Bbc Sports Personality Of The Year

[refereerick]

It is according the BWitchers definition.....or should it be "activity involving physical exertion and/or skill"?But the definition isn't the b all and end all i think.Practically any game needs one or other or both.....conkers,tossing the caber,tossing a welly,tossing a dwarf.....

With regards to your last three words, I don't think what you do, on your own in the privacy of your bedroom counts as a sport

[longlivefrankie]

quite a few people i asked in work today don't consider motor sports as sports!

[Irk Deflector]

Fancy a Game of Darts.

Very sporting!!!

 

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

Sport - the closest to an International definition of Sport is provided by SportAccord. Their criteria;

 

Must have an element of competition

Must not harm animals

Not rely on equipment supplied by one manufacturer

Not rely on any luck being built into the sport.

 

They consider Chess to be a sport, seems fair that Darts should qualify!

Edited November 29, 2013 by Irk Deflector

[mc1874]

It's a farce he's not on the short list. He will get a ten second mention in the show; pathetic. Tai is a world champion; to stick Ian Bell for example for me doesn't stack up. Bell had a good ashes. Fair enough but over the year who's sporting achievement is better?

[Guest]

It's a farce he's not on the short list. He will get a ten second mention in the show; pathetic. Tai is a world champion; to stick Ian Bell for example for me doesn't stack up. Bell had a good ashes. Fair enough but over the year who's sporting achievement is better?

 

In a major sports world, sadly, the Ashes is a national institution - as is Wimbledon tennis. The 'Birmingham Mail' appear very excited over the inclusion of cricketer Ian Bell.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/ian-bell-nominated-bbc-sports-6344581

Bell's record in the Ashes looks pretty impressive to me.

In posting this I am not attempting to detract from the merits of Tai Woffinden's World GP success. A repeat success in the 2014 GP Series should see him get his place in the SPOTY short list.

Edited November 29, 2013 by Guest

[mickthemuppet]

In a recent quiz I took part in a question was what s the most dangerous sport in the world. I.E in which sport are the most fatalities

Not part of the answer but there are more deaths in Professional Wrestling than there are in Professional Boxing yet Professional Wrestling is not regarded as a sport

Edited November 29, 2013 by mickthemuppet

[Guest]

In a recent quiz I took part in a question was what s the most dangerous sport in the world. I.E in which sport are the most fatalities

Not part of the answer but there are more deaths in Professional Wrestling than there are in Professional Boxing yet Professional Wrestling is not regarded as a sport

 

A little offbeat tidbit: pre-war West Ham, Crystal Palace and Canada rider Eddie 'Flash' Barker was also a professional wrestler - before and after his speedway career. He lived, I think, until he was 91 years old.

[Halifaxtiger]

Yours is a stupid comment ..Tennis a pure skill game ..Mortor Sport on the other hand depends a lot on how fast your car or bike is . Without that you won't win anything ...take those rose tinted speedway glasses off .

 

Your comment about the Sailing is another stupid one as that cup race was watch by millions around the world unlike any Speedway meeting.

 

 

So if all machinery was standardised (as many have called for) Danny Halsey would be able to compete 'a lot' with Ward, Woffinden, Holder and Hancock.

 

That's not just stupid, its positively

 

Machinery counts of course but you can spot talent and skill in speedway without that just as much as you can in any other sport.

 

Millions did indeed watch it........in New Zealand. In Britain it was watched by less than 30,000 people - or under half of the audience of the EL match held the same week.

 

No rose tinted glasses here, just a view that the BBC's choice in one case at least was wholly unjustifiable when compared with others who might have been nominated.

 

 

 

Really? Tai has got his World Champion medal and trophy. I'm sure people won't be looking in 20 years time at who won SPOTY in 2013

 

His achievement was never going to be of note to the BBC, why would it? They don't look to appease the minority, they work to a model - The sports that people know about, the ones that attract big crowds and those that appeared in the Olympic games etc.

 

Speedway gets the coverage it deserves frankly. It's a joke!

 

 

Look at this years latest embarrassment the saga surrounding the Birmingham Brummies. Why publicise that?

 

I am sure that winning the World Championship more than compensated for not being nominated, but that's not the point. The point is why was someone who assisted the Americans - he didn't even compete - to win the Americas Cup nominated over a British World Champion ?

 

As Bewitcher's TV figures show, you can make a case that speedway is twice as attractive as sailing and lets face it, even when speedway was much bigger than it is now it never got the coverage it deserved. To me, this is about the BBC favouring certain sports without any justification over others.

