Well, Lizzie Yarnold's just put the first marker down. Obviously England's footballers could steal the show by winning the World Cup...
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SPOTY 2018
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Originally posted by Janik View PostPossibly, seeing as Team of the Year is in the BBC's gift rather than a public vote. If it were such, Manchester City Men would walk it. They still might win it anyway, and it wouldn't be a travesty if they did.
Occurred to me this morning that Tracy Neville must be a fair bet for their Coach of the Year, off the back of that netball victory. She was the only one the BBC were interested in when she was a player.
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No Wimbledon win, no England World Cup win (surely they won't give this to Harry Kane, although I don't know what the criteria are for possibly allowing Southgate onto the shortlist?). I turned to a mate watching today's Alpe d'Huez stage and said 'you know what, if Geraint Thomas breaks team orders and bloody wins this ...' and wouldn't that just be a kick in the inhalers for Chris Froome.
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Originally posted by Rogin the Armchair fan View PostNo Wimbledon win, no England World Cup win (surely they won't give this to Harry Kane, although I don't know what the criteria are for possibly allowing Southgate onto the shortlist?). I turned to a mate watching today's Alpe d'Huez stage and said 'you know what, if Geraint Thomas breaks team orders and bloody wins this ...' and wouldn't that just be a kick in the inhalers for Chris Froome.
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Sky are too tainted for anyone involved with them to win this. They weren't even doing so one, two, three years ago when they maintained the perception with the general public that they were a new broom for clean sport. That is if the general public gave cycling much thought at all, which Froome not coming close to winning the award suggests they don't.
It will be nearly a clean sweep by the England Men's Football team. That will be most people's sporting highlight of the year by a considerable distance. So Kane for the main award, Southgate for coach of the year and the side for team of the year.
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Even after everything Sky are still fairly popular at bike races I've been to recently, although there do seem to be fewer people wearing their gear. I think it's more a case that the Tour de France doesn't make the public impression that some people (like, erm, me) think it does. Hoy, Wiggins and Cavendish have all won the award in recent years although the first two did so thanks to Olympic success which in Wiggins' case was a real add-on to his Tour win, Cavendish won the Worlds in a fairly quiet year in terms of SPOTY candidates but crucially did so thanks to his victory being on a Sunday afternoon on BBC2. Thomas's stage wins this week have been while most people are at work and the coverage on ITV4. Winning at Alpe d'Huez in particular in the yellow is probably going to be his career day and a notable achievement in the history of British cycling yet the BBC news last night went with the golf instead and it's not on the front page of any of the papers, indeed it's not even on the back pages of some of them.
If Thomas does go through and win the Tour though he'll probably do better voting wise than Froome - he'll probably actually attend the event for a start. Froome's never inspired a huge amount of affection among the public, he rides under the GB flag for convenience. His backstory is fascinating but it's not something many people can actually identify with, he didn't grow up here, he doesn't live here, he's only raced in the country for one day since July 2014. Thomas on the other hand came up through the system and was riding junior events, club time trials and stuff, he supports Welsh rugby and Arsenal, he turns up for the national championships and races here a fair bit. He'll get the significant factor of regional voting from Wales as well, for example Jess Ennis always did well in SPOTY voting because she's enormously popular round here and half Sheffield would ring up to vote for her.
Kane should win the thing by a mile though.
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Gascoigne won it in 1990, but Lineker never did.
I think Kane simply has household recognition from the sheer size of the viewing audience. He seems a genuinely nice person, which often matters in SPOTY, someone the middle classes would not be offended by.
Although Kane does not seem mega famous to me, is he less famous than Michael Owen (1998), who went out in the last 16, or Ryan Giggs (2009)? And you do not have to be ghat famous to win this anyway (Rusedski, Calzaghe).
Finally, we were discussing the pre-1966 fame of Bobby Charlton the other week. He was runner-up in 1958 and 1959 so that suggests perhaps a greater fame than Rooney, at least among this demographic, as Rooney has never made the podium.
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Originally posted by longeared View Post
Kane should win the thing by a mile though.
You mean "should" as in deserves to or that's the likely outcome?Last edited by Ray de Galles; 20-07-2018, 11:34.
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Originally posted by longeared View Post
If Thomas does go through and win the Tour though he'll probably do better voting wise than Froome - he'll probably actually attend the event for a start. Froome's never inspired a huge amount of affection among the public, he rides under the GB flag for convenience. His backstory is fascinating but it's not something many people can actually identify with, he didn't grow up here, he doesn't live here, he's only raced in the country for one day since July 2014. Thomas on the other hand came up through the system and was riding junior events, club time trials and stuff, he supports Welsh rugby and Arsenal, he turns up for the national championships and races here a fair bit. He'll get the significant factor of regional voting from Wales as well
Originally posted by longeared View PostThomas's stage wins this week have been while most people are at work and the coverage on ITV4. Winning at Alpe d'Huez in particular in the yellow is probably going to be his career day and a notable achievement in the history of British cycling yet the BBC news last night went with the golf instead and it's not on the front page of any of the papers, indeed it's not even on the back pages of some of them.
All talk of Thomas's chances is wildly premature at the moment, of course.Last edited by Ray de Galles; 20-07-2018, 11:38.
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Originally posted by Ray de Galles View PostChrist, what a damning indictment of the British sporting year (or the contest itself) that would be.
You mean "should" as in deserves to or that's the likely outcome?
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I think Kane's achievement in scoring five goals (including two penalties) against Tunisia & Panama and another penalty against Colombia is already being reassessed away from the fervour of England's progress, especially given his atrophying in the the latter stages of the tournament. Lord knows how people will view it by December.
You may well be right but I would say Southgate and the England team are better bets for their respective awards than Kane - the whole World Cup and England's part in it were about the collective not the individual.
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Originally posted by Ray de Galles View PostI think Kane's achievement in scoring five goals (including two penalties) against Tunisia & Panama and another penalty against Colombia is already being reassessed away from the fervour of England's progress, especially given his atrophying in the the latter stages of the tournament. Lord knows how people will view it by December.
You may well be right but I would say Southgate and the England team are better bets for their respective awards than Kane - the whole World Cup and England's part in it were about the collective not the individual.
They voted for Owen in 1998 despite England going out in the last 16.Last edited by Satchmo Distel; 20-07-2018, 14:50.
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Originally posted by Ray de Galles View PostI think Kane's achievement in scoring five goals (including two penalties) against Tunisia & Panama and another penalty against Colombia is already being reassessed away from the fervour of England's progress, especially given his atrophying in the the latter stages of the tournament. Lord knows how people will view it by December.
You may well be right but I would say Southgate and the England team are better bets for their respective awards than Kane - the whole World Cup and England's part in it were about the collective not the individual.
I can't see another major contender emerging in the remainder of the year - Anthony Joshua is popular enough but is his autumn fight that much of a big deal or is it some mandatory challenger that he'll easily roll over?
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Originally posted by Walt Flanagans Dog View PostI can't see another major contender emerging in the remainder of the year - Anthony Joshua is popular enough but is his autumn fight that much of a big deal or is it some mandatory challenger that he'll easily roll over?
Yeah, what am I saying, this award is about 25% achievement, 75% fame.
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