He ain’t got a double barrelled surname either like Thompson-Johnson or Asher-Smith which I hear is all the rage in England now because it shows equality between mother and father. The BBC likes that.
Spot on. Asking people to define 'middle class sport' seems to be almost every sport beyond boxing and darts, whereas it would almost certainly include rugby union, showjumping, sailing and eventing, all of which have won fewer times than, would you believe, boxing. Boxing has only won fewer awards than athletics, Formula 1 and tennis, all of which are widely popular. In terms of total placings it's level with tennis. As for the boxers who've won or placed, they include well-known upper middle class types such as Ricky Hatton and Frank Bruno.
A good point, however we are amidst the me too movement now. We've got an over influence of women especially on Radio and worst of all, Doctor Who is now a woman. The Beeb published a "top 100 women (worldwide)" campaign last October and Dina is on there as well. Made it in the top 100 out of about 6 billion to choose from. The powers that be have also concocted International Women's Day to top it all off. Tyson won't get a look in come the day.
I really don't get how Asher-Smith has become (on this forum at least) a symbol of woke political correctness, and is apparently being undeservedly pushed as part of a luvvy agenda. She's the first world-class female sprinter in this country for nearly 30 years, World and European champion, National Record Holder at 100m and 200m, and is marketable in a prominent sport in Olympic year. Of course she's going to get plenty of column inches, but it's mainly because she's bloody good at what she does. When Gazzamania hit its peak after the 1990 World Cup, it wasn't because there was a media bias in favour of chunky Geordie pissheads. It was because he was good at football and popular, was watched by millions of people, and made a big connection with the public. There are a few token political choices in SPOTY and it's all a bit of a farce, but for the most part the most deserving candidates get nominated, and then its simply a case of who the public decide to vote for. If anyone has a case for being overlooked, it's the guy who didn't get nominated despite winning the world's most prominent endurance race repeatedly, while inferior peers won the award before and after. The undertone on recent SPOTY threads has been that Fury deserves to win, but won't because the establishment is holding him down and wants a media darling to win instead who is preferably one or more of female, homosexual, ethnic minority, middle-class etc. The main issue with that theory is that it's bollocks based on who historically has won the award.
The issue is that he was previously not allowed on any shortlist because of what he was saying and how he conducted himself in public. This has nothing to do with sporting achievement and everything to do with the farce of SPOTY.
Look at the 3 in front of him and compare the sporting achievement. And Mo Farah languishing in behind with a superlative record.
Just looking at the person who finished third in 2015 then, and we've got an Olympic and three time world champion. Not bad, but I suppose she does have a double barrelled name so probably quite middle class. I've never been to Sheffield but I'm guessing it's a bit like Virginia Water?
The order of this was determined by public vote. I'm no apologist for the Beeb, but they put him on the shortlist, resisted a campaign to remove him after his controversial comments, and counted the votes that people made. The rest of it, and any "agenda", is down to those who voted. Murray winning surely requires no explanation? The guy single-handedly carried the British team to their first Davis Cup in 79 years, running up stats that have been rivaled less than a handful of times in the competition's 100+ year history. Sinfield was the result of a concerted campaign by Rugby League fans to get their sport more recognition. That's the weakness of putting it to a public vote. Ennis-Hill won the multi-event world title (unofficially the best all-round female track and field athlete in the world) a year after giving birth for the first time. Sinfield aside, unless we're going down the route that no sport has any merit unless it involves punching people in the face, there obviously isn't any great discrepancy between Fury and those who were voted above him, or indeed most of the ones below. For whatever reason, some people on this thread won't let go of their half-baked conspiracy theories even when there is no factual evidence to support them: There is a bias towards women and ethnic minorities - the vast majority of winners have been white males. There is a bias towards trendy, middle-class sports - the winners have been spread across nearly all major sports Fury was unfairly excluded from the shortlist by the BBC - actually, they kept him on there despite a big campaign to remove him Fury is likely to be in the running this year, and should make the shortlist unless he loses his next fight. If he doesn't win though, it's simply because more people voted for someone else.
It is an interesting debate, with it being an Olympic year I suspect he will probably not win, but he is very popular. As for status of the sport, look at the money required to watch it, boxing is very middle class. But it is that middle class that wishes to identify as working class.