Good evening! And thanks for joining us for rolling coverage of the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year Award, as the great and the good of British sport (and James Haskell) gather at Birmingham’s Genting Arena to see how long an enormous room full of people can suspend their disbelief that somebody is actually going to beat Andy Murray.
I do wonder if there is a single person in the UK who is actually ready to wistfully cast an eye back on the year that was, for sporting purposes or otherwise. Quick recap of 2016, folks:
- The UK voted to leave the EU in a personal triumph for Nigel Farage!
- Reality TV star Donald Trump became the leader of the free world!
- David Bowie, Victoria Wood and Terry Wogan all died!
Hmm. Hardly a vintage twelve months. But let us not forget that, in between the political instability and nagging sense of existential dread, we’ve been able to distract ourselves with some rather memorable British sporting triumphs.
Team GB enjoying their most successful Olympic Games since 1908, for example, while the England rugby team managed the incredible feat of going the entire season undefeated. And then there were the individual performances: Jamie Vardy playing his part in arguably the most incredible season in English football history, Danny Willett ending England’s long wait for a Major victory, Andy Murray just generally being Andy Murray… It’s not all doom and gloom, and a further reminder that there is nothing quite like sport to heal divisions in our society and to bring people together.
(Just nobody mention football’s developing child abuse scandal. Or TUEs. Or Iceland.)