purgatory and Redemption as a Compulsive Sports Fan, is a memoir of a life following sport which may strike a chord with similarly afflicted sports addicts. The foreword is written by England cricketer Stuart Broad. 'Elevator' There are a lot of books about sport. I know this because I think I've read most of them. Many are written by, or about, those who DID , the people who had the talent, those who made it and told the rest of us what it was like. But there are far more of us who COULDN'T and DIDN'T. We watched, we followed and let's be honest, we pretended on the beaches, fields and playgrounds of our youth, and sometimes just in our own heads, that we were them. Some of us still do. And the truth for us is that our lives became every bit as defined by sport as did those of the people good enough to play it. They have no monopoly on the reality that sport can dominate a life. In retirement they then sell us back their stories. So for the rest of us here's mine. And perhaps yours too. I have tried to convince myself on many occasions that I'm past all this now and that in reflective middle-age I can develop a healthier relationship with sport. But I have no illusions any more. I'm an obsessive follower of sport and specifically English sport and for fifty-odd years I've attempted to use this as a shield against the realities of life. That English sport has only occasionally offered its devotees anything other than pain, frustration and heartbreak means I now accept this was never going to be a very effective tactic. This book is for all those who recognise this condition and have ever had their mood ruined for a day, a week, a month or a year, to a totally inappropriate extent, by their addiction to their teams or their heroes and by some perceived sporting 'disaster'