Becky James makes her SPOTY bid

It would be nice to think this weekend has ensured a Welsh sports star will be on the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year shortlist in 10 months’ time.

Not anyone to do with Swansea City, who won their first major (English) trophy yesterday, nor a rugby player (though with a Lions tour coming up that’s not totally out of the question).

Becky James, from Abergavenny, picked up four medals – two gold and two bronze, exactly the same record as France – in last week’s 2013 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Belarus as Great Britain continued their dominance on two wheels (if not quite as comprehensively as during the Olympics).

James won two individual rainbow jerseys, in the sprint and keirin, an individual bronze in the 500m time trial and a further bronze alongside Victoria Williamson in the team sprint. GB finished with five golds, two silvers and two bronzes.

It’s great to see a young Welsh star (she is only 21) emerge as such a force on the world stage – and if you had any doubts as to the magnitude of her achievement, you only need to see the reaction of her track rivals, including Anna Meares, Victoria Pendleton’s long-time adversary (ignore the fact she’s forgotten some past champions):

JAMES! BECKY JAMES!!!!A handful in Delhi, now she isWORLD CHAMPION at 21. Congrats @becksjames Has Wales had a cycling World champ b4?

— Anna Meares (@AnnaMeares) February 24, 2013

DOUBLE WORLD CHAMPION!!!! Words can’t even describe how happy I am! 🙂 Thank you for all the support everyone! #whataweek x

— Becky James (@BecksJames) February 24, 2013

 

Wow! @becksjames double world champ! Incredible performance in Keirin. Becky, Wales salutes you #worldchampion #girlpower

— Laura McAllister (@LauraMcAllister) February 24, 2013

So happy for @becksjames ! What a girl!!DOUBLE WORLD CHAMPION!! #soproud #onfire #sorryaboutthat 😘😜 xx

— George North (@George_North) February 24, 2013

Sports Personality debate must not detract from the progress made by women’s sport in Wales

When the BBC announced, at the end of November, the ten-strong shortlist for this year’s Sports Personality of the Year, a traditional celebration of sporting achievements over the previous 12 months, it was hardly greeted with the customary festive cheer.

Tongues immediately began wagging at the fact all the names were male. The Daily Mail’s Laura Williamson, for example, regretfully suggested the list “sums up the pervading attitude towards women’s sport in this country”.

The BBC had asked 27 publications to produce their own shortlists of 10 and then aggregated their responses. So what does the lack of a female candidate say about the state of women’s sport in this country?

BBC commentator Jacqui Oatley hinted a lack of coverage in the media is slowing the progress of women’s sport, a theme running to the core of what An Early Bath has investigated:
http://twitter.com/#!/JacquiOatley/status/141438309279870977

Professor Laura McAllister, head of Sport Wales, insisted the Sports Personality of the Year snub – which she brands “scandalous” – flies in the face of the progress made by women’s sport in Wales.

“I think in terms of where we’re at with women’s sport, it’s probably as strong as it’s ever been,” she argues.

“Team sports, particularly football, have grown at quite some pace over the last decade.”

Laura McAllister: BBC Sports Personality process is “fundamentally flawed”

On the field, women’s football in Wales has been a relative success in recent years, even if it has had to set out from a relatively low base.

As Prof McAllister explains, an already-solid structure is becoming ever more established. “We’ve got a team playing at virtually the highest level of UK competition – the English Premier League, as Cardiff City do – and then we’ve got our own Welsh Premier League [formed in 2009] which has really improved standards in the lower levels.”

But the problem, as Prof McAllister notes, is something of a vicious cycle. Sports journalism is predominately practised by and hence focused on men, but without more comprehensive coverage, it will always be difficult for women’s teams to attract more followers.

View from the stand at the Cardiff International Athletics Stadium, with the 27,000-seater Cardiff City Stadium in the background, as Cardiff City Ladies take on Reading

Last weekend, Cardiff City Ladies FC hosted Reading in their Premier League encounter at the Cardiff International Sports Stadium, Leckwith.

Cardiff dug out a determined win in torrential conditions against the visitors from Berkshire, with second-half goals from Nicola Cousins, Lauren Price and Zoe Atkins securing a comfortable 3-0 win.

CCLFC has received support from Cardiff City Council, but now needs to draw in the crowds with media help

But although the horrendous conditions would certainly have had a detrimental effect on the crowd numbers, the 2,500-capacity stand was sparsely filled, to say the least. Cardiff City men’s side, meanwhile, attract a crowd of 20,000-plus each game.

Karen Jones, secretary of the ladies’ club, reveals her team has benefited from financial support from local government. The state-of-the-art facilities at the International Stadium mean Cardiff is, in terms of facilities, one of the best endowed female club sides in the UK.

This, though, has had little or no impact on expanding the market and driving up attendances. While Karen emphasises next year’s Olympic Games have not had an entirely positive effect on CCLFC, with women’s football being showcased at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium she hopes more followers will be attracted to her club and others at all levels across south Wales.

Cardiff City Ladies FC’s club secretary Karen Jones: “We have the best facilities in the league”

“Even with the men’s World Cup you get an influx of girls who want to come and join.”

It is not just women’s football experiencing something of a boom. Welsh netball is going through a huge resurgence following the recruitment of New Zealander Melissa Hyndman to coach the national side, and has recently returned from Scotland – ahead of Wales in the netball world rankings – after having won every game on tour at both senior and under-21 level.

