The BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year awards have a long been a highlight of both the sporting and TV calendars, but has the show gone past its sell-by date?

One of our readers certainly thinks so in an excoriating review today.

Michael Wilson of Longniddry writes:

"Against my better judgment, having chosen to give the BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) yet another chance, what unfolded was an unmitigated example of a cloying, cheesy and self-congratulatory stagger down memory lane, exhuming what little remains of the rotting corpse of BBC Sport.

There was precious little to remember, let alone celebrate, with the entire charade presided over by Gary Lineker, Alex Scott, Gabby Logan and the obsequious, schmaltzy Clare Balding.

Grim viewing it most certainly was, sticking with it, not in any vain hope that matters might improve but to witness just how deep the depths this one-time sporting highlight had plummeted.

The six short-listed contenders for the once-venerated SPOTY trophy could well have been compiled by an English diversity focus group; four English athletes, two women, one disabled athlete, Irish superstar golfer Rory McIlroy, who had decided not to grace the occasion and an Italian jockey who had been banned in 2012 for cocaine use.

Meanwhile, voting was restricted to a period of 15-20 minutes and with the vast majority of the eligible electorate being English, it can hardly have come as a surprise that the first three places were occupied by representatives of England.

And given that World Championship gold medal winner Katarina Johnson-Thompson was shortlisted on merit, why then was the same status not accorded to Scottish athlete Jake Kerr, who won the gold medal in the blue-riband 1,500m at those self-same World Championships in Budapest in August?

I am a steadfast advocate for women’s sport in general and women’s football in particular, but 2023 SPOTY winner, Lionesses goalkeeper Mary Earps, won absolutely nothing last year for either club or country, her elevation wholly unjustified and swayed mightily I suspect by her potty-mouthed response to saving a penalty in defeat against Spain in the recent Women’s World Cup.

With BBC Sport having lost many of its meaningful TV rights, including the Open Championship, the Masters, the PGA Championship, the Ryder Cup, F1, and exclusivity of rugby’s iconic Six Nations Championship, and clinging onto Wimbledon like grim death, surely it’s high time an increasingly irrelevant SPOTY was put out of its excruciating agony once and for all?"

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