If you are one of those who gets worked up about the Sports Personality of the Year award, consider this. The man who has been THE giant of his sport for three decades – the man who towers above his rivals in the way Tiger Woods once towered above his fellow golfers – has never been given the BBC accolade. Steve Davis won it in 1988 and Stephen Hendry was runner-up to Paul Gascoigne in 1990 but O’Sullivan has not even been on the podium.
While nominated, he did not even make the frame – excuse the pun – in 2022, the year in which he clinched his record-equalling seventh world championship. Nope, Ronnie could not even edge out curling’s Eve Muirhead for the bronze medal
England women’s striker Beth Mead finished top of the polls last year and another Lioness, Mary Earps, is the bookmakers’ favourite for the 2023 edition, although whether the mistake against the Dutch at Wembley the other night will change people’s minds remains to be seen.
And if O’Sullivan was not in the top three in a year in which he again won at The Crucible, he probably has little or no hope in a year in which he left Sheffield after the quarter-final stage.But after his triumph at the UK Championships, he SHOULD be amongst the favourites.
