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Out of interest when exactly did 'Sports Review of the Year' change into the 'Sports Personality of the Year' and the emphasis move from a review to celebrity awards bash?

My recollection was that it was 2000ish, coincidentally just before the decline started.

Roger, a question from me: when will the awards come to London for the public to attend?

I know that they spent most of their life in London, but this was as a 'private' ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ event with invited guests and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ personnel. The decision to make it a public event was taken when it was moved to Birmingham, and as such the event hasn't been 'with public attendance' in London. I appreciate you probably want to take it to Scotland/NI/Wales too, but a look in from the UK capital would be good.

Also, how have you/Carl overcome the issue of opening the lines at the top of the show and then highlighting candidates throughout the duration of the show whilst the lines are open - such that the last candidate receives the smallest amount of time from being showcased to lines closing. (This is about 'on the night showcasing' rather than on the website or One Show).

In response to Jordan D #2 Tickets for SPOTY weren't limited to people from Liverpool, anyone could apply (I did even though I'm from Birmingham - I missed out again for the third year running but that's by-the-by).

People from London can travel outside of the capital to go to events you know! Just as those who live outside the M25 travel to London on a regular basis for many, many, major events of national importance that take place in the city every year.

I for one celebrate the fact that SPOTY bucks the trend that has virtually major national events in London and hope that its tour around the UK continues for many years to come.

"Like all awards programmes....."

It was supposed to be a REVIEW of the year.

angbur has hit the nail on the head, there is life outside London...

In response to #3: all well and good, but for those of us who have to work and don't drive, the late finish precludes getting back that night (last train dept is 2048) and enforces a stay in Liverpool (or similar). As you can imagine, this situation isn't an option for everyone - hence my suggestion that the tour includes London.

HI Roger,

Good blog as always but I see your response above has ignored the questions on why it changed from Sports Review of the Year to an awards show. An awards show is fine if the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ do a Sport Review of the Year as well. The 5 Live one is brilliant and a TV version would be just as good over Christmas. I'm not a fan of the new format as I am not a fan of awards cermonies but I am a fan of reviewing the sporting year!

This year can we please not have any gimmick items like James Toseland playing the piano or Mark Ramprakash dancing.

I agree with comment 9. Please no Austin Healey dancing.

Roger, I hope that SPOTY can be a good review of the year...the Olympic Year.
It needs to be a good one...Im sure that the feeling that the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Sport offices are being emptied will be the same in 20112 when all of them gets pulled up to Manchester.
Has next years event venue being chosen?
Please dont keep it in the North West for 2009, bring it back down to Birmingham...it was much better then hauling it up to Liverpool basted purley on the ridculous reason that the City was 2008 European Capital of Culture.
Bring it back down to Birmingham for 2009, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Sport is non exsistent in the Midlands Roger...purely unfair when London and Manchester have ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Sport in the next few years.

RedRedRobin at post 1 ;

Nice one ! That sums up my feelings exactly, well put!

It is very sad that it has turned into a celebrity awards bash rather than a review of the sporting year, but, it would be very narrow minded to ignore all the competitive and commercial forces that are at play.

In order for the event to be viable it needs to be justified , primarily by viewer ratings ( as we saw Mr Mosey refer to). The way to boost the ratings so that the mass big-brother watching public will tune in, is to make it into a show.

This is the reality, and unfortunately for those like us who arent very happy with it, we cannot point the finger at the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ but at western society and consumerism in general! Unfortunately the only solution for that is to take a leaf out of Daniel Cohn-Bendit's book (May 1968 Paris student riot) and revolt against capitalism!!

That being said, (and perhaps on a more serious note) as long as there is an appropriate focus on the sport and the action of the last year, I will be happy. If i see any sign of Strictly Come Dancing encroaching on the show, however, I may very promptly switch over!

Finally I congratulate the director and editors et al who consistently appear on these blogs, leaving themselves open to abuse by idiots, taking our constructive criticisms and often giving feedback to us on the blogs, it is impressive and appreciated.

I did really enjoy the show this evening as per usual, this was of course helped by such an array of winners this year. However, as numerous comments have referred to above, the concentration on the awards aspect and the almost sidelining of the sport events themselves (how can you not actually show the Olympic men's 100m in full for example?) is particularly disappointing.

Even in such a busy year, the lack of focus on the four major team sports, culminating in a pathetic minute of coverage of rugby league is amazing. Are there any plans for a proper review of 2008 with due focus on each sport? Three hours ought to be enough.

I'm sorry to sound like a killjoy, but the relevance and enjoyment of Sports Review (nb, NOT personality) has almost entirely disappeared.
I'm gutted that the elements of the show I used to really enjoy - reliving the sporting highlights of the year - have been replaced with a contrived, over-produced lights and sound show. How many slow-motion montages can we be asked to swallow? The reason why the personalities involved are nominated is because they have achieved great things, usually in dramatic circumstances. Why try and re-engineer these wonderful stories into Hollywood-blockbuster trailors. Show the fleeting moments, those precious few seconds, that created lifetime memories.
It felt like an indulgent pageant for the production team at the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳, rather than a celebration of sport for people who love, support and follow these talented people throughout the year.

I agree with several other posters, I would rather see more of a proper review like we used to have, and less of an awards ceremony. As a teenager in the early 90s, I used to watch this programme religiously, sometimes even to the extent that I would watch the repeat around New Years Eve as well, and was really into all the sport, and as a Norwich fan getting very excited when the Jeremy Goss UEFA Cup run got a mention.

One of my favourite parts back then was that there would be, probably about 15 minutes from the end, a roundup of what had happened in all the minor sports, which would highlight things like Brits winning world powerboating or clay pigeon shooting championships or results of netball test series. I think this was set to music. Even if each sport or winner only got a few seconds clip or a photo, accompanied with some text about the result, it really showed the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s committment to highlighting ALL sport, even if it was minor and the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ didn't have the rights to it!

As for last night, if you accept that it is now an awards ceremony and not the programme that we used to have, it was a pretty enjoyable show in a good venue and well done to all the winners, although one thing I was disappointed with was that the Unsung Hero nomination in the programme only showed a shortlist of three of the local winners, when it would have only taken another minute or two to give a much-deserved brief spell in the national spotlight for all 15 of them, and other awards (like team of the year) had shortlists of more than three. Unfortunately this seems like another case of disregarding the little guys.

Anyway, my husband and I thought that the solution to this would be the following.

Have BOTH a SPOTY in current awards-ceremony-type format on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One, although being careful to not reduce the sports content even more....

....AND a more factual Sports Review of the Year, which is likely to be a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳2 programme (or could be ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳3 if in the evening) which could be shown either early evening before SPOTY, or more likely, in the daytime New Years Eve or one of the evenings between Christmas and New Year. Just like the old Sports Review of the Year used to be repeated around then.

The Sports Review would show all the events as proper sport (so no arty-style presentation, that can stay on SPOTY), so there would be room for the 100m Olympic final in full there, and maybe the 200m as well! And, crucial to this, the return of the sequence with a roundup of minor sports....basically, try and include a mention of every single recognised sport, whether the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ normally cover it or not; after all everyone successful deserves their moment in the spotlight sometime!

Hi,

Can anyone tell me the background music to Rebecca Adlington's 'Miss Nobody' feature during SPOTY.

Thank you

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