[Archived] Bbc Sports Personality Of The Year Award

[Ste B]

I refuse to believe that more 'sport lovers' called in to vote for Zara Phillips than, say, Joe Calzaghe or Darren Clarke. I'm not having it.

Of course not, but the standard halfwit who votes multiple times in these text polls are 14 year old girls who vote more for the "celebrity" as she's been in hello magazine more often etc. Beth Twaddle probably got 3rd place, as she appeals to the same demographic No chance of an actual sportsperson winning this nowadays, they have more chance of winning a dancing/singing/cookery contest.

[FourLaneBlue]

I can really see people in Manchester, Newcastle, Liverpool, Birmingham Leeds and the Council estates of London all rushing to the phone to vote for Zara, extremely appealing bit of eye candy though she may be.! After all three day eventing is the first topic on everyone's lips every morning!

I'd suggest then you don't know the general public of this country as well as you think you do.

Royalty is still a great source of pride (or arse-licking) to many in this country. Look at how each news station has 'a Royal Correspondent'...there will have been enough 'umble people who will have been happy enough to ring and vote for a nice young royal. Why do you think there is so many 'Royal pullouts' that dot the national papers?

No surprise at all that she won really when you actually think about it. Wish I'd thought about it earlier and put some money on.

Many of the people who voted won't have been avid fans of sport. A combination of there not being a stand-out winner (unlike, say, Flintoff last year or Wilkinson in 2003) and the remnants of deference won it for Zara. Who, to be fair, is a lot fitter than I though she was! Photographs don't do her justice.

Just as Clarke received second place Zara turned to Tindall and seemed to say when the camera cut to her "It's Calzaghe then" or something so it did seem an actual surprise to her.

Edited December 12, 2006 by FourLaneBlue

[gazsimm]

That will be the last time i watch that crap again.

Total waste of time the programe was a fixed and if i was part of the BBC i would be ashamed

[modes98]

The only other credible candidate for PERSONALITY for me was Paul Hunter.

The most moving part of the entire night was the Paul Hunter video for the Helen Rollason Award and the speech by his wife following it. A true sportsman and professional right til his final day.

The queen was up all night texting in to get Zara to number 1.

[Cheshireblue]

I see that nobody is complaining about the fact that St Helens won the team of the year. A far greater injustice. A two bob sport played by Yorkshire and two sides in Lancashire that was won due to a concerted campaign by the club to get all its fans and local people to log onto the 5 live website and for for them.

How they can be considered to be a greater team that the Ryder cup boys who beat the Americans (who have about 7 of the worlds top ten in their team) at a sport played by every country in the sporting world is a mystery to me.

Populist voting is not the way forward.

[Radagast]

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QUOTE(Ste B @ Dec 12 2006, 10:50 ) 467090[/snapback]

Of course not, but the standard halfwit who votes multiple times in these text polls are 14 year old girls who vote more for the "celebrity" as she's been in hello magazine more often etc. Beth Twaddle probably got 3rd place, as she appeals to the same demographic No chance of an actual sportsperson winning this nowadays, they have more chance of winning a dancing/singing/cookery contest.

I'd also bet a more than a few Daily Express readers developed a sudden interest in the poll this year.

[Rovermatt]

I see that nobody is complaining about the fact that St Helens won the team of the year. A far greater injustice. A two bob sport played by Yorkshire and two sides in Lancashire that was won due to a concerted campaign by the club to get all its fans and local people to log onto the 5 live website and for for them.

How they can be considered to be a greater team that the Ryder cup boys who beat the Americans (who have about 7 of the worlds top ten in their team) at a sport played by every country in the sporting world is a mystery to me.

Populist voting is not the way forward.

I have to agree. Rugby League is an excruciating game. How St. Helen's triumphed over the Ryder Cup team is beyond me.

Edited December 12, 2006 by Rovermatt

[Grabbi Graeme]

Shouldnt the horse get the award being as it's the one doing the work

[blue phil]

OK jim , you've convinced me . Zara Phillips it is for me then .....

Well done , Zara ....

