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Zara Phillips won it in 2006.
i suggest that says most of what you need to know about it.
No it doesn’t she was at the time the reigning World and European three day event champion, something rarely done and is still the reigning World champion and favourite for this year’s Badminton on the evidence of her win last weekend on her World Champion horse, the fragile legged, Troytown.
Zara has had to work for her place in the eventing hierarchy with cheap horses, Troytown only cost £400 and is a first class rider who never whinges when things go wrong and is as tough as they come. I saw her took a right purler at Belton a year or two back and also saw her take a crashing fall at last year’s Burghley. Her first and only concern was for her horse who was uninjured. Don’t knock her, she is very good.
You may have gathered I am a fan.
It was awful seeing her lost for words when she won; when she was interviewed prior to that Clare Balding said something about her being the most high profile sportsperson and she replied something to the effect of ‘why; because I’ve got a dodgy family!?’…thats the real Zara Phillips….I have nothing but admiration for her; I actually cried when she won the World Championships……really pleased to hear that Toytown is back to his best as well. [hasten to add that I’m not a Royalist in any way; quite the opposite; I just regard her as a damn fine sportswoman, in an incredibly dangerous sport].
Zara Phillips won it in 2006.
i suggest that says most of what you need to know about it.
No it doesn’t……..
Zara has had to work for her place in the eventing hierarchy with cheap horses…
Don’t knock her, she is very good.
You may have gathered I am a fan.
I’m not knocking her.
I’m just saying that an award is to be judged by the folk who get it.
She got this award ostensibly for her way with horses in competitive sport.
If one is of the view – as I happen to be – that her way with horses in competitive sport is considerably inferior to that of AP and many other jockeys who have never been in the running for it, to me that says something else is at work in terms of the criteria for this award.
I’m sure she didn’t ask to be awarded it, so its no reflection on her that she ended up with it.
Maybe its an award for someone participating in some way in sport who provides the BBC with some of its most memorable camera moments in the previous 12 months?
But then was Eddie The Eagle in the running for it in his Olympic year ?
What do you think the criteria are for it ?
best regards
wit
saw this quote from the president of the singapore sports council last week and wondered if it ever had been, or ever will be, seen at the bbc:
" Unfortunately, it was a bad year; no one achieved anything noteworthy of the standard to be Sportsman of the Year ".
if the bbc always manage to come up with a SPOTY, i suggest it points even further to the award having but a loose correlation to sporting achievement.
Wasn’t the "Best turned Out" in a Classic ( a long while ago) awarded to one of the police horses one year ? It was a particularly bad example of horses that year, very plain, and I think someone wanted to award it to the police horse on duty but wasn’t allowed !
Just looked up Phillips Idowu’s various price’s on oddschecker and they range from 169’s down to just 16’s with BF and 888sport, respectively, while Jessica Ennis is generally 3’s!
How can this be? Phillips’ story is far more heart warming with probably his last chance of major glory resulting in just that, whereas this will surely be the first of many heptathlon titles for Jessica Ennis. Where’s the charm in comparison? Have they got these prices the wrong way round? Where’s the logic? (not that any semblance of logic is ever applied, but…)
When I look at the whole list, I honestly can’t see a more deserving winner than Idowu – a good old, hard working track and field athlete who finally got what his years of toil and frustration deserved.
(discounting AP for the sake of argument and with Murrays U.S. Open failure granted).
There are several reasons, OTS, although I agree that the 170 on BF is a bit much, but here’s probably the most obvious demonstration as to why Ennis is much preferred:
What to do is lay two pictures on the table (or even your computer desktop)- one of Phillips Idowu, the other of Jessica Ennis. Then ask yourself, based on those pictures alone: which one of these two are the Great British public going to vote for?
Just looked up Phillips Idowu’s various price’s on oddschecker and they range from 169’s down to just 16’s with BF and 888sport, respectively, while Jessica Ennis is generally 3’s! :shock:
How can this be? Phillips’ story is far more heart warming with probably his last chance of major glory resulting in just that, whereas this will surely be the first of many heptathlon titles for Jessica Ennis. Where’s the charm in comparison? Have they got these prices the wrong way round? Where’s the logic? (not that any semblance of logic is ever applied, but…)
When I look at the whole list, I honestly can’t see a more deserving winner than Idowu – a good old, hard working track and field athlete who finally got what his years of toil and frustration deserved.
(discounting AP for the sake of argument and with Murrays U.S. Open failure granted). :D
Despite the excellent case you make for Idowu the reality is that niether will win principally because their sports have only temporary mass following during Olympics etc and they would need a well timed media push like some similarly placed former winners ( Zara Phillips) in order to catch on.
Additionally a look at the rollcall of some of the previous winners plus a reminder of the dated and plainly silly name of the award (sports man and or sports woman of the year would surely be clearer and better) will confirm that the kind of criteria you rightly mention probably don’t get considered when it comes to the time for whoever bothers to vote on these things, personally although I care about sport very much, phone voting for anything is something I wouldn’t waste my time doing not least because we never see the actual figures for all of these phone votes ever-what are they afraid of?)
I don’t know if Jessica Ennis will win because Athletics isn’t a mainstream sport, but she’s got far more chance than Idowu IMO. She’s young, pretty, bubbly and has fought her way back from injury to get a Gold. I expect she’ll be second but someone else I can’t think of might come along and grab first.
A jockey will never win the SPOTY because in the eyes of a large number of the British public racing is not a sport and is considered tainted because of its close association with gambling.
No Corm, I don’t think he’s good enough to win the F1 title unless his team can keep the 1 second plus advantage they have all season, which they won’t.
