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sounds great as the sports personality of the year is always but i am annoyed The show itself is moved from its traditional Sunday evening slot to a Thursday night.

but "When I was growing up, SPOTY was always the first sign Christmas was coming and it certainly will be this year." thats normally true but if the 1st sign of Christmas you see is 3 days before

I think its about time that the award is split to recognise the best male & best female sports personalities.

Great choice of venue. The north west is the home of sport and it makes sense to hold it there. Most of the trophies are here already! Thursday is OK for those who live in the north west rather than things being southern based.

Thursday Night? That is a decision which needs an explanation.

That, and yet another year in the North. At no point since the event has been one which the public can attend, has the event been hosted in the south. Will that be addressed next year?

Just looking at the likely front runners to date, where is Ben Ainslie?? He is the worlds top dinghy sailor, virtually unbeatable, rules the world in his sporting discipline and is one of GB's best hope for a gold medal at the Olympics next year. He has to be in the mix, he probably is'nt because he is not a multi millionaire in a mega profile televised sport!!

Maybe its time to change the title of this event, as some of the previous winners, albeit that they have achieved great things in their sport - actually have no 'personality'.... more like a sportsperson of the year.

I like the suggestion of #2 to have male and female categories

Can't help thinking that it's a backward step to move the show back to a studio & with no tickets available to the public. Having made all that effort to make the show 'bigger & better' then why scale back again.

With the move to Salford & associated PR drive, hopefully next year the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ will move it back to an arena again which will enable members of the public to attend. I totally agree with moving it around the country but perhaps 2012 is the year to host it it in London at Wembley or the O2.

With regards to the nominations process - please can you remove the likes of Zoo from the list of those who nominate? Does the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ really want to be associated with that type of magazine?

Can anyone tell me if I can nominate someone for the award before the shortlist? Britain has a recently crowned downhill mountain biking world champion in Danny Hart who produced one of the greatest ever downhill hill runs to win the World Champs by 11.7 seconds over a 4 minute track. We also have a womens junior world champ in Manon Carpenter. Mountain biking is one of the biggest participation sports in the UK and we have some of the best riders in the world (the mens top 6 comprised of 3 brits at the world champs and a silver medal in the womens event as well). Please give this amazing sport the respect it deserves and allow Danny Hart to be on the shortlist. I have no doubt thousands would vote for him.

The problem with hosting it elsewhere is that you'll then have people jumping on the cost bandwagon, criticising the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ for "wasting money" on a massive venue when they have media city to present it from. It was held in the QEII centre for many years so traditionally, the programme has been in a static location except now it's in the north rather than south. Ultimately, it would be good if it were held in the north and south but they can't really be blamed for holding it in their own venue.

I'm not a massive fan of it being on a Thursday night though - Sunday is it's natural home and probably maximises it's audience by being on a Thursday as more people will probably be at home than out with a working day coming up the day after.

When will the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ be selling the rights to show this event to Sky? Maybe ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ could show the first half of the programme and then Sky could show the second half and the results? At this rate in couple of years time there will be no ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ coverage of any of the sports being reviewed!

#2
As much as i value your opinion, there should only be a male prize.

#10 a very silly post by yourself. Is it too much to ask for a proper comment rather than silly trolling? You might like to remember that it's the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Sports Personality of the Year - the clue is in the name.

So you're changing the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ sports department from a London biased one to Manchester biased one. That sounds good.

#12 It's called sarcasm not trolling. Seeing how many sports the Beeb have lost to Sky, including half the F1 races, might as well sell them this show as well then they won't have to pay commission for using all their footage...

#14 bearing in mind the proliferation of comments similar to yours in #10, it could certainly be called trolling - however I acknowledge (having clicked on your username) that it's the first time you have made such a comment yourself. Have you not heard the saying about sarcasm being the lowest form of wit though?

