FAIL: RTÉ Sports Person of the Year Awards
Tags: boxing, fail, Gender, Katie Taylor, Olympics, RTE, RTÉ Sports Person of the Year, sexism, Sky News, Sky Sports
And people thought the BBC’s Sports Person of the Year shortlist was bad?
Katie Taylor has been shortlisted for the Irish Sports Council/RTÉ Sports Person of the Year Awards in 2011, 2010, 2008, 2007.
This morning the 2011 winner was announced, and once again Taylor – undisputedly Ireland’s greatest athlete ever – has been overlooked. This is not a first for RTÉ, which seems to pride itself on almost invariably ignoring Taylor.
The only woman to ever have won the award was Sonia O’Sullivan in 2000.
The other recipients of the award since then have been: Mick McCarthy (who won it as a mangager – as opposed to being an actual sports person); Pádraig Harrington (three times: 2002, 2007 and 2008 – check out the shortlist for those two years); Barry Geraghty (who?); Ronan O’Gara; Seán Óg Ó hAilpín (er..?); Henry Shefflin (wha..?); Brian O’Driscoll; Graeme McDowell; and, this year, Rory McIlroy.
These are just some – some – of Katie Taylor’s achievements:
- She has won every European Amateur Championship title since 2005.
- She has won every EU Amateur Championship title since 2008.
- She has won every World Amateur Championship title (held biennially) since 2006.
- In 2009, she had won 60 out of 61 bouts.
- In 2010, with her third successive world title at the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships, she saw her 100th career win.
By comparison, professional boxer Bernard Dunne has won 28 out of 30 matches.
Taylor’s only appearance on RTÉ television was as warm-up act to Dunne’s fight at the O2 in Dublin in 2009.
Katie Taylor has probably had more wins in her sporting career than each of the previous RTÉ Sports Persons of the Year combined.
If she qualifies for the 2012 Olympics, she will be a force to be reckoned with and stands a very good chance of doing very, very well. In advance of the Games, she has had to resort to the UK’s Sky Sports for coverage ( onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview (‘/outbound/www.youtube.com’);”>video and online), mentoring and support.
Katie Taylor is undoubtedly Ireland’s greatest sports person ever. She is one of the greatest female boxers in the world.
Her father, and coach, Peter Taylor has already expressed his dismay at the lack of coverage her achievements receive. The way she is treated by the State’s national broadcaster is a disgrace.
Sort it the fuck out, RTÉ.
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A-freaking-men!
That is a disgraceful article. Katie Taylor is a brilliant athlete, but to claim that she is ‘undisputedly [sic] Ireland’s greatest athlete ever’ is a ridiculous and eminently disputable claim. She gets far more press coverage than her male counterparts (remember she is an amateur rather than a professional boxer). How many times have Joe Ward or Con Sheehan been featured on RTÉ? Regarding the lack of televised coverage of her fights, one could refer to the online coverage of her recent finals, as well as the fact that a couple of fights which were due to be televised were cancelled due to her opponents withdrawing. Also, she has appeared on RTÉ many times in a non-fighting capacity, both as a boxing pundit and a guest on chat shows.
Regarding her not winning this year, Rory McIlroy broke significant new ground in his chosen sport. Katie Taylor is in some ways a victim of her own success, as she she has been operating at essentially the same level since 2006 (when she first won the World Championship), without the possibility of breaking equivalent ground. Next year, with women’s boxing being included in the Olympics, represents a genuine chance to raise her profile exponentially, and should she triumph in London I’d be the first to say that she deserves to be win the Sports Person of the Year Award. Even if she doesn’t win, she deserves every accolade, official and otherwise, going her way for what she’s achieved over the last few years. However, to try to further her claims to the award by denigrating the achievements of previous winners and aiming cheap shots at RTÉ is exceptionally lazy ‘journalism’.
[...] FAIL: RTÉ Sports Person of the Year Awards (Gaelick) [...]
In 2002, the Irish Olympic Clay Pigeon team won the Gold Medal at the World Championships in Lathi, Finland. They arrived home to find RTE waiting at the airport…
…to report on the return of a school team who’d come in third in an Irish dancing competition in the UK.
RTE’s sports coverage has never really figured out that coverage of minorities is something they should be doing properly (especially as we excel in many minority sports – and that seems to extend to the “Big Five” sports when talking about sections of the sport they regard as minorities as well.
