Hearing the names for BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year got me thinking, and honestly? Scott McTominay not being there just feels strange. They picked six people, like Hannah Hampton from football and Luke Littler who plays darts, Rory McIlroy too. Everyone votes live in December.
It’s become a real arguing point for folks here. A writer, Henry Winter, put online how amazing McTominay’s year really was. Winning Serie A, getting Player of the Year there, even a Ballon d’Or nomination. He got Scotland to the World Cup with this unbelievable kick against Denmark. It’s a lot.
Someone from a Scottish paper asked a good question: has anyone actually had a better year? Putting two Lionesses on, while great for them, might annoy some fans who sees what McTominay did. The BBC says a group of experts picked the list just on sport merit, which is their process.
But looking at his year, it’s huge. He went to Napoli and right away helped them win the league, scoring a bunch. That goal on the last day was a scissor kick, just wow. They gave him the best player award in Italy for it. Now Napoli’s top again and he’s still scoring.
For Scotland, he’s everything. That overhead kick to qualify us? The manager said it’s the best he ever saw. The numbers show it since last year, he’s involved in way more goals than anybody else on the team. Just so important.
The awards show has other prizes too, like for best team or a lifetime award. They’re doing a World Sport Star thing also, people can vote now. It’s a big night.
So we’ll see who wins in December. But even without his name on that list, what Scott McTominay did this year? Football won’t forget it for a long time. Makes you wonder how they decide these things, doesn’t it?
And you just look at the list they made, don’t you? It’s like they picked names from completely different worlds of sport, which is fine, but then you got McTominay over here doing things in football that folks just don’t usually do. Makes a person wonder if playing outside England means you’re just out of sight, out of mind for some people. The whole thing’s got a odd feeling to it.
I even heard some fans talking about how it feels personal, but it surely can’t be that. Maybe it’s just one of those oversights that happens. Still, when your phone’s buzzing with folks who are just genuinely confused, not even angry but just sort of baffled, it tells you something. His year wasn’t just good, it was the kind you tell stories about later.
What’s he thinking, I wonder? Probably just getting on with it, to be fair. That’s what players like him do. While everyone’s chatting about a trophy he didn’t get nominated for, he’s probably just back to training, thinking about the next game. In a funny way, that might be the real sports personality right there just letting the playing do all the talking for you. The awards night will come and go, but those goals and that trophy for Napoli and for Scotland? That’s staying forever.