 

I certainly don't think that Woffinden's World Chamionship should be blurred by other happenings in speedway - that would be most unfair. This is about what he has done, not the state of the sport. To apply that to one other nominee, the exposure of arguably the greatest ever Tour de France rider as a drugs cheat should not in anyway reflect on what he has achieved.

 

I'd actually say playing on the tennis circuit is more demanding than riding a speedway bike. Motor sport is surprisingly physically demanding, and I'd imagine speedway is especially so, but speedway meetings involve 4 or 5 bursts of exertion for a minute of so, whilst tennis matches can take hours. Moreover, tennis players probably play more matches than speedway riders do meetings over the course of a season. And whilst we can admire speedway riders still competing with broken collar bones and the like, tennis players would simply be unable to play.

 

I'd think you have to be far fitter to be a top-flight tennis player than speedway rider. Yes, speedway riders may have more bravery (or daftness), but bravery is also a relative thing. If you do something all the time and have confidence in your abilities, then it becomes second nature and you compartmentalise the risk.

 

Andy Murray plays in 18 tournaments this year. If he gets to the latter stages of each one, he'll probably play about 100m matches. Woffinden rides in 3 leagues each week, the SWTC and the GP's (and other meetings, such as the British Final). That's around 100 meetings, but spread over half the time.

 

Some of those who have withdrawn from the EL have cited the demands of travel. Woffinden might well compete in 4 meetings in 4 countries in 4 days, something Murray will never do.

 

I once asked Barrie Evans about injury and he told me that you just don't think about it, so 'compartmentalise' is pretty fair. But I'd say you brush aside just how dangerous speedway is far too easily, suggesting that it isn't much of a demand at all when in fact its a huge one. Every time a rider comes up to the tapes he risks injury, paralysis and death, something a tennis player will never do. In addition, no matter how confident, skilled and able he is, he isn't out there alone - he's also relying on the skill of three others.

 

I really don't think you can under estimate the sheer courage and daring that it takes to ride a souped up 500cc motor bike without brakes at high speed, and its fair to say that while anyone of us here could cope with the demand of knocking a ball backwards and forawrds over a net, very, very few could cope with the demands of speedway.

[Guest]

 

 

So if all machinery was standardised (as many have called for) Danny Halsey would be able to compete 'a lot' with Ward, Woffinden, Holder and Hancock.

 

That's not just stupid, its positively

 

Machinery counts of course but you can spot talent and skill in speedway without that just as much as you can in any other sport.

 

Millions did indeed watch it........in New Zealand. In Britain it was watched by less than 30,000 people - or under half of the audience of the EL match held the same week.

 

No rose tinted glasses here, just a view that the BBC's choice in one case at least was wholly unjustifiable when compared with others who might have been nominated.

 

 

I am sure that winning the World Championship more than compensated for not being nominated, but that's not the point. The point is why was someone who assisted the Americans - he didn't even compete - to win the Americas Cup nominated over a British World Champion ?

 

As Bewitcher's TV figures show, you can make a case that speedway is twice as attractive as sailing and lets face it, even when speedway was much bigger than it is now it never got the coverage it deserved. To me, this is about the BBC favouring certain sports without any justification over others.

 

I certainly don't think that Woffinden's World Chamionship should be blurred by other happenings in speedway - that would be most unfair. This is about what he has done, not the state of the sport. To apply that to one other nominee, the exposure of arguably the greatest ever Tour de France rider as a drugs cheat should not in anyway reflect on what he has achieved.

 

 

Andy Murray plays in 18 tournaments this year. If he gets to the latter stages of each one, he'll probably play about 100m matches. Woffinden rides in 3 leagues each week, the SWTC and the GP's (and other meetings, such as the British Final). That's around 100 meetings, but spread over half the time.

 

Some of those who have withdrawn from the EL have cited the demands of travel. Woffinden might well compete in 4 meetings in 4 countries in 4 days, something Murray will never do.

 

I once asked Barrie Evans about injury and he told me that you just don't think about it, so 'compartmentalise' is pretty fair. But I'd say you brush aside just how dangerous speedway is far too easily, suggesting that it isn't much of a demand at all when in fact its a huge one. Every time a rider comes up to the tapes he risks injury, paralysis and death, something a tennis player will never do. In addition, no matter how confident, skilled and able he is, he isn't out there alone - he's also relying on the skill of three others.

 

I really don't think you can under estimate the sheer courage and daring that it takes to ride a souped up 500cc motor bike without brakes at high speed, and its fair to say that while anyone of us here could cope with the demand of knocking a ball backwards and forawrds over a net, very, very few could cope with the demands of speedway.

