The press nominate an all male line up for BBC sports personality of the year

[ivykaty44]

hardly wonderful news for encouraging young girls to get interested in sport and have positive role models.
We have some world class female sports woman and they have been overlooked

cycling, swimming and triathlon and they get shunned by an all make line up

why?

BoffinMum - I think that's a great idea.

I don't care about sport at all and I think all awards of this sort are daft. This did, however, make me very cross. It is yet another example of things being judged inferior simply because women rather than men do them. No one has ever been able to explain to me why soccer is a "better" game than netball or lacrosse. Television coverage of sport seems skewed wildly in favour of men and most irritating of all is that someone seems to have decided to "deal" with the point by having a disproprotionate number of (relatively attractive) female reporters on men's sport. Once again women are allowed to join in the men's world provided: (a) that they don't change it; and (b) that they conform to male expectations. Grrr

I'd rather it was ten sportsmen honestly voted in for their achievments this year rather than them being forced to put some sportswomen who may or may not have done an awful lot of note this year in for tokenism, just to look good and make up the numbers.

That's not equality.

Actually I think this is a non story - women shouldn't be in the list BECAUSE they are women and men have done more in the sporting arena than women this year. As a woman I find this outrage a little demeaning to us.

Men have done more than women this year? Hmm, not sure about that. And the fact is that there are a couple of men who have been included, at the expense of women who have just plain done better than them. This isn't all about merit. And there is a fairness issue with allowing lad mags to nominate.

We shouldn't be surprised though, because historically women have usually needed to do better than men just to be nominated. I particularly remember 2006- am a Beth Tweddle fan so that one sticks in my mind. Three women were nominated: Beth, Zara Phillips and Nicole Cook. All world champions. Yet Monty Panesar and Andy Murray were also nominated, despite their achievements not even coming close.

So, those of you who are labouring under the delusion that the shortlist is fair and reflective of merit and achievement, sorry but nope.

Can we have a MN Sports Personality of the Year and vote for it on here, and then invite the woman concerned to come on for a live webchat?

Would it be an all woman shortlist? I don't know if it should be...

I'm thinking that there are lots of minority sports that don't get represented every year. And that hardly seems fair, either. Yet is it reasonable, though, to compare achievements in Judo/handball to Football/Golf? Because more people play Golf I think it is harder to reach the top, just a fact of numbers. It's similar with women's sport, is it not? I think more young males actually participate in sport than young women? So maybe in terms of participants, the historical outcome is about right...?

Sorry, number of participants of each gender, I meant.

3 golfers ffs! And 2 cricketers! Boring and the golfers in particular haven't even done much (ok include mcilroy but def not Darren Clarke !) At least no rugby players but arguably there SHOULD have been someone from he welsh team!!

Ryan giggs winning a few years back was just a shoe in, bet he wouldn't win now

It's formulaic and utter dross- needs a total overhaul or scrapped

who watches swimming or cycling?

Both sold out at the 2012 - so I guess enough people to buy all the tickets to see this sports and leave others wanting tickets...

Yes boffin - I like the idea, twist it to

woman of sport award

I have complained to the BBC. If I don't like the reply I get I will write to the Director General.

www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/

As much as I agree with this thread, I must stick up for the two cricketers in the line-up, who have both helped to make England the number one Test team in the world - as well as demolishing the Aussies in Australia and Indian and Sri Lanka this summer - a truly incredible performance, even if you don't enjoy cricket.

Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss are both complete gentlemen and phenomenally talented sportsmen; fabulous role models and quite easy on the eye and great personalities, and thoroughly deserve their nominations.

perhaps it is about time the bbc treated woman to their own award and ran both along side each other - so you have two awards one for sports men and one for sports woman.

I wouldn't want to see people taken of the list but I do want to see people who play sport to realise that their are woman out there and that they want to watch sport and take part in sport.

The football world cup between Japan and USA had the most tweets in history ever - so this shows that the media have got it wrong when they say that people don't want to watch woman playing world class football - otherwise there wouldn't be world breaking numbers tweeting about the game of football the woman are playing.

I don't really watch men playing sport, as I don't relate to what they are doing (with the possible exception of tennis players in tight shorts). However if women are playing I am much more likely to watch. I would like to see more of the women's sports I did at school:

Swimming
Diving
Lacrosse
Netball
Football
Cricket
Rounders (do they have competitions for that?)
Athletics
Gymnastics, especially the stuff with music.

Good grief, we have a national rounders squad. Am I too old???? Is there a paralympic rounders squad for keen players with SPD??

www.roundersengland.co.uk/rounders/index.cfm/competition/internationals/

Interestingly I have learned today that rounders dates from Tudor times.

Isn't rounders just cricket?

You are pressing my buttons. And you know it.

OP I did know Kerri-Ann won gold, sorry if I missed that fact. But I only knew that because it was only mentioned by the media because she became the first person to get into the Olympic squad. If her event hadn't been before any others it wouldn't have got much of a mention.

Making the whole thing a public vote wouldn't nesseccarily mean any women get into the top 10. More men than women would vote and as football is the best supported sport there would be more footballers on it.

Necessarily

They've just said on the news that the voting process will be reviewed for next year.

I do believe fishing is the most supported sport by men - not football. I haven't checked this random fact I was told 20 years ago

I am surprised they haven't made pooing a sport.
They all spend long enough in there. And they like discussing it.

I just though they liked talking it

It doesn't make it right but its hardy surprising that no women were nominated, of the names mentioned on this thread the only one that the person on the Clapham omnibus is likely to have heard of is Rebecca Adlington and I don't think she's had a particularly sucessful year has she?

I can't summon up any outrage at all about this one.

I've complained to the BBC:

"I think it is a national embarrassment as we head into the 2012 Olympics that your Sports Personality of the Year final shortlist is male only.

And how excruciatingly embarrassing that you not only let Nuts and Zoo vote, but that these votes saw Rebecca Adlington ousted from the final shortlist.

The BBC is a public service and needs to address this urgently, and just not by 'dressing up' the actual programme with lots of women.

I am glad that Mumsnet is running lots of protests about this, which will reach the eyes and ears of 10 Downing Street."

Do please join in.