It’s a misnomer. Almost all of the very top sportspeople are generally devoid of personality. There are some exceptions of course, and sometimes the exceptions make a living out of their so called personality, like that bearded Irish bloke who’s rude and aggressive about everyone in football and had a reputation as a bit of a thug when he played. I’m not keen on him. He’s built a reputation after his career as someone to get in front of a camera who is guaranteed to be unpleasant. I bet he’s a pussycat at home and it’s all a big act, but he has to make a living and he’d be hopeless in Human Resources.

There’s also the English women’s teams brilliant goalie who looks like she’d be the life and soul of any party, if you can call that personality. Not sure.

A recent article asked if you could name the recent past Sports Personalities of the Year. I struggled and only one was a certainty : Mohammed Ali. He transcended sport though.

In the main I’d avoid golfers, but then I would anyway. Some have been candidates because they are at the top of their game. It would make a change if the bloke who ran the junior team at Accrington Stanley who also helps them with their GCSEs was put forward and won. Now that would be something. No, they get into the frame because they were champion snooker players or whatever and will never have to work again if they stopped tomorrow, assuming they haven’t already gambled their earnings away. If they are tennis players they can only drone on about hitting yellow balls, if they are footballers they can barely speak about anything else. Most of them will be terrified of winning as it’s out of their comfort zone to be asked a question that’s not about what they spend their entire days doing to the exclusion of everything else.

Whilst you and me might have an interest in their sport, they generally have no interest in anything outside their sport. How many of them do you see on even the most mundane quiz shows? I’m willing to bet that none of them have the slightest interest in art for instance. Ex England wicket keeper Jack Russell was famously a painter of note, but he did paintings of bloody cricket grounds, for crying out loud, and he was notoriously reclusive managing to keep his personality well under wraps.

So there you have it: Sports Personality of the Year? No thanks I’d rather watch paint drying.