I mean, which sounds more interesting? Watching an Irish team win a World Championships in Olympic Trap or a man whack a little ball around a park? And it’s not a universal thing – go to anywhere in continental europe and you’ll find minority sports covered regularly and well, but in Ireland (outside of the work Lindie Naughton does), forget about it. You’d more chance of learning that Ray Kane broke the Irish record for Men’s Olympic Air Rifle twice last week at RIAC if you were watching RTL in France than if you watched RTE!
I’m calling bullshit. I think Katie Taylor is great but she is definitely not are greatest ever sportsperson. She is one of the best female amaetur boxers for sure but out of how many? How many women box in Ireland? How many in the world? Compare that to football where pretty much every man I know has played to some level. So to the get to the top of that table you really have to be the best amongs billions.
@thomas- “every man you know”??? Are you genuinely having a laugh? What a reductive argument. By that logic, surely cyclists or indeed competitive walkers are the most importaant athletes, because practically everyone on EARTH cycles or walks!? Ridiculous point isn’t it? You really can’t take away from another athlete’s achievements just because they have excelled in a sport which the vast majority of people would not have the tenacity, dedication, strength and sharpness to succeed in. If Katie were a man, there is no possible way that she would have been overlooked in this way for years and years. Sad but true.
I’ll say this- getting to the top is one thing but staying there epitomises greatness. Currently Katie Taylor is Ireland’s best chance at winning a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics and is currently Ireland’s most successful athlete. While I am a fan of Mcllroy we must remember that he has only one Major title to his name. Also as a golfer he has 4 chances to win a major in a year while the major championships for boxing are held annually or biannually. The fact is if Katie Taylor was a male athlete instead of a female she would have won this award more than once.
[...] FAIL: RTÉ Sports Person of the Year Awards Katie Taylor has been shortlisted for the Irish Sports Council/RTÉ Sports Person of the Year Awards in 2011, 2010, 2008, 2007. This morning the winner was announced, and once again Taylor – undisputedly Ireland’s greatest athlete ever – has been overlooked. This is not a first for RTÉ, which seems to pride itself on almost invariably ignoring Taylor. [...]
[...] via RTÉ Sports Person of the Year Awards | gaelick. [...]
[...] 1. FAIL: RTÉ Sportsperson of the Year Awards [...]
As a woman who loves sports I was not impressed with Katie Taylor being left out again but I don’t know if you noticed this year RTE awarded best team, best Manager ( I was shocked with Traps win) and best sportsperson to professionals.
Although I agree with you, Katie Taylor should have won, your attitute about other sport heros, who also deserved to be honored despite you not knowing who they are, weakens this article greatly. RTÉ might have failed but so has this article.
Sharing this with the group. Thanks, Dave!
———- Forwarded message ———-
Date: Tue, Jan 3, 2012 at 9:46 PM
Subject: Katie Taylor- Sports Personality of the Year – I think not
Good evening,
There are more people competing in ‘long spit’ competitions in Ireland than
womens boxing. Womens boxing around the world is a tiny minority sport.
This has to be taken into account when assessing a worthy winner of any
Sports Competition. As for a ‘Sports Personality’ I am afraid that Katie
was not blessed by her beloved maker when he/she gave out personalities.
There were more people at Dublin Airport this Christmas to welcome home my
son than there was for Katie when she came home from any of her “World”
successes. I work in the Airport and apart from her family and friends and
a few journalists, she failed to catch the publics imagination.
Maybe people just don’t like looking at one woman trying to punch the head
of another.
Is is not an insult to the great Irish Sports Women who have dominated in
mass participation sports like Sonia O Sullivan, Catherina McKiernan and
Fionnuala Britton to rank Katie Taylor ahead of them when she comes from a
tiny minority sport that the public have no interest in. This is shown by
her lack of appeal to advertising and commercial firms.
In many peoples opinion, she got far too much exposure at this years Sports
Personality of the Year Awards with most of this showing her perspiring
profusely while sparring with a male colleague.
‘Hero my arse’ as Father Jack would say.
Thanks,
Dave
[...] RTÉ and pals! Are you paying attention? [...]
A joke, really boils my blood, and RTE is pathetic and clueless when it comes to anything in the modern age, pure overpaid cavemen.
Well said, that man!
Thanks for your comment, Stephen. Indeed, overlooking Taylor for this award seems even more peculiar now, given that she was recently awarded Boxer of the Year by the Irish Amateur Boxing Association: http://www.gaelick.com/2012/01/irish-sportswomen-off-to-a-good-start-in-2012/21138/
I bet there is many a revision of opinion going on today then, lads?!
Well said, Shauna!
Where are they now, the naysayers, eh?
Popped this on the Facebook page just now to gloat. Heh.