BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2014

The Bould Rabbit

If Eddie Irvine won the F1 Championship in 2008 he would deserve every award going, considering he retired from the sport six years earlier.

I'm not saying golf doesn't require huge levels of concentration. Of course it does. Rory would have been a deserving winner tonight. I don't dispute that. All I'm saying is that Lewis deserved it too. And as we all know - there can be only one winner. And that also explains why none of the other F1 drivers were considered for a nomination. How many other players on the golf tours were nominated?

Perhaps the voting method is flawed but that's the way it is and British sports fans voting tonight are more likely to remember the Union Flag being raised and British Anthem being played on the podium of Abu Dhabi a few weeks ago than any of Rory McIlroy's difficulties.

Martin567

The Bould Rabbit wrote: »

If Eddie Irvine won the F1 Championship in 2008 he would deserve every award going, considering he retired from the sport six years earlier.

I'm not saying golf doesn't require huge levels of concentration. Of course it does. Rory would have been a deserving winner tonight. I don't dispute that. All I'm saying is that Lewis deserved it too. And as we all know - there can be only one winner. And that also explains why none of the other F1 drivers were considered for a nomination. How many other players on the golf tours were nominated?

Perhaps the voting method is flawed but that's the way it is and British sports fans voting tonight are more likely to remember the Union Flag being raised and British Anthem being played on the podium of Abu Dhabi a few weeks ago than any of Rory McIlroy's difficulties.

I'm well aware that Eddie Irvine wasn't still driving in 2008. I only mentioned him to further develop the hypothetical situation you mentioned in your earlier post! If he'd still been racing in 2008 & won the F1 title, he certainly wouldn't have deserved the Irish Sportspersons award ahead of Padraig Harrington.

I asked about the other F1 drivers because you seemed to feel that the greater risks involved in F1 merited greater consideration for Lewis over Rory. I'm simply pointing out that the other drivers also faced these risks so it shouldn't have any relevance.

The bottom line is that Lewis Hamilton didn't deserve this award ahead of Rory McIlroy as his achievements for the year don't compare in any way. I think being from Northern Ireland probably didn't help and also the fact that Lewis's title win was only 3 weeks ago.

Go Harvey Go

Martin567 wrote: »

The bottom line is that Lewis Hamilton didn't deserve this award ahead of Rory McIlroy as his achievements for the year don't compare in any way. I think being from Northern Ireland probably didn't help and also the fact that Lewis's title win was only 3 weeks ago.

To quote Shakespeare: what's done cannot be undone.

Also, we had an NI winner only four years ago...

Go Harvey Go

So Lewis picked up around 86,000 votes more than Rory... :eek:

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/sports-personality/30473670

But even I can't disagree it was a surprise result. When was the last time the bookies got it so wrong?

The Bould Rabbit

What price was Hamilton?

Go Harvey Go

The Bould Rabbit wrote: »

What price was Hamilton?

He was around 6/4. Rory was around 1/2.

K4t

At the end of the day, golf is a glorified game which involves walking around a field for four or five hours while someone else carries your bag. It does take great skill and mental strength of course but should never be compared to actual sports which test the human body to its limits both mentally and physically.

In other words, If Andy Murray had won even one major this year, I'd have had him ahead of McIllroy. Hamilton was fully deserving of the award.

Martin567

K4t wrote: »

At the end of the day, golf is a glorified game which involves walking around a field for four or five hours while someone else carries your bag. It does take great skill and mental strength of course but should never be compared to actual sports which test the human body to its limits both mentally and physically.

In other words, If Andy Murray had won even one major this year, I'd have had him ahead of McIllroy. Hamilton was fully deserving of the award.

Nonsense. I would consider top level golf to be sport in its purest form. Incredibly skillful and mentally demanding, each player is completely responsible for their own performance as nothing an opponent does can directly impact the execution of a shot. Earnings are absolutely performance related and the margins between success and failure are often tiny. Every player starts each event on an even footing and the number of potential winners is huge. To achieve what McIlroy has done in 2014 is extraordinary and there is little doubt that this is something that many of the people who voted for this award simply do not understand.

I have no doubt that Lewis Hamilton has had to show massive dedication to get where he is in F1. However, the problem with it as a sport is that his "equipment" in 2014 was vastly superior to every other driver bar Nico Rosberg. Judging who actually is the best driver can only be done fairly if they were all driving equally powered cars. F1 is a confusion of team & individual elements. Obviously Mercedes were the best team but there really shouldn't be an individual competition at all. What Hamilton proved is that he is a better driver than Rosberg. No more than that.

Go Harvey Go

Martin567 wrote: »

To achieve what McIlroy has done in 2014 is extraordinary and there is little doubt that this is something that many of the people who voted for this award simply do not understand.

I have no doubt that Lewis Hamilton has had to show massive dedication to get where he is in F1. However, the problem with it as a sport is that his "equipment" in 2014 was vastly superior to every other driver bar Nico Rosberg. Judging who actually is the best driver can only be done fairly if they were all driving equally powered cars. F1 is a confusion of team & individual elements. Obviously Mercedes were the best team but there really shouldn't be an individual competition at all. What Hamilton proved is that he is a better driver than Rosberg. No more than that.

Damon Hill was voted SPOTY in 1996 having won the World Championship in a fashion similar to that of Lewis this year - his Williams-Renault FW18 was by far the best car, and the only serious challenge came from his team-mate Jacques Villeneuve.

And even though Damon was and still is a thoroughly likeable guy, I'm sure there were complaints then as well - there had been much success for England on and off the pitch at Euro 96, of course, while Steve Redgrave had won his fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal in Atlanta (by far the best moment for Britain at those Games). Plus this was the second time that Damon had been voted SPOTY - the first having been only two years earlier.

Similarly, Nigel Mansell was voted SPOTY in 1992 having utterly dominated that year's World Championship in the near-bulletproof Williams-Renault FW14B. He, too, was picking up the award for the second time, having also done it in 1986. (The only other person to have been voted SPOTY twice, incidentally, is boxer Henry Cooper, in 1967 and 1970.) Plus Britain's Olympians had been more successful in Barcelona than they would be in Atlanta, with Linford Christie winning gold in the men's 100 metres, and Sally Gunnell winning a hurdles gold and a relay bronze.

Martin567

The issues I, and many others, have with Lewis Hamilton winning would obviously apply to Damon Hill and Nigel Mansell also. For whatever reason, success in F1 is vastly overrated by the British public compared with other sports.

Taking a step back, I would say that it is ultimately not really a serious award at all. Looking at the recent roll of honour, Zara Phillips & Ryan Giggs were also ridiculous winners. Giggs would have merited a lifetime achievement award due to his longevity but certainly nothing beyond that. It is ultimately a popularity award rather than anything based on a comparison of relative merit and achievements in that year.

locum-motion

Martin567 wrote: »

...Taking a step back, I would say that it is ultimately not really a serious award at all. Looking at the recent roll of honour, Zara Phillips & Ryan Giggs were also ridiculous winners. Giggs would have merited a lifetime achievement award due to his longevity but certainly nothing beyond that. It is ultimately a popularity award rather than anything based on a comparison of relative merit and achievements in that year.

That's why it's called the Sports PersonALITY of the Year!

On the other hand, RTÉ's version is called the Sports Person of the Year.

Although I ruffled a few feathers on this forum 2 years ago when I pointed this out (See Here).

Pherekydes

locum-motion wrote: »

Although I ruffled a few feathers on this forum 2 years ago when I pointed this out (See Here).

At least she plays a sport!

SPOTY is a joke. So many non sports, so many nonentities.