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To think the Duchess of Cambridge has no place in sports personality of the year

400 replies

Nishky · 16/12/2012 22:41

Martina Navratilova made a moving speech about female role models so who do they roll out to present it?

OP posts:
Flatbread · 17/12/2012 11:07

This is not to say the US is great, it has a host of problems. Just to point out that promoting a culture that rewards hard work and achievement is incompatible with a culture that revers royalty.

Don't complain about Cameron and Osbourne, if you prop-up the royals. They are part of the same institution, supporting each other.

Bakingnovice · 17/12/2012 11:08

Michelle had an immensely successful career before becoming first lady and since she has been involved in many high profile and successful campaigns. Actively involved. There is simply no comparison between women like Michelle and Kate.

Flatbread · 17/12/2012 11:09

Anyway, went off topic there.

Getting back to this. Curious to know, how many of you hold Kate as a role model for your daughters? And if you do, what is it that you want them to emulate?

mummytime · 17/12/2012 11:12

Anne and Zara were both there, but to hand OU an award wouldn't have been ideal. Zara because she is a competitor. Anne because with so many Olympians it could look like favouritism in her international Olympic role.

I think Katedid brilliantly not to pull out.

She looked unwell, and trying to hide behind her hair.

I'm sure Brad and Jessica were pleased that she gave them the award.

It was a fab and heart warming evening (presented by sports stars who hadn't achieved anything like as much as the nominees plus a lot of the audience).

InExitCelsisDeo · 17/12/2012 11:13

I don't have any axe to grind with Kate, and don't have any issues with her being there last night, but that does not mean that I think she is a role model for my DD. Xmas Confused.

She was just presenting an award.

Flatbread · 17/12/2012 11:22

But mummy, why did it have to be a royal to present the awards? Why not a leading sporting figure? Or someone is another field who has achieved as much success?

The commentators are never as skilled as the people they are talking about, in any sport. That is why they are commentators, not participants.

But it is different when awards are presented, they are usually handed-out by someone one should look up to. Why should anyone be looking up to Kate? What has she achieved?

Bread and circus for the masses, and the constant drumming of the insidious message that we should all revere the royals and the entrenched elite. They are better than us by birth, and we need to accept their superiority, no matter how successful or talented or high-achievers we are.

Seems many on here buy the message and defend the system.

QuickLookBusy · 17/12/2012 12:05

Well we do live in a free country Flatbread, we can think or buy into whatever we like.

I'd much rather have a royal family that a head of state such as Blair or Cameron

LaCiccolina · 17/12/2012 12:06

She's handing out cheap tat on a show that is as important as comedian of the year....

Who gives a shit?

BackforGood · 17/12/2012 12:13

I agree with InExit.
She was presenting an award. It's what royals do. In all walks of life, you get the 'local dignatory' to hand out awards - it goes with the role. For less high profile occasions it may be the local Lord Mayor, or the Lord Lieutenant, or in a workplace it might be the Chief Executive, but it's supposed to be someone who has made the effort to come specially, that you don't meet in your daily life. For these top sports stars, then a royal fits the bill beautifully.

Atthewelles · 17/12/2012 12:21

If she wasn't seen out and about doing stuff, people would be criticising her for being lazy.

I doubt very much she wanted to head out last night for public scrutiny after all that's happened in the last couple of weeks. But the poor girl just can't win.

curlypoo · 17/12/2012 12:26

Hyperemisis Gravidarum, my arse.

Bakingnovice · 17/12/2012 12:46

Curlypoo! Am trying to stifle my laughter. Naughty!!!

Flatbread · 17/12/2012 12:47

BackFor good, when you are celebrating achievement it is good to have a person present the awards who has achieved something?

Presumable a mayor or CEO are people who have been successful at doing something?

Toughasoldboots · 17/12/2012 12:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

sashh · 17/12/2012 12:50

So because we don't know whether or not she has ever done anything wrong, and can't speculate about what she might do in the future, it is fine to be publicly spiteful about her?

If she'd just got a council flat because she was pregnant and had never worked I'm sure a lot of people would be judging her.