Mo Farah will win. With Rory McIlroy a close second.
The England Cricket Team unless The Rugger boys win the world cup.
Junior should go to ......
International should do to Novak Djokovic.

can anyone fill in the gap?

Jodie Williams for the junior?

@eric morecambe

At least conradedkins has a sense of humour, which is more than can be said for you! Somewhat ironic considering your username. Sarcasm is only considered the lowest form of wit by those with no wit whatsoever!

Chrissie Wellington should win of course but won't even be nominated (again!!!)

Perhaps a "Minor Sport" category should be created. They could determine it on Average Live Sport attendances and TV/Radio Air play. (not amount of prize money given) and then the great unknowns such as Chrissie may finally get the recognition they deserve?!

@eric morecambe. YOu forgot to mention the rest of the saying. Sarcasm is the lowest form or wit but the highest form of intelligence!!

@ drolbor

2006 Zara Phillips - winner - sport, erm, something for rich people on a horse.

Triathlon (if not Iron Man) is a far bigger sport than 3 day eventing in terms of people competing and hours of TV coverage - admittedly often late night on lesser (but still free to air) channels.

Of course it was very gracious of Zara to deign to allow her name to be put forward onto a list of mere citizens some of whose ancestors had probably never even owned a county! It was of course a very great honour for us humble subjects to be allowed to vote for her and we are eternally grateful to her etc.etc.

... but really Chrissie Wellington would be a national heroine in almost any other country but ours, maybe she should try football - or X Factor!

See what I did there Eric?

Let's forget SPOTY and make this a sarcasm is great blog instead!
PS Well done ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ for kicking the public out of this years award ceremony, let's hope you've enlarged the royal box/ worthless celebrities area.

#18 the "humour" is diluted by the fact that similar postings have been put on umpteen sports blogs by people because of what is happening with the F1 coverage. The postings have invaded blogs that have nothing remotely to do with F1 as well as the F1 blogs, so it's no wonder that the "humour" is wearing thin.

I don't like the coverage being split either, but it's ruining blogs for other people by going on about it in non-F1 blogs. It's not called lacking a sense of humour, and whilst I wouldn't be so bold as to claim I have the same sense of humour as Eric Morecambe himself, I do actually have one thank you.

Ok Eric ... not a big F1 fan and so haven't come across this phenomenon, the post in question actually succeeded in making me laugh which is why I sprang to it's defence.
There is of course no place for sarcasm among enlightened individuals like ourselves, shame on me!

When does what is and isn't a sport debate begin? Darts? Golf? F1? Chess?

Discuss...

I'm sure its documented somewhere but why are there no public tickets available ?
Fortunate to go to Liverpool & Sheffield over the last few years, and amazing experience to rub shoulders with the cream of sport, surely the MEN Arena could have hosted it with a nice littler money spinner for the Beeb from ticket sales !!!

Brownlee should be nominated but given its ranking in sport will get a 1 minute video slot if its lucky

And will defo be in London next year with 2012 on our door step....

golf is a sport (just).
darts, motor racing, horse racing, chess, snooker, fishing, sailing are not sports.

not being a sport in no way should be seen as demeaning the games/activities

If the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ hadn't spent so much money on their new studios in Salford, they would have more money to spend on showing more sports.

This is just a cost cutting exercise so don't try to pretend it's for the greater good. I've been to both Sheffield and Birmingham and they were good nights out but I get the feeling that the show has been dumbed down to try and increase audience figures. I can guarantee the main award will be voted for so expect a Man united player to pick up the award no matter what.

Living less than a mile from Media City i was hoping to be able to attend if it was based there - guess that's not an option though.

Let's hope, this year, we don't have a situation where fans of a major football club are able to telephone vote for a player who wasn't even their own 'player of the year' that year. In my eyes, that years award made a mockery of the whole SPOTY award and it's history, and stopped genuinely talented individuals, who achieved greatness in 2009, winning the award they deserved.

I also agree with the comment above, about the award going to someone who is in such a marginalised sport as Equestrianism - but I guess that is more personal choice.

