looking at the final list its between Hamilton and McIlroy, Bale or Pavey third, Its not a strong year.
So the little Englander viewer will be in great trouble trying to pick between McIlroy who has declared he will be playing for Ireland at the olympics and Hamilton who is black and therefore in the UKIP voters perspective an immigrant....
So the neandethals won't be voting.
Bale with get the welsh vote, McIlroy the N Irish and ..... the Scottish!!! oh yeah hold it in Scotland, but don't nominate any scots, wooo, well done BBC its not like we had a bad commonwealth games or anything. maybe a token Euan Burton would have been nice...
Anyway McIlroy will win and probably big too, 2/4 majors and a ryder cup is actually exceptional.
What a load of rubbish. I know it's popular to casually smear UKIP and their supporters as racists with little command of the facts, but I really didn't expect to have to read it on the Autosport forum. UKIP have blacks and ethnic minorities running for seats and their share of the BME vote is only a few points down on the Liberal Democrats, who themselves are way down on Labour and the Tories. Lib Dems are facing virtual extinction in 2015. Could it just be that (I'd better whisper this) UKIP support is largely motivated by factors other than race? Let's play it your way though and assume all UKIP supporters are just bigoted and hate all migrants. What are you so worried about? They have less than a quarter of the combined Conservative Labour vote share as of a poll published today. UKIP are irrelevant to the SPOTY.
I am writing for myself here of course, and I don't follow a lot of the sports as closely as F1. I do think though that looking at some of the other contenders, Hamilton doesn't stand out head and shoulders above them in the strict sense of making history even though the first British double world champion in over 40 years is an immense achievement. I personally prefer those who have achieved something for Britain for the first time to get a SPOTY even though Hamilton's year is definitely one of the strongest in the BBC list.
Charlotte Dujardin-the first British equestrian rider to be Olympic, world and European champion at the same time. I don't follow horses but that sounds impressive.
Gareth Bale-A great year for him apparently. Certainly better than Giggs' 2009 when he won his SPOTY. Don't get me wrong, Giggs has had a very impressive career, but 2009 was more of a lifetime achievement/popularity award in my view. Is it better than Hamilton's year in terms of relative achievement? I don't know as I don't follow football as closely as F1.
Rory McIlory-As L.B. wrote, an exceptional year for him.
For me, I would like somebody out of those 4, but have great respect for all of the nominees. They all have their merits but I think SPOTY has always been partly a popularity contest. Therefore I think Hamilton will win it in part because dressage does not have much of a following, golf is not as popular as F1 and the cynic in me thinks that too many football fans will revert to their colours and only see that Bale isn't wearing theirs. If the England national football, rugby or cricket teams had had an exceptional year the deck might have been stacked against Hamilton. Edit: Or just as Fastcake wrote above, like McIlroy winning in an Olympic year.
Edited by hittheapex, 27 November 2014 - 11:51.