Murray is fav at 3.75 which is shocking odds considering he is 7/2 to win Wimbledon and if he wins that the SPOTY is his.
I think the best speculative bet at this time has to be David Haye at 16s as if he wins his next fight he is a home grown genuine world heavyweight champion and boxers of this ilk get fair recognition at the SPOTY awards – Calzaghe, Lewis and McGuigan won it for similar or less feats
and Bruno, Hatton and others placed.
If Haye wins his next fight which he will be layable at about 2/1, his price will tumble dramatically to probable favouritism and if he takes on and beats the other Klitschko before the awards, it’ll be a done deal as he”l have the undisputed titles.
Back Haye at 16s and lay him for his next fight at 2ish for a free bet?
Calzaghe was an unbeaten world champion of 10 / 11 years I’d hardly call his feat "similar" or lesser than David Haye’s. When Calzaghe won the award it wasn’t really for what he’d done that year more for what he’d done overall despite the fact that he went to the US and beat Bernard Hopkins.
Calzaghe is the most under-rated British sportsman of all time and a true legend of sport.
No Corm, I don’t think he’s good enough to win the F1 title unless his team can keep the 1 second plus advantage they have all season, which they won’t.
Murray is fav at 3.75 which is shocking odds considering he is 7/2 to win Wimbledon and if he wins that the SPOTY is his.
I think the best speculative bet at this time has to be David Haye at 16s as if he wins his next fight he is a home grown genuine world heavyweight champion and boxers of this ilk get fair recognition at the SPOTY awards – Calzaghe, Lewis and McGuigan won it for similar or less feats
and Bruno, Hatton and others placed.
If Haye wins his next fight which he will be layable at about 2/1, his price will tumble dramatically to probable favouritism and if he takes on and beats the other Klitschko before the awards, it’ll be a done deal as he”l have the undisputed titles.
Back Haye at 16s and lay him for his next fight at 2ish for a free bet?
Duplicate post.
No Corm, I don’t think he’s good enough to win the F1 title unless his team can keep the 1 second plus advantage they have all season, which they won’t.
Murray is fav at 3.75 which is shocking odds considering he is 7/2 to win Wimbledon and if he wins that the SPOTY is his.
I think the best speculative bet at this time has to be David Haye at 16s as if he wins his next fight he is a home grown genuine world heavyweight champion and boxers of this ilk get fair recognition at the SPOTY awards – Calzaghe, Lewis and McGuigan won it for similar or less feats
and Bruno, Hatton and others placed.
If Haye wins his next fight which he will be layable at about 2/1, his price will tumble dramatically to probable favouritism and if he takes on and beats the other Klitschko before the awards, it’ll be a done deal as he”l have the undisputed titles.
Back Haye at 16s and lay him for his next fight at 2ish for a free bet?
Calzaghe was an unbeaten world champion of 10 / 11 years I’d hardly call his feat "similar" or lesser than David Haye’s. When Calzaghe won the award it wasn’t really for what he’d done that year more for what he’d done overall despite the fact that he went to the US and beat Bernard Hopkins.
Calzaghe is the most under-rated British sportsman of all time and a true legend of sport.
[quote="Ian
Calzaghe is the most under-rated British sportsman of all time and a true legend of sport.As great as Calzaghe has been, I think that’s overstating it a bit.
Since boxing split its titles several ways in both weights and governing bodies all of its "champions" have been tainted a bit by this.My vote for British sportsman for the ages goes to the incredible CB Fry.
Punters back Sea The Stars for Irish Sports Personality of the Year
Bookie Paddy Power has been forced to install Sea The Stars into this year’s Irish Sports Personality of the Year betting following requests from punters on the champion horse.
Such is the demand for John Oxx’s colt the bookie has made the horse second favourite to win the award at 11/4.
Whilst it remains to be seen if competition rules will allow RTÉ to enter the horse for their annual award it would appear that such is the popularity of arguably the greatest horse ever seen that there may be a backlash from its thousands of supporters if they restrict the competition to two legged entrants only.
With Ireland winning their first rugby Grand Slam for 70 years and Leinster the Heineken Cup, the ever popular Brian O’Driscoll is understandably a hot favourite at 1/4 followed by Sea The Stars. And much like his season, the champion horse is a country mile ahead of all the other challengers.
Beyond those two champions, Kilkenny manager Brian Cody is the nearest challenger at 16/1 whilst star of this year’s Cheltenham Festival Ruby Walsh is 28/1.
Paddy Power said: ‘Sea The Stars has been well requested today since his historic 2000 Guineas, Derby, and Arc treble forcing us to make him a very live contender at 11/4. It’s pretty much a two horse race – and it’s the first time you can say, for once, that 50% of that old phrase is actually true!’
Horses have fared well in sports awards before with Bob Champion and Aldiniti winning Team of the Year in the BBC’s 1981 honours.
RTE Irish Sports Personality of the Year
1/4 Brian O’Driscoll
11/4 Sea The Stars
16/1 Brian Cody
20/1 Olive Loughnane
28/1 Ruby Walsh
33/1 Tommy Walsh
33/1 Katie Taylor
50/1 Robbie Keane
80/1 BARSource: http://www.rte.ie/sport/2009/1006/paddypower_isp_seathestars.html
”such is the popularity”….
I find this astonishing considering his connections have been at pains to avoid all Irish Classics this season with him only showing up in one race at Leopardstown and nothing at all in prospect for next season.
Pity the new young racegoer looking forward to seeing him run again, a new found hero, having been so taken in by all the hype and excitement surrounding this horse.
Presumably they can make an appointment to see him run round a paddock?
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