Archives for January 2012

In these straitened times it is vital that we make the most of what we have. It is also important that we take time, amid all this austerity, to enjoy the good bits properly and applaud those who have cheered us up.

So I am going to cast my mind back to the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year show one more time and highlight a team performance that has received almost no mainstream recognition but should be up there with English football's 1966, rugby union's 2003 or the British Olympic team's 2008.

Don't get me wrong, SPOTY's team of the year, the England men's cricket team, were superb in 2011 - top of the rankings, a fine summer and a thumping Ashes win Down Under - but they were not my team of the year for the simple reason that another side "played" better.

Their champagne moment came when Mark Cavendish crossed the line to win Britain's first men's road race world title for 46 years. To him go the jersey, fame and new contract, but the glory is shared.

Read the rest of this entry

Ballroom dancing, gig racing, hula hooping and Zumba: a fab four when it comes to physical fitness and all were mentioned by callers during a fascinating Radio 4 phone-in on grassroots sport on Tuesday. But are they, you know, actually sports?

The reason I ask is the same reason the venerable "You and Yours" programme was asking. With London 2012 now little more than 200 days away, do we, as a nation, have any chance of reaching our Olympic legacy targets for mass participation?

The short answer to those questions is "no, they're not and no, we don't".

The longer answer, however, is much more complicated and that is what made "What's Your Sport?" such an interesting listen.

Read the rest of this entry