Sports Personality Of The Year

Blimey, hasn’t the year gone quickly – the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year Award has come around once again.

I’ve long been a little cynical about this rather self-congratulatory event. Every year the BBC turn the hubris and hoopla up another notch, in a desperate attempt to convince us that in terms of significance, SPOTY is right up there with the moon landings or the day man discovered fire.

In reality, the whole thing is essentially a big PR puff for the BBC, while the evening itself mainly involves watching footballers sitting stiltedly in their suits, like thirteen year olds at a wedding. Meanwhile, its voting system remains rather less transparent than North Korea’s.

Nevertheless, it remains the single highest profile award in British sport, and this year we need to pay attention – because not one but two England cricketers have been nominated: Alastair Cook, and Andrew Strauss.

As English cricket followers, we should get behind them anyway, but even from a neutral perspective they’re the most worthy candidates.

Of the other nominees, Mark Cavendish can be immediately dismissed on the basis that (a) he’s from the Isle of Man, and (b) cycling is not a proper sport: it holds no place in the emotional psyche of British sporting culture. Amir Khan has had a good year, but made little dent on the national consciousness. Andy Murray didn’t win anything significant, while athletes Mo Farah and Dai Greene’s feats only took them a few seconds.

All three golfers on the list have admittedly strong claims. Luke Donald dominated the rankings, but that’s not quite the same as landing a marquee victory. Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke both won majors; laudable achievements, but neither are world champions.

Unlike the cricketers. The England team beat everyone in sight this year, and indisputably became the best side in the world. What’s more, they won the Ashes in Australia – the greatest accomplishment in English cricket, and one of the most important in all of British sport.

It’s harder and rarer for team sportsmen to win SPOTY, but they have a much stronger claim.  They represent the whole nation, and they play on all of our behalves – not just for themselves.

The question then, is Cook or Strauss? We wouldn’t have won the Ashes without his astonishing performance in Australia, but you  can say the same about Jimmy Anderson or Jonathan Trott. Everyone contributed in fact, as they also did during the summer victories over Sri Lanka and India. It was a team effort.

That’s why we should vote for Strauss. He may have had a lean year with the bat, but he helmed the side through a record-breaking sequence of achievements in which his leadership and inspiration were of paramount importance.

More importantly, he represents the entire England cricket team, as its representative. A vote for Strauss is also a vote for Cook, Trott, KP, Swann, Bell, Morgan, Prior, Anderson, Broad, Tremlett, Finn and Bresnan.

I hope you’ve found my case persuasive, and I call on you as England supporters to do your duty, and marshall your support squarely behind Andrew Strauss. Put your tick in his box. Because after a year like this, what a travesty it would be if the award ended up in the hands of a grouchy Scotsman who’s never run anything, or a guy who rides a bike.

Maxie Allen