By Alice Arnold in London/theguardian.com


The “personality” element of the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award has been problematic for some time.
Why should we expect our top sports stars to be scintillating company? Perhaps we have to broaden our definition and take it to mean “role model” or “ambassador” or simply “good egg” when we are deciding who to vote for.
However, for the moment the title remains and the nominees were announced last night with a late addition to the list. World heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury (pic) got in by the skin of his teeth, after beating Wladimir Klitschko on Saturday night. Great timing.
Now, I am the first to admit I am not a boxing fan. I do not deny that it can be a skilful sport—you need to be pretty fit and quick on your feet—I just don’t like the idea of any activity where you aim to knock your opponent unconscious.
I appreciate, though, that there are many boxing fans out there, and while it is a legitimate sport its champions have as much right to be on the list of sporting personalities as anyone else.
Fury actually has a personality too—quite a strong one. He is outspoken and opinionated—and it’s not attractive.
He recently claimed that the end of days is approaching. He said that the devil will be summoned when paedophilia is legalised, completing the satanic trinity of abortion and homosexuality. He defended his comments by saying that his beliefs are based on his faith and the Bible. If the Bible tells him that something is wrong, then it’s wrong.
Fury is far from alone in believing that homosexuality is wrong on religious grounds, but there are ways to express this through love and understanding. The sadness is that Fury chooses to express his views to an audience that may not contain the most enlightened people and those views get reinforced and accepted.
Fury comes from the travelling community and is proud of the fact, as he should be. For centuries Travellers have been discriminated against and disenfranchised. The Friends Families and Travellers’ website says that Gypsy and Traveller young people are bullied more than any other ethnic minority in England.
Would someone like to explain to Fury that more than half of all lesbian, gay, bisexual young people experience homophobic bullying in Britain’s schools? When a great sporting figure spouts off comparing homosexuality to paedophilia, that figure is not likely to drop. It is talk like this that leads to young people suffering bullying and mental illness and in some cases being driven to suicide.
It matters what our sporting superstars say. They can have a tremendous power to influence the views of young people and to be role models for the future.
There are certainly some positive role models out there. Shortly after Fury was busy bashing Klitschko, Andy Murray won the Davis Cup for Great Britain with an astounding topspin lob.
Murray broke the mould by hiring Amélie Mauresmo as his coach in place of Ivan Lendl last year. Many questioned the wisdom of employing a woman, but Murray stood firmly by his decision. In so doing, he may have opened the way for other top players. He demonstrated that the ability to do the job was more important than gender—and we could do with far more of that in sporting circles.
Murray didn’t sing, à la Fury, to his wife immediately after his victory. Instead he realised that while his teammates were wrestling him on the ground in celebration, he hadn’t yet shaken hands with his opponent, David Goffin. He extricated himself from the mob and went over to Goffin and the whole of the Belgium camp, shaking hands with each and every one of them, before allowing the British celebrations to continue.
The BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year is the highest-profile award in Britain. It is a massive honour to the recipient, and sporting achievement has to be the most important factor, but we can’t ignore the ambassadorial role.
If you are in the privileged position of being a sporting hero, then use your voice for good, not to damn a minority of the population.
If you don’t like gay people and think we are the devil incarnate, then keep it to yourself unless you want blood on your hands—and not on your boxing gloves. It will be up to us to cast our votes on 20 December. Perhaps this year “personality” really IS important.