RYAN GIGGS: “WALES and Manchester United football legend Ryan Giggs was named as the BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year 2009” screamed the press release from BBC Wales.
Following a public vote the award was announced by First Minister Rhodri Morgan live on BBC Wales.
Giggs also won the award in 1996 and is nominated for the BBC Sports Personality of The Year award.
The BBC statement said: “The evergreen 36-year-old football legend from Cardiff has had another outstanding year. Manchester United won the Barclays Premier League, the Carling Cup and were UEFA Champion League finalists, while Giggs himself won the Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year Award and was nominated for European footballer of the year.”
Perhaps I’m missing something here. Ryan Giggs is an outstanding footballer, who has had a tremendous career and a great season.
There’ll be very few of his kind again ever, spending an entire career with just one club, and winning so many trophies and accolades while there.
But his contribution to Welsh sport in the last 12 months has been what exactly?
Last time I checked he’d quit the national team, and barring a tremendous boundary shift I don’t think Manchester is in Wales?
In many ways he’d be more deserving of the main BBC award then he was of the BBC Wales nomination.
Surely there was a more worthy winner? Jamie Roberts was player of the series for the British Lions, played in a Cardiff team that won the EDF Cup and reached the semi-finals of the Heineken Cup?
Geraint Thomas recovered from a fractured pelvis and broken nose to take gold in the cycling world cup?
Or what about Louise Rickard? Member of the female rugby team that won the Triple Crown and now has more than 100 caps...
Giggs is a cliche machine as the evergreen stalwart rolls back the years with his vintage displays.
And his stunning form - he actually appears to get better with the years - would say he could be in the running for the PFA Player of the Year Award. But Welsh Sports Personality of The Year - sorry, not for me.
ROADWORKS: Those roadworks in Welshpool on the main bypass are really starting to wind me up.
I don’t mind roadworks - I fully understand there are times when roads need repairing, altering etc.
But these roadworks are causing a massive amount of disruption - and no-one ever seems to be there actually doing anything. The workmen must have Britain’s easiest job.
There ought to be a law that if you’ve closed roads you have to be working on the site, even if that means working throughout the night.
Pump some money into the recession-hit economy by paying workers extra money to do shift work and actually get the work finished.
And think on good people of Welshpool - what’s it going to be like in the town when Tesco and their contractors move in and start not only building a supermarket but also fundamentally changing the town’s road layout... it’ll be fun.
Maybe they’ll try and bring through all the wind turbine parts at the same time. Now that would be good.