[grizfoot]

Just shows what a state British Football, Cricket, Golf, Boxing, Tennis, Motorsport, ect. must be in if a person who rides an horse gets sports personality of the year.

Well done anyway Zara (even though I don't know who you are.)

Edited December 12, 2006 by grizfoot

[Modi]

Interesting breakdown of sports of winners:

Athletics 17

Motor Racing 6

Cricket 4

Football 4

Boxing 4

Tennis 3

Ice skating 3

Equestrianism 3

Golf 2

Swimming 1

Cycling 1

Snooker 1

Rowing 1

Rugby Union 1

[Billy Castell]

I see that nobody is complaining about the fact that St Helens won the team of the year. A far greater injustice. A two bob sport played by Yorkshire and two sides in Lancashire that was won due to a concerted campaign by the club to get all its fans and local people to log onto the 5 live website and for for them.

How they can be considered to be a greater team that the Ryder cup boys who beat the Americans (who have about 7 of the worlds top ten in their team) at a sport played by every country in the sporting world is a mystery to me.

Populist voting is not the way forward.

I agree, but having been to St. Helens by mistake (long story) I can say that the residents need some pleasure in life living in that dump.

And that golf is a load of toss, with the exception of the Ryder Cup.

[3rdpillar]

What a joke, is this just the BBC trying to curry favour with the Royals?

I can really see people in Manchester, Newcastle, Liverpool, Birmingham Leeds and the Council estates of London all rushing to the phone to vote for Zara, extremely appealing bit of eye candy though she may be.! After all three day eventing is the first topic on everyone's lips every morning!

These people you refer to havn't watched BB1 for years, they are watching Simpsons on SKY1.

BBC1, Royals, are you really surprised ?

[benhben]

I dont know if this is true but I saw in the Newspaper the other day, Cant remember which one that Darren Clarke has got a new girlfriend only months after his Wife died. Struck me as awfully soon to be "in love" again!

[Rovermatt]

Hardly our place to judge is it?

[Al]

I dont know if this is true but I saw in the Newspaper the other day, Cant remember which one that Darren Clarke has got a new girlfriend only months after his Wife died. Struck me as awfully soon to be "in love" again!

The new girlfriend is his ex wife's best friend and she has been helping Darren and his family in their time of mourning and indeed has been mourning herself.

Darren has not said that he is 'in love' but that they have become close since his wife's death and he is waiting to see how the relationship develops.

Let's not judge the guy. Communal grief often makes people begin to rely heavily on each other.

[blue phil]

I dont know if this is true but I saw in the Newspaper the other day, Cant remember which one that Darren Clarke has got a new girlfriend only months after his Wife died. Struck me as awfully soon to be "in love" again!

Well good luck to him. Do you want him to be buried with her ?

[jim mk2]

Even more embarrassing than Phillips winning the award was her truly dreadful acceptance speech in which the Royal trollope managed to say the word "amazing" seven times.

"Amazing" to think that she has been privately educated. Money it seems cannot buy the capacity to think.

[AlanK]

And how ironic is it that you complain she can not think and yet take the stats from a red top.

Call yourself a journalist Jim?

Losing your touch old boy

[HugeChin]

I used to love this show but now its gone the same way as A Question of Sport. It hasn't been the same since Des Lynam left for ITV and replacing Steve Rider with the fat brummie off Working Lunch just about sums up how high a priority sport is for the beeb.

[colin]

Ha! Does anyone take this farrago of an event seriously anymore?

Lineker making "jokes." Sue Barker perspiring sweetly in the background? St Helens RLFC very nicely organising a mass voting campaign (good on them.)

Just out of interest I learned today that when Zara's mare won it all those years ago it was to knock George Best into second place. Now that's a real chin-stroker.

Finally, as one wag wrote in The Gaurniad today - "Don't knock Zara, it shows what can be done when you have been raised by a single Mum living on state hand-outs."

Amazing!

