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***Malcolm*** · 26-11-2019, 02:26 PM

A shortlist of six contenders has been revealed for the 2019 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award

Athletes Dina Asher-Smith and Katarina Johnson-Thompson, cricketer Ben Stokes, Formula 1's Lewis Hamilton, footballer Raheem Sterling and rugby union's Alun Wyn Jones all feature on the list.

It was thought record-breaking five-in-a-row World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea was a strong contender for the shortlist this year, but he was passed over.

Northern Ireland sports fans were left bemused and frustrated last year when they weren't given the chance to get behind the 32-year-old.

In 2017, Rea picked up over 80,000 votes when he finished runner-up to Mo Farah.

It's been a stellar year for the man who is arguably the greatest World Superbike rider in its 31-year history after he nailed his fifth consecutive World Championship.

Presenters Gary Lineker, Clare Balding and Gabby Logan will select 2019's winner on December 15 in front of an audience of 10,000 in Aberdeen.

The contenders

England's Cricket World Cup-winning hero Stokes followed up his World Cup heroics with a performance for the ages in the third Ashes Test at Headingley with an incredible 135 not out which levelled the series at 1-1.

Australia ultimately retained the urn in the drawn series, but Stokes' innings is regarded as one of the greatest of all time.

Asher-Smith and Johnson-Thompson were the star attractions for Great Britain at the World Athletics Championships in Doha.

Asher-Smith won gold in the women's 200 metres in a British record time and also took silver in the 100m, with Johnson-Thompson claiming victory in the heptathlon.

She set four personal bests as she finally saw off great rival Nafissatou Thiam to secure gold.

Hamilton secured his sixth F1 drivers' title earlier this month, and is now just one shy of Michael Schumacher's all-time record.

The 2019 success was his third in a row, and his race-wins record currently stands at 83.

Sterling played a key role as Manchester City secured the domestic treble of Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup in 2019.

He was voted the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year and has been praised for taking a stand against racism in the game.

He has also been a key performer for England and looks set to be one of the stars at next summer's European Championship finals, which conclude at Wembley.

Jones captained Wales to the Rugby World Cup semi-finals in Japan. The team were eliminated by eventual winners South Africa, but Jones led by example for Warren Gatland's side.

He has won 143 caps for Wales and the British and Irish Lions, which puts him five shy of all-time international appearance record-holder Richie McCaw of New Zealand.

Jones also led Wales to Grand Slam success in the Six Nations earlier this year and was named player of the championship.

Roy Harris

roger9650 · 26-11-2019, 06:19 PM

The simple answer, he needs a double-barrelled surname.

Rednine · 26-11-2019, 11:10 PM

It's a disgrace he's not included, but and it's a big but, you must remember Motorcycle racing is a minority sport. Not an opinion I share - obviously.

eman1948 · 27-11-2019, 12:11 PM

Obviously I will not be watching the programme but if you see who the people were who chose these candidates then you can see they were biased to their sports. The BBC are an absolute disgrace.

AntG · 27-11-2019, 01:21 PM

Rednine hit the nail on the head, motorcycle racing isn't a big sport compared to things like football, F1, cricket, rugby, tennis and athletics. It's not necessarily an elitist thing either since when you look at some of the previous winners you've got footballers and boxers, arguably the two most working class sports in the country.

HammerHead · 28-11-2019, 02:24 PM

Motorcycle racing is a minority sport. However, so is athletics. I would be surprised if there are less people paying to watch motorcycle sport than athletics in the UK in any given year (London 2012 Olympics aside).

Tennis, likewise, is not a big draw (Wimbledon aside) for the spectator. Cricket and Rugby do well drawing crowds at international level but at county (cricket) and club (rugby) level crowds are not large. Whilst it might be pushing it a bit to say these two were minority sports overall, at domestic level it could easily be argued they are.

I have no real grasp of how participation numbers stand and what that might suggest is a minority.

