Taking sport too seriously

I started putting together and writing up this list a few months ago, and the sporting world does not stand still. Several fabulous things have happened since then, which merit changes to the order. Furthermore, while making the list, I've sometimes had cause to rethink and re-assess - they're too high, they're too low etc. So, just for the record, if I was making this list today, this is how it would be. A few changes here and there, not many. I've actually pushed it up to 250, just so everyone who was on the list at any point gets a mention. I've highlighted any notable differences - big jumps, big drops, new entries etc Here we go 1 Jonny Wilkinson 2 Daley Thompson 3 Fred Perry 4 Sebastian Coe 5 Bobby Charlton 6 Bradley Wiggins 7 Sidney Barnes 8 Bobby Moore 9 Chrissy Wellington 10 Nick Faldo 11 Ian Botham 12 Ryan G...

Here we go then. The last 10. Maybe with a little controversy, but not much. The notable shortage of female sportspeople in the upper reaches is to be noted. How best to explain that? Sport is striving for equality, and our perception of sport may strive for equality, but it's not there yet. In sports like Track and Field, the achievements of a great women's 400m are just the equal of a great men's 400m runner (incidentally, yesterday has pushed Christine Ohuruogu a good 15-20 places up the list, if not more) because they have the same prestige, they have the same historical background, the same talent pool, the same circuit and opportunities. The same cannot be said yet in, say, cricket. It is still a sport searching for identity. Women play nowhere near as many matches, their skills are not equivalently developed, there is simply not the same opportunity for greatness. There is, at this stage, more top class men's sport, and through the last century that has b...

I've mentioned a fair few sporting folk who very nearly made the list, who might have made the list, who probably deserved to make the list. There are plenty more of those - names like Martin Peters, Roger Hunt, Alan Ball, Matt Dawson, Gerald Davies, Mervyn Davies, Ian Rush, Alan Hansen, Jack Charlton, Andy Irvine, Finlay Calder, Brian Statham, Brian Clough and Bobby Robson, players of mainstream sports who could easily have come into consideration. However, now is a time I'd like to mention a very few sportspeople I pointedly do not think have achieved greatness. A bit harsh perhaps, but it's nothing personal, particularly with the first one, who is Lee Westwood.  There's no one I'd like to be a great sportsperson more. There's no one I'm hoping will win a Major golf championship more. But he won't. Somehow or other, it appears to be in its nature, and, for all its faults, that's a great thing about golf - there really is a separation, a filterin...