Sports Personality of the Year 2015

[SheffieldVillain]

Shortlist announced today.

[ACVilla]

On the face of it that is the most underwhelming list for SPOTY I have ever seen. 2 cyclists, 2 athletes, a gymnast and a female footballer. Pushing the boundaries of inclusion out or simply a lack of great contenders? Probably a bit of both.

Anyway, Murray for me, followed by Lewis then perhaps Tyson Fury if he can keep his mouth shut for long enough not too p*** too many people off.

[spangley1812]

England win the Ashes and no cricketers in the list..........

Broad and or Root should be on the list

[TopDeck113]

Mo Farah for me.  Completing the 5/10k double at three successive global championships is an outstanding achievement.

After that, so long as it's not Lewis Hamilton, I'm not too fussed.

Andy Murray will get an individual award, but it will be called "Team" of the Year.

[AV82EC]

Mo Farah for me.  Completing the 5/10k double at three successive global championships is an outstanding achievement.

After that, so long as it's not Lewis Hamilton, I'm not too fussed.

Andy Murray will get an individual award, but it will be called "Team" of the Year.

Yep me to. What he's done is remarkable. Agree that it shouldn't be Lewis this year.

[themossman]

Fury? Must be joking. It's s disgrace he's in the list, the thick homophobic twat. He's done fuck all in his sport too.

[dave.woodhall]

Fury? Must be joking. It's s disgrace he's in the list, the thick homophobic twat. He's done fuck all in his sport too.

You're joking, yes?

[themossman]

Which bit? About his thickness and homophobia which are on record?

Or his record, which bears no comparison to that of others in their respective fields?

But even if he had mayweather esque credentials in the sport should he be held up as a 'personality'?

[dave.woodhall]

Which bit? About his thickness and homophobia which are on record?

Or his record, which bears no comparison to that of others in their respective fields?

But even if he had mayweather esque credentials in the sport should he be held up as a 'personality'?

I didn't realise that you had to possess above-average intelligence to win a sporting award and if the word 'personality' is to be taken literally Andy Murray and Lewis Hamilton would never get a single vote.

As for doing "fuck all in his sport" he is the undefeated, undisputed world heavyweight champion, the first such British boxer ever.

[themossman]

Homophobia is about ignorance though not intelligence. You don't need a Mensa IQ to not conflate homosexuality and paedophilia

I don't think the winner has to be robin Williams and winston Churchill rolled into one but as its a purely symbolic prize shouldn't it go to someone kids can look up to?

Also, yes Saturday was a good, probably great win. But, it has to be said, against a notorious division clogger who was so clearly past his prime.

[dave.woodhall]

Homophobia is about ignorance though not intelligence. You don't need a Mensa IQ to not conflate homosexuality and paedophilia

I don't think the winner has to be robin Williams and winston Churchill rolled into one but as its a purely symbolic prize shouldn't it go to someone kids can look up to?

Also, yes Saturday was a good, probably great win. But, it has to be said, against a notorious division clogger who was so clearly past his prime.

Who had dominated heavyweight boxing for years and was fighting in a country where he and his brother had controlled the sport for as long.

"Kids can look up to" - I give you the 1990 winner, as well as Lord Sebastian Coe of the Olympic Stadium. 

[paul_e]

Peaty or Rutherford for me, I'm fed up of this being won by sports where they're paid a fortune and already get massive exposure.  Peaty I like because he's had a truly exceptional year and Rutherford because it's not often that someone can say they're the current holder of the olympic, world, commonwealth and european titles at the same time, that deserve a huge amount of attention which I don't think it's been given.  I picked Peaty in the list because I doubt he'll get many votes. I think Farah and Froome have incredibly strong claims because of the 'off-field' elements of their season they've had which have meant both have won major events under huge pressure.

I really hope it's not Murray or Hamilton, I don't think either of them have even had the best year of their own career so for me it would be wrong to give them this when their are people who've really achieved something.  I don't like the idea of Bronze winning it either, yeah the team got to the semi which is decent but singling out one of them for this when they didn't win the tournament doesn't sit right with me, they should rightly be nominated as a team though (although the tennis team have that in the bag).  For a single player in a team to be nominated I want them to have, at times, single-handedly dragged us through a tournament and I don't think that happened.

Fury deserves to be nominated but I can't help but think he's boxing in a pretty poor time for the category and, having now watched the fight, against a champion who looked like it was one fight too many (I've never liked them but you had to give them credit for the workrate and planning they put into fights, he didn't seem to have done that here) which will count against him and, as above, he comes across as a bit of an arsehole as well.

Of the others I think they've all had strong years but I don't really see anything exceptional about it and certainly for Ennis I'd have the same question as with Murray and Hamilton about how good a year she's had in the context of her career

[Villafirst]

Which bit? About his thickness and homophobia which are on record?

Or his record, which bears no comparison to that of others in their respective fields?

But even if he had mayweather esque credentials in the sport should he be held up as a 'personality'?

Erm, he's Heavyweight Champion of the World......end of!

[SheffieldVillain]

I really hope it's not Murray or Hamilton, I don't think either of them have even had the best year of their own career so for me it would be wrong to give them this when their are people who've really achieved something. 

Hamilton won the world title, up until the point where he won it absolutely dominating the championship. What more could he achieve?

I get your point about Murray outside of the Davis Cup not having had his best year, but he did pretty much drag us to a first title in 70 odd years by himself - I would class that as 'really achieving something'.

Hamilton gets my vote by a short distance from Murray with Max Whitlock third (first ever male Brit to win a World Championship gold in gymnastics - yes, I did have to look that up on wikipedia).

[paul_e]

I really hope it's not Murray or Hamilton, I don't think either of them have even had the best year of their own career so for me it would be wrong to give them this when their are people who've really achieved something. 

Hamilton won the world title, up until the point where he won it absolutely dominating the championship. What more could he achieve?

I get your point about Murray outside of the Davis Cup not having had his best year, but he did pretty much drag us to a first title in 70 odd years by himself - I would class that as 'really achieving something'.

Hamilton gets my vote by a short distance from Murray with Max Whitlock third (first ever male Brit to win a World Championship gold in gymnastics - yes, I did have to look that up on wikipedia).

Hamilton - he won, that's undeniable, but he did it in a car that was so far ahead of the field that it really was between him and Rosberg for the title from the very first qualifying session.

Murray - He'll get the team title for his part in the Davis cup, does anything in the rest of his season deserve the award?

As I say, neither has pushed themselves anything like enough this year, on top of that both have already won it for better seasons and both have made vast fortunes from their sport.  Put it this way, is a guy who has an average season and then wins the final event of the year or a guy who coasted to a world title on the back of his engineering team honestly in with a shout ahead of a guy who won 3 world championship golds all in world record times or a guy who has become the reigning champion in all 4 major athletics championships and the diamond league champion.

Peaty and Rutherford have both achieved something special this year and that should be recognised.