Tom Hark Preston Park
Will Post For Cash
- Jul 6, 2003
- 72,322
Looking forward to her potty-mouthed acceptance speech already
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[Other Sport] BBC Sports Personality 2023
- Thread starter The Mole
- Start date
Arthur
Well-known member
Was it? Or was it one of the few sporting events the BBC show these days?
Why is it ok for the sports personality of the year come from a minority sport now when it was pooh poohed when Bob Nudd won it?
Gabbiano
Well-known member
The Women's World Cup was very big news, and drew huge interest, not just from women but from men as well. If there wasn't interest, people wouldn't have watched. Over 14 million people in the UK watched the final (across both BBC and ITV).
It's not that niche anymore, and reaching a football world cup final is a big achievement for whichever gender.
In my opinion, achievement in niche sports should be celebrated too, but I guess the nature of the award is "sports personality" not "sports achievement" therefore unless you have public profile you don't really stand a chance.
mejonaNO12 aka riskit
Well-known member
Without reading this thread I BET there are people who have completely misunderstood the word 'personality' means person and then made some comment about personality traits.
Every. Year.
Every. Year.
Nudd not winning was a travesty. I'm still angry about it
Greg Bobkin
Silver Seagull
- May 22, 2012
- 16,036
And which 'box' do you expect the winner to 'tick'?
Greg Bobkin
Silver Seagull
- May 22, 2012
- 16,036
Read the OP
The guys who spends all year talking about how much he hates snooker, people in snooker, the organisation of snooker and the competitions in snooker? All the while earning millions of pounds from snooker? Probably not the kind of personality they're looking for...
Unquestionably a genius with a cue and an amazing talent though, just unlikely to get the nomination from his sport
Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo
I believe in Joe Hendry
- Oct 4, 2003
- 12,063
The actual definition of the award is "Awarded to the sportsperson whose actions have most captured the public's imagination". So it isn't necessarily about achievement.
The argument about personality just shows how much the meaning of the word has changed since the award was created in 1954. If they just dropped the ality bit we wouldn't have these silly arguments about how much personality someone had and people could actually focus on what the award should be about.
Ronnie got nominated last year and in 2020 and possibly before that, he's never placed though and I doubt he's that bothered about it.
Arthur
Well-known member
Was and drew past tense. Very much tomorrows chips papers now. That said I don't know one bloke who watched any of the womens world cup so I'm not sure I agree men were that interested in it. It seemed to me to be watched by the part time sports fans that appear for two weeks during Wimbledon fortnight and for the four weeks the Olympics is on. The rest of the time no one follows tennis or athletics over here. What are the viewing figures for the WSL each week? Few thousand if that?
Domestically it's still a niche sport IMO. It gets far more media coverage than it should based on it's popularity and that is down to England doing well in the world cup/euros and it still isn't taking off. You've only got to look at our own club, what do they get at Crawley? Couple of thousand if that. Certainly not viable to warrant playing at the Amex.
I don't disagree and I've no issue if this Earps woman wins it. The point I was making was compared to what sports personality was to what it is now it's a real shame. 20 years ago I would never have looked at the list and not known half the people on it. We used to watch it down the pub. I can't remember the last time I bothered.
It's a bit like Christmas number one these days....does anyone still care?
hart's shirt
Well-known member
It's an interesting debate and one in which I don't think is quite as open and shut as some might either think or wish.
The support for the Lionesses at the last 2 major tournaments has certainly increased considerably and Earps certainly played a major role in helping England reach the Final. Despite a few key mistakes (La Finalissima against Brazil and the recent 2nd goal at Wembley against the Netherlands come to mind), she's a standout keeper in the women's game. I wouldn't argue against her SPOTY inclusion at all. The Nike shirt issue has only added to her public profile and can't have hurt her chances.
However, the question of whether domestic women's football in the UK could still be considered a minority or niche sport in terms of viewership or attendance at games (not participation) is still open. BBC Sport clearly has a vested interest here to protect their investment with a promoted narrative of exponential growth of the women's game and consequently feeling the need to be more than a little economical with the full picture.
Here's a small example of this from the last 48 hours in Sunday's WSL games.
The 59.042 record attendance at Arsenal v Chelsea made the BBC national news. In fairness, Arsenal aren't the only side to base their attendances on tickets released rather than numbers through the turnstiles. From the TV pictures, there was nowhere near that number in the ground. But regardless of that, it was a great turnout and one that was trumpeted widely across the BBC news channels - match report, 606 as well as the aforementioned national news to name just a few. All good.
What wasn't mentioned were the attendances at the other 4 Sunday games. In fact, they weren't revealed at all on the BBC Sport website match reports until today - 2 days after the games had finished. One can only wonder how this could possibly have happened to all 4 games. (With it happening on a regular basis, it's not too difficult to work out!)
Since the Arsenal v Chelsea attendance was announced whilst the game was happening, surely it would've been just as easy if not easier to get the gate figures on the same day, especially as the attendances at the other 4 games were all at least 27 times lower!
2,152 Tottenham v Man United
1,964 Brighton v Leicester
1,341 Liverpool v Bristol City
614 West Ham v Everton
BBC Sport both can and should support and promote the women's game, whether it's considered niche or mainstream.
But insulting our intelligence by adopting an Emperor's New Clothes attendance approach isn't likely to help.
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Coldeanseagull
Opinionated
Why is McIlroy on that list? I thought it was 'Sports' personality and hacking is not a sport 
Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo
I believe in Joe Hendry
- Oct 4, 2003
- 12,063
Gets my vote.
Just googled Mary Earp
Yeah she should win it
ManOfSussex
We wunt be druv
I don't remember Broad doing much of particular note in the last year other than bowling a load of no balls that cost us the first test against Australia.
