Wednesday 16 December 2009

Button undone by Giggs

A weekend of surprise sporting results culminated on Sunday with the greatest shock of them all, as Ryan Giggs was nominated as the 2009 BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY).

According to the BBC, Giggs, 36, received 29.4% of the vote, seeing off the favourite, Jenson Button, who came second with 18.74%. Jessica Ennis was third.

"I'm really pleased and am in total shock to win the award" said Giggs.

"I was honestly surprised just to be on the list of nominees."

Well, so were we Ryan. But how did he manage to win the award, pipping Button at the post?

This question has already sparked off a multitude of different possible reasons for the outcome, and the topic seemed to dominate Facebook statuses, along with X Factor related banter.

I mention X Factor because it has been at the root of many discussions surrounding how Giggs managed to win the award.

With so many millions of viewers watching ITV and Joe McElderry romping towards an inevitable Christmas number one, some say that it may have become easier to wangle the votes if not so many people were watching the BBC's SPOTY.

Yesterday, bookies began to probe the late surge of Giggs votes, thinking there may have been some dodgy doings.

The bottom line is that Giggs would have been a more suitable candidate for the Lifetime Achievement award (perhaps in 10-20 years time), rather than the sports personality of 2009.

Sure, Giggs had some cracking performances during the year, but he also sat on the bench for much of it too.

Furthermore, the lack of success within the Welsh national team meant that he didn't achieve greatness at a national level; unlike most of the other nominees for the award.

Anyway, you may be interested to know that the results of the latest TTS poll didn't favour Mr Giggs in the slightest. 12 votes were cast and Ryan received diddly squat.

Button won your vote with nine, and Mark Cavendish, Jessica Ennis and David Haye came second equal receiving one vote each. I completely agree with my readers on this one.

For those of you who aren't aware of the other award winners on the night, here they are:

Coach of the Year - Fabio Capello

Team of the Year - England’s Ashes Team

Overseas Personality – Usain Bolt

Young Personality – Tom Daley

Lifetime Achievement – Seve Ballesteros

Helen Rollason Award – Major Phil Packer

Unsung Hero – Doreen Adcock

Special Award – Eddie Izzard

For me, the highlight of the proceedings was Seve receiving his lifetime award from Jose Maria Olazabal. A moving moment where Seve (on a live video feed from Spain) received a standing ovation from the Sheffield Arena crowd and what seemed like a never-ending applause.

I have to admit, at times I flicked across to see the latest from the X Factor final, to see George Michael gyrating and Paul Mcartney being wheeled out. But when I switched back to BBC to find James Corden presenting Eddie Izzard with an award, I thought I had turned onto a rerun of the British Comedy Awards, which was held the previous evening.

Still, after seeing Chelsea draw with Everton, Manchester United losing to Villa, Spurs losing to Wolves and Liverpool being beaten by Arsenal having been in complete control, I would believe anything. Even Giggs being voted as the best sports personality of 2009.

1 comment:

  1. Agree entirely and a headline like that will surely put you in the frame as a red to reporter.

    ReplyDelete

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