[RevidgeBlue]

Interesting breakdown of sports of winners:

Athletics 17

Motor Racing 6

Cricket 4

Football 4

Boxing 4

Tennis 3

Ice skating 3

Equestrianism 3

Golf 2

Swimming 1

Cycling 1

Snooker 1

Rowing 1

Rugby Union 1

Hmmm...................... nothing of course to do with the fact that the BBC has lost all the popular sports like football cricket and motor racing to the commercial concerns of course.

The programme should be renamed "Sports Personality out of the sports that are still shown exclusively on the BBC award."

[Modi]

Hmmm...................... nothing of course to do with the fact that the BBC has lost all the popular sports like football cricket and motor racing to the commercial concerns of course.

The programme should be renamed "Sports Personality out of the sports that are still shown exclusively on the BBC award."

Well no, actually.

By the time the first football winner was named - Bobby Moore in 1966 - there'd already been 4 atheltics winners, 2 swimmers and a show jumper!

Other football winners: Gazza in 1990, Michael Owen in 1998, and then finally Beckham in 2001. Two out of 36 pre-Sky, and two out of 16 post-Sky.

Cricket winners: 1956 (Jim Laker), 1975 (David Steele), 1981 (Ian Botham) and 2005 (Freddie Flintoff). Not exactly dominating the event even when the BBC had the rights.

[blue phil]

Even more embarrassing than Phillips winning the award was her truly dreadful acceptance speech in which the Royal trollope managed to say the word "amazing" seven times.

Bloody hell , jim ; you call me "Enoch" on average about ten times a post

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

I was pleased to see some sanity return to the "BBC Sports Personality Of The Year Award"' tonight.

Last year it was a joke that Zara Phillips won. Let's face it, if she had been the daughter of a dustman instead of the daughter of a royal, she wouldn't have come anywhere close to winning the award. She won the trophy because of her royal connections and it was an insult to all true sporting fans.

Joe Calzaghe's award tonight is long overdue. He's been a world boxing champion for an incredible ten years and is close to the record 25 title defences made by Joe Louis. Calzaghe is certainly one of the finest boxers Britain has produced and if he had not been given the "BBC Sports Personality Of The Year" award at some point during his career, then it would have been a shame, given Calzaghe's fine boxing achievements.

As Barry McGuigan said of a young Calzaghe a decade ago: "He punches ferociously, moves superbly and has the best of the European technique and US aggression."

Lewis Hamilton was the bookies favourite to be given the award tonight. I'm pleased that he didn't win. Talented rookie driver though Hamilton is, he ultimately lost the World Driving Championship from the position of having a commanding points lead. Also Lewis Hamilton raced for a team, McLaren, who were cheats.

Kevin Keegan wouldn't have been given the Sports Personality of the Year award after Newcastle blew a 12-point lead in the Premiership in 1996, so why should Hamilton have been given the award after he had arrived at the penultimate Grand Prix with a 12 point lead and ended up blowing it ?

I suppose that supporters of Hamilton would argue that engineers were at least partly responsible for him losing the Drivers Championship. But Hamilton also certainly made tactical mistakes in the last race in Brazil.

In the year when team McLaren were exposed for the cheats they are (and Steve McClaren was exposed for the clown he is) , it would have been wrong in my opinion to have given the award to Hamilton tonight. Also, for Lewis Hamilton to have claimed that his move from Britain to live in Switzerland is nothing to do with tax, is misleading and it's treating the British public as fools.

Hamilton says that he doesn't like the media attention in Britain. So presumably, that's why he's been happy to do TV adverts for Abbey Building Society, appear on Parkinson, Top Gear, and flaunt himself on other TV shows when he's keen to get the media attention and boost his bank balance.

Just because Hamilton is young, photogenic, has plenty of female admirers and has got some gushing sycophantic newspaper coverage from the liberal media who revel in "New Britain", it doesn't mean that he deserved to win the "Sports Personality Of The Year Award" after he ultimately lost the Drivers Championship. Calzaghe, on the other hand, is a winner and has been for a number of years.

I'm pleased, as I said, that after last year's ridiculous farce with Zara Phillips, a degree of sanity has been restored to the BBC's award tonight. Well Done Joe.