#26

The best definition I have heard is:

"If you need to change your shoes to do it, it's a sport."

Why o why has it moved to a Thursday. It will lose half it's viewers. Obviously lost the vote against "Strictly", sorry BEEB - bad move!

not sure how the voting will work this year but if someone from the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ actually reads these posts may I suggest a candidate for the Young Sports Personality of the Year...Danny Hart, downhill British mountain biker who this year won the World Champion rainbow stripes and also finished 4th in the World Cup Series.
Despite being only 19 years old and racing against riders many years his senior Danny gave some amazing displays of bike skills all season long which culminated in the fantasic senior World Championship in Champery where, despite the horendous conditions on the day, Danny destroyed the rest of the field to finish an astounding 12 seconds clear of the 2nd place rider. A feat which is unheard of at this level of the sport. Also British female downhill rider Manon Carpenter who rode her way to the Junior World title in Champery continuing our tradition of producing some of the best mountain bike riders in the world.

#5!

Ben Ainslie came from a family of millionaires. Its sailing! On that criteria, Phil Taylor should be the winner. Or Manny Pac for the international sportsman every year.

Let's start a 'should win' and 'will win' debate.

Should win -Cavendish

The BEST sprinter in the entire world, green jersey, 6th on list of tour wins (i think) nuf said!!

Will win - Darren Clarke

Win it by a mile in fact. Sympathy vote will go through the roof, but overall dreadful result for SPOTY to go along with Giggs and Zara.

SPOTY, Sports PERSON of the Year would be a little more accurate, although still not close enough to the meaning of the award.

Short lists, are designed to either guarantee the finalists are all recognised or to exclude people that the organising body may not find as desirable a winners as some another.

To my mind, the television program is just an expensive jolly-up and a chance for the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ to do some point scoring with the sporting celebrities, it adds nothing to the achievements or the worth of the award, in fact, quite the opposite.

It is time that this farce of a tv show was thrown away with the carcass of the Christmas turkey that it has become, the slate wiped clean and a properly thought out and organised system put into place....

Still no Chrissy Wellington in the lists of Personality of the year or even unsung hero? Come on lads and lassies, :-) get it together, she is the most phenomenal sports person alive today.

Carl Doran writes "When I was growing up, SPOTY was always the first sign Christmas was coming and it certainly will be this year. "

I agree that SPOTY is a sign that Christmas is coming, but the FIRST sign? These days, the tiresome X-Factor or Strictly starting signal the inevitable march to Christmas (i.e. it's already started now!).

I doubt you are any older than me, Carl, but even when I was growing up we'd had two or three months of constant reminders that Christmas was around the corner before SPOTY finally came along in late December!

@ fbscgr / mambo:
Dictionary.com has 9 definitions for "personality", including:
"7. a famous, notable, or prominent person; celebrity".

So can we put the whole "but they're all boring automatons" argument to bed, please?

I gave up with sport on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ. Shameful.

One thing SPOTY will not include this year is sport. The idea of it being a review of the year is all but gone, the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ much prefers celebrity froth. We shouldn't be surprised when you consider how much of the Open in recent years is shoved off on to the red button whilst we get lots of talking heads for an hour or more. Thanks to the wonders of the PVR I'll be recording it and watch it on delay again forwarding through the trash (and James Corden) catching up live just as the result is announced.

In fact I could just record the whole thing and fit it in over breakfast on the Friday morning.

SPOTY - Sam Tomkins
YSPOTY - Josh Charnley
Team - Wigan Warriors
Overseas - Pat Richards

I always find discussion about who should win misses three principal points. Firstly, people suggest it should be ‘sports performance of the year’ and nominate people in sports with a low media profile. Secondly, people believe ‘personality’ refers to interpersonal skills rather than profile. Thirdlly, it’s ‘of the year’ which annoys me when people are nominated for another successful year in their career – people should win it when it’s a standout year in their own career, not just as a token reward for prolonged success.