And what does she have to do with sport?

TandB · 17/12/2012 12:57

Noone is saying she is a role model, in the same way as Jessica Ennius or any of the other athletes on that stage. But I am struggling to see how she is the 'antithesis' of a role model.

She is a courteous, apparently pleasant young woman who has been in the royal family for a relatively short period of time and has started to do exactly what is expected of someone in that role, ie support charities and appear at national events. She is not being held out as something to aspire to - her role is a fairly unique one since the are very few heirs to the throne floating around out there for young women to aspire to marry - she's just doing what the royal family have been doing for decades now.

She's not taking drugs, falling out of clubs drunk, committing fraud, kicking puppies or shouting abuse at elderly ladies - she's just performing the role that goes hand in hand with the place she married into. And she's been at it for a fairly short time - who knows what she might do once she grows into the role and becomes more confident?

All she did was turn up at an awards ceremony, by invitation, and hand over a trophy. She's not making a political statement or trying to influence anyone. There were plenty of fantastic role models on that stage - it was about them, not about who presented the awards.

She'll never win. If she gets a job, people will say it's a sinecure and she's taking a job away from someone who needs it. If she works in a soup kitchen, people will say she is patronising the homeless people there. If she doesn't work, people will say she's a lazy, useless cow.

Just let her get on with what's expected of her without the bitching. When she does something wrong, or offensive, fine, criticise away, but I can't see that she deserves any of it yet.

InExitCelsisDeo · 17/12/2012 12:59

(You are my role model Xmas Wink)

TandB · 17/12/2012 13:01

But she didn't get a council flat because she was pregnant. She married someone wealthy and got pregnant.

I fail to see how this amounts to doing anything wrong.

SledsImOn · 17/12/2012 13:02

My God this is a bitchy thread.

Comments about her being there only by her 'connections' - erm, that'll be the entire royal family then? Has that not occurred to anyone before?

Comments about her not really having had anything wrong with her - oh and you can tell this by 45 minutes, or far less, observation can you? Really? Don't you think they will have jabbed her with the best meds for this event?

You bunch of b*stards, really, lay the feck off. Sad

Toughasoldboots · 17/12/2012 13:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

slhilly · 17/12/2012 13:06

Flatbread, I think you are seeing the world in very black-and-white terms. For example, you have argued that sport is a system based on achievement. That is partly true, of course, but there are many sports which require money, spare time, and connections before you can hope to succeed. Ironically, these are often sports associated with the aristocracy such as horse-riding.

You have also stated as self-evident that sports awards ought to be handed out by someone who achieved more than the recipient. But it's not clear why you think this. Is it for the edification of the recipient? Surely the fact that they got the reward means that they don't need edifying. Is it for the benefit of the audience? The audience is there to see the recipient, not the award-giver. Is it about morality? I don't see what is more moral about an award being handed out by someone who has achieved a lot vs it being handed out by someone who hasn't.

Incidentally, the medals at the Olympics weren't handed out like this. Sepp Blatter got booed by the audience when he gave out the gold for the women's football and it was an excellent moment that exemplifies that awards are not handed out in this way. And this particular award doesn't even celebrate pure achievement - it's a personality award that is decided on the basis of a phone-in.

Frankly, there are more acute problems of inequality to do with sport than the royals, including:

  • cuts to sports funding
  • the dominance of moneyed interests (see: football)
  • access challenges
etc
Festivelyfedup · 17/12/2012 13:06

What on earth is the problem? A lady who married the boy she fell in love with at university went to work last night DESPITE the fact that she is suffering from HG. Why is it that people seem to think that she can't have HG because she managed to stand on a stage for a few minutes without throwing up or having sick down her dress? I think she did brilliantly and you could see that she wasn't feeling well. The gritted teeth and fixed smile said it all.

Toughasoldboots · 17/12/2012 13:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TandB · 17/12/2012 13:09

Thank you, slhilly - I was trying to think how to articulate the point about it not needing someone sports related to hand the award out.

What she said.

InExitCelsisDeo · 17/12/2012 13:10

So everyone's HG is the same is it?

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