How can ordinary decent working class people vote for someone who was born with a silver spoon in their mouth? Especially when there were more deserving candidates.
This year, although facing stiff competition from fellow sporting superstars such as Darren Clark and Jenson Button, Zara Philips won the BBC Sports personality of the year. OK so granted Jenson didn’t really do all that much this year. That said I still feel that Her Royal Highness Zara Philips won more because of her royal status and less because of her sporting achievements.
I’m not taking anything away from her abilities but I think that, having experienced horse riding for myself, it’s nowhere near as hard going as ten rounds in a boxing ring. So why didn’t Joe Calzaghe win. It’s plain and simple really, he doesn’t have blue blood.
Beth Tweddle (who came third) works in the Co-Op from five until eight every morning so that she can afford to travel around the globe to compete for Britain in major gymnastics competitions. She was the only person in the Great Britain team to come home from the World Championships with a medal. Indeed, she managed to bring home gold medal. Well done to her but the sports personality award didn’t come her way either.
Although I don’t personally count darts as a sport, Phil “The power” Taylor is and has been the undefeated world darts champions for years. I feel that this deserves more recognition than Philips achievements. She has plenty of cash and can afford the time she spends training without having to worry about paying the bills.
Darren Clarke, my personal choice for the award, came second. Over the past ten years Clarke has won sixteen major golfing competitions and only this summer he helped Europe defend the Ryder Cup in his home country - this at a time when he was experiencing bereavement, following the untimely death of his young wife only weeks before he competed for the European team.
Yes this competition is about whom the public think was the best British sports personality of the past year but I don’t think that including a member of the royal family is fair. The final result was based on a telephone vote where the likelihood was that the public would support HRH Queen Elizabeth’s grand-daughter over an ordinary person turned gymnast or a golfer extraordinaire.
About this article
This article was written by Ben Ritchie from our Belfast newsroom. It was published on the Reach for the Sky website.