‘Sports personality’, for me, means the sporting achievement most discussed over the water cooler. If you look at previous winners (Zara Phillips aside) it’s usually be won by the major UK sports story of the year (Wilkinson when we won the Rugby world cup, Flintoff when we won the ashes, Olympic gold medallists in Olympic years).

That is for me what it’s about – not measuring achievements in sporting terms but in terms of interest. Mo Farah for me has the best achievements this year, followed by Cavendish. But Northern Ireland golf seems to be where the story really is. I don’t follow golf well enough to decide who has performed best, but think really the winner should be a golfer.

Agree with the Chrissie Wellington comments. I'm guilty of only recently discovering her exploits, but wow! A definite deserved winner of some sort of accolade!

As for Thursday nights... booo! It should always be the Sunday 2 or 3 weeks before Christmas! The beeb really does seem to be losing sight of any tradition within its organisation!

Finally all those of you complaining about previous winners (especially Zara Phillips/Tindall) need your head examined! She won European and World titles in her sport in the same year! An amazing achievement even if it is a sport for the rather more well off!

@44

She won a sport no-one can relate to. A sport so little amount of people can afford to do that i actually can't class it as a sport without spitting the word out

@45

A sport non-the less! I can't afford to ride, sail, row... rowing! Surely Sir Steve Redgrave deserved to win in his non-elitist sport that we can all just pop down to the river and have a go!

35: Darren Clarke actually won a major this year which most of other so called top Britiish golfers haven't done.

Anyway if I had to pick a winner it would be Mo Farah.

39. At 13:31 20th Sep 2011, Ruaraidh Gillies wrote:
@ fbscgr / mambo:
Dictionary.com has 9 definitions for "personality", including:
"7. a famous, notable, or prominent person; celebrity".

So can we put the whole "but they're all boring automatons" argument to bed, please?

...................................................................

Fine, I accept your point. I presume you agree with my other points, or are you still doing a search for "short lists" and "jolly-ups"?

So the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ opnce again showing off its spangly waste of money called its studios.
(Did it for one episode of A Question of Sport and shown off sickly in the titles!)
And so the cuts once again forcing the public out of the event.
When will the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ stop making this event a laughing stock?
Plus how on earth will this event be held at Salford?
I thought the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ were cutting its studios (that why you dont use TC1 as much) so how its a major event like SPOTY going to be held when there isnt a big enough studio at Salford?

It seems to me, that the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ are no longer considering it's viewers in any of it's decisions. SPOTY should be on a Sunday night, moving it to a Thursday is mind boggling. It will lose viewing figures, some will say it wont, but some people who could normally watch on a Sunday, will not be able to watch on a Thursday, as lots of people will have to work that late at night due to Christmas being so close.

"The area is simply mad about sport, but as well as that, in these CHALLENGING ECONOMIC TIMES, it works better for us to present the show from our new home than opting for the more costly arena options"

I'll tell you what would work better in these CHALLENGING ECONOMIC TIMES Carl:

a) Don't waste tax payers money by moving the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ away from the Capital

b) Don't waste tax payers money by journalists having to uproot up to the North

c) Spend the money instead on winning some worthwhile broadcasting rights

d) Remove the North-West bias from the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ and spread the involvement around the whole of the UK

Don't worry about the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ hosting SPOTY inside Salford Quays. Salford Quays will turn out to be the new media centre for Manchester football clubs when the Beeb lose the licence fee.
No top level management at the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ have moved from London and nor will they... ever. The estate agents at the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ who are planning to sell off TV Centre have managed to keep offices in White City buildings, Shepherds Bush along with all the people who buy in contracted services.
SPOTY will be done by an independent TV company within a couple of years. The disdain felt for the loyal audience has been exemplified by the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ in switching it to a Thursday evening.
I dare the Beeb to give it's audience the chance to vote on which night the programme is shown ?
Stick that on the Red button !