Sports Personality of The Year 2014

[DatIrishFella]

He chose to represent the Republic of Ireland as he played all of his amateur golf under the Dublin-based Golfing Union of Ireland, it’s the only Union he realistically could have represented. He decided to stay with them as he felt it was the right thing to do, and it was. He is a British golfer who decided to stay loyal to a Union that helped him become a professional golfer.

Disregarding my early post, that's my exact feeling. Especially since his "people from the Republic are giving me stick" tweet when both the Republic & Northern Ireland's performance in the Euro qualifiers. There was no reason to tweet that, knowing it could cause some ructions.

In all honestly, I'd prefer if he didn't represent Ireland and switched to GB.

Sorry for going kinda OT.

 

[Marching]

Hamilton really shouldn't have won this in my opinion. Yes, he's the current F1 World Champion, but F1 is a sport where there's only ever really 2/3 other racers who can be serious competition (this year there was only really Rosberg who he was competing with) and outside of his obvious talent, he's a terrible loser, extremely naive and very arrogant. You can also hardly call him British, seeing as he ran to the nearest tax-haven as soon as he started earning anything approaching big bucks.

Mccilroy deserved this.

You tend to find winners aren't the best losers and to take away his Britishness because he sensibly maximises his earnings is just plain stupid. Is Button not English, Coulthard not Scottish, Rosberg not German? Did Alonso suddenly become Swiss when he lived in Switzerland?

 

[Waldner]

You tend to find winners aren't the best losers and to take away his Britishness because he sensibly maximises his earnings is just plain stupid. Is Button not English, Coulthard not Scottish, Rosberg not German? Did Alonso suddenly become Swiss when he lived in Switzerland?

He's a tax exile, why should he be eligible for an award paid for by taxpayers? If you move somewhere purposefully to avoid paying tax on your earnings then by all means do so, but you shouldn't then be awarded by your nation for anything. Just my opinion.

I feel more strongly about him not deserving the award as he won a title in a sport where only one other competitor had an equal advantage, him being a very sore loser and in general being very immature and ignorant. The achievements of the majority of the other nominees vastly outweighed what Hamilton achieved this year.

 

[Marching]

He's a tax exile, why should he be eligible for an award paid for by taxpayers? If you move somewhere purposefully to avoid paying tax on your earnings then by all means do so, but you shouldn't then be awarded by your nation for anything. Just my opinion.

I feel more strongly about him not deserving the award as he won a title in a sport where only one other competitor had an equal advantage, him being a very sore loser and in general being very immature and ignorant. The achievements of the majority of the other nominees vastly outweighed what Hamilton achieved this year.

With the greatest of respect, that is fecking stupid. No world titles for Schumi and Vettel as they are tax exiles in Switzerland. I'm sure Mcllroy's UK tax bill is reduced with him living most of the time in the USA....how are you going to decide which titles he keeps?

You seem to have some bizarre idea that all Hamilton did was get in the car on race weekend and drive it for a couple of hours. Drivers are what makes all the technical genius of the designers come together through 100's of hours of testing and feedback. Sore loser? Of course he is. Winners are and especially when team mates play dirty. Immature? Ignorant? You seem to know him very well so you may be right. I somehow think you don't and are making unsubstantiated generalisations.
Other nominees vastly outweighed his achievement? I'm tempted to ask who and why but decided not to so save on you spouting more rubbish.

 

[Waldner]

With the greatest of respect, that is fecking stupid. No world titles for Schumi and Vettel as they are tax exiles in Switzerland. I'm sure Mcllroy's UK tax bill is reduced with him living most of the time in the USA....how are you going to decide which titles he keeps?

You seem to have some bizarre idea that all Hamilton did was get in the car on race weekend and drive it for a couple of hours. Drivers are what makes all the technical genius of the designers come together through 100's of hours of testing and feedback. Sore loser? Of course he is. Winners are and especially when team mates play dirty. Immature? Ignorant? You seem to know him very well so you may be right. I somehow think you don't and are making unsubstantiated generalisations.
Other nominees vastly outweighed his achievement? I'm tempted to ask who and why but decided not to so save on you spouting more rubbish.

1. I specified awards, not world titles. So that's that entire first paragraph reduced to nothing more than an insulting sentence. If you had changed it to Schumi winning German Sportsman of the Year then you'd have a point. However I think that him winning the world title repeatedly over such a long period means he did deserve to be honoured with a few awards, despite his tax exile status.

2. You've just disproved your own point. Hamilton is entirely reliant on his own, massively advantageous, car for his success. Yes, he needs to maintain incredible levels of physical fitness, adhere to a strict diet and personal fitness regime and is the product of an extensive team of workers - but this is no different to every other nominee, all of whom need to follow the demands of their chosen sport and have a lot to thank their personal groups of nutritionists, analysts, psychiatrists and coaches for. The point is that Hamilton has a huge advantage over all but one other of his competitors in his car. His achievement in winning the world F1 title is a lot less than, say, Charlotte Evans or Jo Pavey, who have won their titles on a much more level and even playing field. All the while without displaying the personality traits of a spoilt 7 year old girl and by overcoming greater personal obstacles than Hamilton. Let's not get stuck into the disadvantages these other athletes may face regarding funding, Governing Body support, training etc either.

3. I'll save you hearing any more of my rubbish by leaving this exchange here. Take comfort in the fact that the majority of the UK public are, like yourself, incredibly short-sighted and media-influenced when it comes to recognitions of sporting success.

 

[Marching]

1. I specified awards, not world titles. So that's that entire first paragraph reduced to nothing more than an insulting sentence. If you had changed it to Schumi winning German Sportsman of the Year then you'd have a point. However I think that him winning the world title repeatedly over such a long period means he did deserve to be honoured with a few awards, despite his tax exile status.

So you've changed your own rule in the blink of an eye.

2. You've just disproved your own point. Hamilton is entirely reliant on his own, massively advantageous, car for his success. Yes, he needs to maintain incredible levels of physical fitness, adhere to a strict diet and personal fitness regime and is the product of an extensive team of workers - but this is no different to every other nominee, all of whom need to follow the demands of their chosen sport and have a lot to thank their personal groups of nutritionists, analysts, psychiatrists and coaches for. The point is that Hamilton has a huge advantage over all but one other of his competitors in his car. His achievement in winning the world F1 title is a lot less than, say, Charlotte Evans or Jo Pavey, who have won their titles on a much more level and even playing field. All the while without displaying the personality traits of a spoilt 7 year old girl and by overcoming greater personal obstacles than Hamilton. Let's not get stuck into the disadvantages these other athletes may face regarding funding, Governing Body support, training etc either.

And you missed the main point which was that Hamilton's skill as a driver/developer is a huge part of the car package.

3. I'll save you hearing any more of my rubbish by leaving this exchange here. Take comfort in the fact that the majority of the UK public are, like yourself, incredibly short-sighted and media-influenced when it comes to recognitions of sporting success.

And yet more sweeping generalisations in point 3.

 

[MoskvaRed]

Has anyone here ever voted for SPOTY? I always thought it was voted for by people who don't really follow sport that much but vote on the basis of who they like based on the media. On that basis, I think McIlroy blew it when he (was reported to have) callously dumped his tennis player girlfriend, going in one instant among female voters from "that nice young man" to "that b*stard". I don't think Ireland v GB had much to do with it, if anything.