What it really comes down to these days is what rights does the BBC hold that it wants to keep promoting - athletics and tennis largely. The bias over recent years (decades?) towards these two sports in particular is blatant. Any sport that is part of the Olympics is given and increased profile presence as it form part of the dwindling BBC Sport portfolio.

When I was a kid the "Sports Review of the Year" was just that, with the added trinket at the end of the review of the "Sports Personality of the Year" award. Nowadays BBC have little to review, with the exception of short clips bought from Sky, Eurosport, C4 and ITV. Therefore they need to base the show around different content from it's original form and talking to individual sports people costs much less money than showing sports clips.

The two athletes nominated are, I believe, both world champions (as is Ben Stokes as part of the England team) - I'm sure this has taken much hard work and dedication to achieve. However, to win five successive world championships is surely a feat worth acclaiming.

bud62 · 04-12-2019, 05:37 PM

(28-11-2019, 02:24 PM)HammerHead Wrote: Tennis, likewise, is not a big draw (Wimbledon aside) for the spectator.

Well someone must disagree (not me), because a first round LOSER at Wimbledon picked-up £45,000 this year, (I think the prize money for WINNING the Senior is about £25,000)

AntG · 04-12-2019, 07:28 PM

Not even, it's £18,000 assuming you lead every lap.

bud62 · 05-12-2019, 11:39 AM

So TT Senior prize money has actually gone down in the last 5-10 years?

I'm sure I read the regs. not too long ago and if you led all six laps it was £25,000

I know the sidecar prize money used to be £10,000 per race (assuming you led all three laps) and there was another prize fund for being overall winner of both races (it think it was another £2,000). So potentially it was possible to win £22,000. Nowadays it is £9,000 per race with no overall prize money, so an 18% decrease.

eman1948 · 05-12-2019, 06:52 PM

I`ll bite my tongue before I get in trouble and get band but it makes my blood boil when the guys who take part and make it happen are having their money cut and the shysters and carpetbaggers are lining their pockets.

Rednine · 06-12-2019, 11:55 AM

Are you talking about anyone involved with football, haha? Dodgy

Sam Pato · 07-12-2019, 01:50 AM

I don't suppose that we'll ever know - but it'd be interesting to know how much the top riders earnings are now made up of product sponsorship rather than prize money. I recall McG saying how he was being handsomely rewarded for wearing a Monster Energy cap a few years ago. Which would appear to be a step change from years gone by.

Of course Barry Sheene did do those Brut ads....

Smokin Haddock Racing · 08-12-2019, 08:33 PM

Tennis is a huge sport. Played in most schools. Every town and most villages have a well used tennis club, and its global. Similarly athletics. Just look at how many compete in Park Runs and all those other running events. It's cheap and accessible. Motorcycling simply cannot compete. That isn't the fault of the BBC. If we had a modern day Barry Sheene I'm sure we would get a look in, but for all of Rea's talent, he isn't a personality, and he competes in a minority sport.

Rednine · 08-12-2019, 09:01 PM

I agree with all your sentiments expressed above, nevertheless I haven't spotted any personalities in the current crop selected.

AntG · 09-12-2019, 02:29 PM

I was talking to a friend about this over the weekend and the way he put it was that if Rea was a multiple MotoGP champion rather than Superbikes then he may have won it already because and these are his words "to use a footballing comparison nobody remembers who won the second division do they"

eman1948 · 09-12-2019, 06:54 PM

Looking at the candidates I would`nt say that all of them were premier or first division. Two years ago JR came second and he only had 3 titles then and he polled a good number of votes. It may be a minority sport but plenty of people who are interested in sport know of JR and what he has achieved .

Smokin Haddock Racing · 09-12-2019, 08:52 PM

(08-12-2019, 09:01 PM)Rednine Wrote: I agree with all your sentiments expressed above, nevertheless I haven't spotted any personalities in the current crop selected.

Actually I suspect Ben Stokes would have got on well with Sheene!

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