Laura McAllister: Recent progress “augurs very well for the future”

But while there have been triumphs on the field and improved infrastructure has been provided, for women’s football, hockey and netball and other popular team sports to ever break into the mainstream – and perhaps even smash the glass ceiling of professionalism – the media has to play a role.

Laura McAllister: “We need more female sports journalists just to get different perspectives”

It is open to discussion as to whether media coverage of women’s sport, and particularly that of the team variety, will ever even approach that devoted to men. What appear to be intransigent attitudes such as the one expressed by the Independent’s Glenn Moore will not help:

“Women’s sport does not get much media attention because the public do not demand it. The Independent’s sports desk gets more letters asking for increased coverage of lower league football, or racecards, than of women’s sport.”

The controversy surrounding the Sports Personality of the Year shortlist demonstrates a definite undercurrent of support for female athletes although it remains to be seen whether a positive step forward can emerge from the aftermath of the controversy.

But while Welsh football, netball and hockey teams keep on winning, the chance of this happening can only increase.

Deserved Recognition for Welsh Sport’s Unsung Heroes

People talk of their sporting heroes as stars such as Rob Howley, Ryan Giggs and Colin Jackson – admittedly with good reason.

But arguably those who are more worthy of being labelled heroes are the scores of coaches and other volunteers who enable grassroots sports to function and who are, because of their very nature, predictably ignored by all but the most local of media.

Without those who put in such an effort to coach, organise, cook for, and transport grassroots teams and clubs, the hundreds of thousands who take part in such activities would not be able to do so.

So it is events like the Sport Wales’ Coach of the Year Awards, held this afternoon at the Swalec Stadium at Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens, which provide deserved recognition to those who represent – without wishing to descend into hyperbole – the true lifeblood of Welsh sport.

Sport Wales is effectively the Welsh national sports body, overseeing all levels of sport and recreation in Wales. In its own words:

“We are the national organisation responsible for developing and promoting sport and physical activity in Wales.

We are the main adviser on sporting matters to the Welsh Government and are responsible for distributing National Lottery funds to both elite and grassroots sport in Wales.

We fully subscribe to the Welsh Government’s vision for a physically active and sporting nation, as outlined in their strategies Climbing Higher and Creating an Active Wales.

We aim to not only improve the level of sports participation at grassroots level but also provide our aspiring athletes with the support required to compete successfully on the world stage.”

The Coach of the Year Awards, which have been held since the 1970s, recognise achievement in a range of different aspects of sport.

Professor Laura McAllister, Chair of Sport Wales and former Welsh football captain, told guests the awards came at the end of an extremely good year for Welsh sport, pointing to the success of hurdler Dai Greene, the recent form of the football side as well as the Rugby World Cup exploits.

But Prof McAllister insisted that represented only the very tip of the Principality’s sporting iceberg, and she issued a rallying call to continue the work at grassroots level and to take advantage of this so-called golden decade of sport, with the UK hosting the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the 2015 Rugby World Cup and the 2017 World Athletics Championships among other events.

“There is more work to be done,” she said in opening the ceremony. “We all know that and we in this room know that more clearly than anyone.

“We have to continue to raise the bar even higher. We do not want to be left behind.”

It is those who do work like today’s nominees who are integral to the future sporting success of this country.

Each finalist had filmed a short clip explaining why they did what they did. Helen James, awarded the female community coach of the year gong for her work with the Cardiff Amateur Athletics Club, summed up the motivation of volunteers like her:

“I love athletics and I love Cardiff – and that is why I do it, really.”

That message was repeated over and over again. “I am eager to work with talented young athletes,” said long-serving athletics coach Malcolm Arnold, who has coached Greene and Jackson among hundreds of other athletes.

“It is not hard to come to work.”

Anthony Hughes, head coach and national programme manager for the Elite Disability Athletics Programme and who has helped turn Wales into one of the most successful disability sporting nations, pound-for-pound, picked up the coveted overall prize.

Huw Lewis AM, Sports Minister in the Welsh Assembly Government, presented Mr Hughes with his accolade, but paid tribute to all the finalists: “Those who inspire others are almost invariably very modest and unassuming – that is why it is very important for us as a community and as a country to recognise the work they do.”

Mr Hughes’ words reflected a theme running right through the ceremony – namely something resembling embarrassment that the service he and others provide should be deemed worthy of rewarding:

“I do this because I love what I do. The people who move me are the people who turn out week after week after week. I do it with a passion because I want people to achieve. I want to retire knowing I have achieved everything. I am very lucky because I get to do those things I love.”

The reluctance of Anthony Hughes and other prize-winners to acknowledge they are deserving of such tributes is perhaps a natural reaction to being recognised for work they do not think twice about carrying out.

But it is not people like Anthony who should be grateful – it is anyone and everyone who participates in sport at any level. Unsung heroes such as Anthony provide the platform for grassroots sport and also lay the foundations for elite success.

Gratitude and recognition is the least their efforts deserve.

 

Full list of winners:

Female Community Coach: Helen James, Cardiff Amateur Athletics Club

Male Community Coach: Tony Borg, St Joseph’s Amateur Boxing Club, Newport

Volunteer: Stuart Robson, Caerphilly Castle Ladies and Girls Football Club

Coach to Disabled People: Anthony Hughes, Elite Disability Athletics Programme

Contribution to Coach Development: Ryan Jenkins, Table Tennis Association of Wales

Young Coach/Volunteer: Steve Thomas, Olympic Young Ambassador, Flintshire

High Performance: Malcolm Arnold, UK Athletics

Special Achievement: Gwyndaf Hughes, Sailing, and Stuart Conner, Gymnastics

Coach of the Year: Anthony Hughes