 

I think that top class tennis is more than just knocking a ball backwards and forwards across a net. It can be very physically demanding as some of the long-time matches played over many sets at Wimbledon this summer proved.

Not that I demean the bravery and skill of those who ride speedway bikes - or those who TRY to do so as trainees and never get beyond that stage. Getting on to a speedway bike and they trying to ride it can be frightening. Those who choose to race them are very brave indeed.

[Humphrey Appleby]

Some of those who have withdrawn from the EL have cited the demands of travel. Woffinden might well compete in 4 meetings in 4 countries in 4 days, something Murray will never do.

But Murray may potentially play 4 matches in 4 days, and those matches will be 2-3 hours plus. The average amount of time spent riding in a speedway meeting is 5-6 minutes, even if those 5-6 minutes will be all-out exertion.

 

But I'd say you brush aside just how dangerous speedway is far too easily, suggesting that it isn't much of a demand at all when in fact its a huge one.

I didn't suggest speedway wasn't dangerous, but my point was that riders must compartmentalise that danger. If they thought about the consequences each time they went out, they wouldn't do it.

 

In fact, I do a bit of competitive karting and whilst it's undoubtedly much safer than speedway, there's probably someone killed every few years which isn't far off the death rate in speedway. If I thought about the danger every time I went out, I simply wouldn't be able to race properly, but I've enough confidence in my equipment and ability to feel I can minimise the risk. I don't put it in the same league as speedway, but I've little doubt the same thought processes apply.

 

I really don't think you can under estimate the sheer courage and daring that it takes to ride a souped up 500cc motor bike without brakes at high speed, and its fair to say that while anyone of us here could cope with the demand of knocking a ball backwards and forawrds over a net, very, very few could cope with the demands of speedway.

I think it unlikely that you'd have 40+ year old champions in tennis, whereas Greg Hancock has recently proved it can be done in speedway. The danger may be higher in speedway, but I think top-flight tennis requires a higher level of physicality.

[orion]

Is Dominoes a Sport? No - it is a Pub Game like Darts.

No it's a pizza

[orion]

 

 

So if all machinery was standardised (as many have called for) Danny Halsey would be able to compete 'a lot' with Ward, Woffinden, Holder and Hancock.

 

That's not just stupid, its positively

 

Machinery counts of course but you can spot talent and skill in speedway without that just as much as you can in any other sport.

 

Millions did indeed watch it........in New Zealand. In Britain it was watched by less than 30,000 people - or under half of the audience of the EL match held the same week.

 

No rose tinted glasses here, just a view that the BBC's choice in one case at least was wholly unjustifiable when compared with others who might have been nominated.

 

 

I am sure that winning the World Championship more than compensated for not being nominated, but that's not the point. The point is why was someone who assisted the Americans - he didn't even compete - to win the Americas Cup nominated over a British World Champion ?

 

As Bewitcher's TV figures show, you can make a case that speedway is twice as attractive as sailing and lets face it, even when speedway was much bigger than it is now it never got the coverage it deserved. To me, this is about the BBC favouring certain sports without any justification over others.

 

I certainly don't think that Woffinden's World Chamionship should be blurred by other happenings in speedway - that would be most unfair. This is about what he has done, not the state of the sport. To apply that to one other nominee, the exposure of arguably the greatest ever Tour de France rider as a drugs cheat should not in anyway reflect on what he has achieved.

 

 

Andy Murray plays in 18 tournaments this year. If he gets to the latter stages of each one, he'll probably play about 100m matches. Woffinden rides in 3 leagues each week, the SWTC and the GP's (and other meetings, such as the British Final). That's around 100 meetings, but spread over half the time.

 

 

As I said before unless your on fast bikes or a fast car you won't win nowt in Motor sport so in pure skill terms you can never be sure who the best is unlike other sports ...By the way I expect the time Murray spends in one match on court would Double the amount of Tai spends on track in one week . The fact that Speedway fans even try to put Speedway up against massive sports like Tennis shows how out of touch they are .

Edited November 30, 2013 by orion

[BWitcher]

As I said before unless your on fast bikes or a fast car you won't win nowt in Motor sport so in pure skill terms you can never be sure who the best is unlike other sports ...By the way I expect the time Murray spends in one match on court would Double the amount of Tai spends on track in one week . The fact that Speedway fans even try to put Speedway up against massive sports like Tennis shows how out of touch they are .

I agree, to be honest I don't think many are though and it's crazy the thread is drifting in that direction.

