BBC SPOTY: Anthony Joshua favourite but rugby is snubbed again

The shortlist for BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2017 award was announced yesterday evening but the 12 contenders may struggle to capture the public’s imagination when they are asked to vote next month.

It hasn’t been a vintage year for British sport. Chris Froome and Anthony Joshua have excelled, winning a fourth Tour de France title and the WBA and IBO world heavyweight belts, but with no Olympics, no Commonwealth Games and no major football tournaments it hasn’t been a year that will stick in the memory.

There was a British and Irish Lions rugby tour to New Zealand, mind you, which finished with the tourists drawing the series against the world champions, but SPOTY seems to have something against rugby.

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Last year no England players were nominated despite their Grand Slam achievements. The Lions feat in avoiding defeat in New Zealand for only the second time in more than 100 years of Tests has gone unrecognised.

The Daily Mail says the lack of anyone from the rugby world is a “glaring omission”, while the Daily Telegraph says rugby has been “controversially snubbed” for a second year. The Telegraph points out that the England’s women team had won the Grand Slam and reached the final of the World Cup, while their male counterparts had won their Six Nations championship.

The Guardian is also surprised at the lack of rugby stars, as well as the exclusion of England pace bowler Jimmy Anderson, who in helping his country to series wins over South Africa and West Indies this summer, became the first Englishman (and only the sixth cricketer) to take 500 Test match wickets.

“There may be questions about whether minor sports have too much sway,” says the paper, without naming Elise Christie (short track speed skating) and Bianca Walkden (taekwondo), both of whom have excelled in their sports but are barely known outside their disciplines. How is a nation to vote on someone’s ‘personality’ if they don't know who they are?

The fact that England women’s cricketer Anya Shrubsole makes the shortlist only reinforces the feeling that SPOTY is increasingly an exercise in politically-correct box ticking.

Then again, the inclusion of Harry Kane is also questionable, given that the England and Tottenham striker has won nothing for either club or country this season.

He’s scored lots of goals but then England rugby star Owen Farrell has scored lots of points, and also helped his country win the Six Nations title and his club (Saracens) win the European Cup. So why Kane and not Farrell?

One nominee who did, again, taste success in 2017 was Mo Farah, who signed off from track running with another 10,000m world title.

Other nominees include the swimmer Adam Peaty, Johanna Konta, rewarded for reaching the Wimbledon semi-final, para-athlete Jonnie Peacock and the Northern Irish motorcyclist, Jonathan Rea, crowned World Superbike champion for the third consecutive year.

Six contenders for the Overseas Sports Personality of the Year have already been revealed, with Tom Brady (American football), Roger Federer (tennis), Katie Ledecky (swimming), Tatyana McFadden (para-athletics), Sally Pearson (athletics) and Michael van Gerwen (darts) vying for the title.

The winner will be announced on 17 December at the Echo Arena in Liverpool. The favourite to take the title is Anthony Joshua.

For a start he has a personality, perhaps not something that can be said of one or two of his SPOTY rivals, and secondly, the manner in which he beat Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley in April confirmed he’s an athlete of rare quality.

BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2017 shortlist

• Elise Christie (short track speed skating)
• Sir Mo Farah (athletics)
• Chris Froome (cycling)
• Lewis Hamilton (Formula 1)
• Anthony Joshua (boxing)
• Harry Kane (football)
• Johanna Konta (tennis)
• Jonnie Peacock (para-athletics)
• Adam Peaty (swimming)
• Jonathan Rea (motorcycling)
• Anya Shrubsole (cricket)
• Bianca Walkden (taekwondo)