The RTE Sport Awards on Sunday reflected the changing nature of sport with Conor McGregor a clear winner in the popular vote as Sports Personality of the Year.
Most of those votes will have come from people under the age of 30 and that’s a reflection of how tradition and modernity can sometimes clash.
Some within the sporting fraternity found it sad that in an Olympic Year that an athlete of the calibre of Annalise Murphy would have to give second best to a multi millionaire in a sport with very little tradition and not even recognised formally by Sport Ireland.
But that’s the disruptive nature of public opinion and in terms of personality he certainly gives way to nobody.
Some of McGregor’s pronouncements are wild, most are self serving but in a year where we lost Mohammed Ali, it is worth remembering there is generally a place in the pantheon of sport for those who believe totally in their own ability to be the Greatest.
We often dismiss McGregor’s claims to that mantle but he has a genuine right to make it and a large proportion of young people across the country, as well as a few more with grey hair, would agree that right now it is his time. Will it last? When has that ever been a concern of youth?…
Tak a look at the breakdown of the PSG Sport and Sentiment Index to see the polar division in terms of McGregor’s Popular Appeal.
Murphy did win the Irish Times Sportswoman of the Year, the O’Donovan Brothers won the Team of the Year at RTE and Stephen Kenny lifted the trophy as Manager of the Year.