 

Tennis IS one of the most demanding sports you can play. If you consider that's its a constant sequence of bursts of energy, constant change of direction etc. Basic physics tells you when you are constantly stopping and starting, running one way then the other, its a lot more demanding than running the same distance in a straight line non stop.

 

Not only that but there are other exertions in tennis, each shot taken is often akin to throwing a punch in a boxing match, each serve expends even more energy and taxes other parts of the body.

 

Attacking such a sport will do speedway no favors, in fact quite the opposite.

 

All this boils down to is there is one name on the list who quite simply should not be there in any way shape or form, that is Ainslie. There are many more worthy candidates for that place in the top 10, of which Tai was just ONE of them. To say he definately SHOULD have been on the list is going too far.

Edited November 30, 2013 by BWitcher

[The White Knight]

I agree, to be honest I don't think many are though and it's crazy the thread is drifting in that direction.

 

Tennis IS one of the most demanding sports you can play. If you consider that's its a constant sequence of bursts of energy, constant change of direction etc. Basic physics tells you when you are constantly stopping and starting, running one way then the other, its a lot more demanding than running the same distance in a straight line non stop.

 

Not only that but there are other exertions in tennis, each shot taken is often akin to throwing a punch in a boxing match, each serve expends even more energy and taxes other parts of the body.

 

Attacking such a sport will do speedway no favors, in fact quite the opposite.

 

All this boils down to is there is one name on the list who quite simply should not be there in any way shape or form, that is Ainslie. There are many more worthy candidates for that place in the top 10, of which Tai was just ONE of them. To say he definately SHOULD have been on the list is going too far.

 

 

At least we can agree on something BW.

[martin_t]

I agree, to be honest I don't think many are though and it's crazy the thread is drifting in that direction.

 

Tennis IS one of the most demanding sports you can play. If you consider that's its a constant sequence of bursts of energy, constant change of direction etc. Basic physics tells you when you are constantly stopping and starting, running one way then the other, its a lot more demanding than running the same distance in a straight line non stop.

 

Not only that but there are other exertions in tennis, each shot taken is often akin to throwing a punch in a boxing match, each serve expends even more energy and taxes other parts of the body.

.

Everyone knows the most physically demanding sport is women's beach volleyball.Half an hour of watching that and I'm knackered.

[E I Addio]

Surely the point is that the competition is not who is most successful or which is the most arduous or dangerous sport . It is the Sports PERSONALITY of the year. I am not sure how personality is supposed to be measured but I can't think of many modern sportsman that have that quality in abundance, certainly not Ainslie or Murray. Its a ridiculous programme not far removed from the X--Factor in which mostly couch potatoes will vote for whichever sport they happen to like. Nothing to do with talent or ability. Typical of the dross the BBC specialise in.

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

In a recent quiz I took part in a question was what s the most dangerous sport in the world. I.E in which sport are the most fatalities

News this week of another death in Water Ski-ing, sixth in competition in Australia in last few years...

Surely the point is that the competition is not who is most successful or which is the most arduous or dangerous sport . It is the Sports PERSONALITY of the year. I am not sure how personality is supposed to be measured but I can't think of many modern sportsman that have that quality in abundance, certainly not Ainslie or Murray.

Oh goodness, when are people going to get this fixation with the term 'Personality' out of their head.

'Personality' just means a person in Sport and NOT anything to do with what their 'personality' is like!!!

Edited November 30, 2013 by Parsloes 1928 nearly

[Guest]

Oh goodness, when are people going to get this fixation with the term 'Personality' out of their head.

'Personality' just means a person in Sport and NOT anything to do with what their 'personality' is like!!!

 

That is exactly the criteria in regard to the use of the word personality. Sadly, I think it will be hard job persuading some people of that correct definition.

Edited November 30, 2013 by Guest

[martin_t]

Dear BBC...can you please drop the 'ality' bit,to avoid confusion.

[BWitcher]

Surely the point is that the competition is not who is most successful or which is the most arduous or dangerous sport . It is the Sports PERSONALITY of the year. I am not sure how personality is supposed to be measured but I can't think of many modern sportsman that have that quality in abundance, certainly not Ainslie or Murray. Its a ridiculous programme not far removed from the X--Factor in which mostly couch potatoes will vote for whichever sport they happen to like. Nothing to do with talent or ability. Typical of the dross the BBC specialise in.

No, it has nothing to do with the sportsmen with the most personality at all.

 

The award is for the most succesful sportsmen (who happen to be personalities within their sport) in the given year.