WANT AN HONOUR ? WIN A MEDAL !

Inevitably, a tranche of 'honours' have been handed out to a bunch of assorted athletes. Why escapes me.

 

There was a time when to be awarded an OBE was a mark of great distinction; being made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire was something of which to be very proud as it signified that you had made a genuinely important contribution to socirty, the nation or mankind in general. Not any longer. Honours are tossed out like confetti to whomever is currently in the news plus, of course, to a raft of time-serving civil servants.

 

Bradley Wiggins, whose exploits perched atop a bicycle have been very laudable, is to be made a Knight of the Realm as is David Brailsford who's credited with coaching Wiggins and his chums to their recent run of success. Someone of whom I've never heard, Sarah Storey, is to be made a Dame of the British Empire for doing something in a wheelchair, while the likes of Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis and Victoria Pendleton are all to be given CBE's, an award just one rung below knighthood or damehood. Possibly due to his previous comments about being Scottish rather than British, Andy Murray is to receive only the lower honour of an OBE; that'll teach you to think before you gob-off, young man !

 

The real point in all of this, though, is that the recipients of these awards together with 70 or more of their compatriots, have mostly done nothing whatsoever that will ever enhance the lot of anyone other than themselves. Leading sportsmen are, by the very nature of what they do, utterly self-centred; they are focused on their own achievements to the exclusion of all else. These days, they are also funded very generously by the state and some even become very wealthy due to the large prize money available at many meetings and events. Given all of this, to further reward them with national honours when they succeed in doing what they love doing is ludicrous.

 

Wiggins was a worthy 'Sports Personality of the Year' and, in 20 or 30 years time when he's passed on his experience to generations of younger cyclists, he might well deserve an award; today, he does not, any more than do any of the other sporting recipients of these wholly devalued gongs. Sadly, we have reached a stage in which real contributions to our society go unnoticed while pointless celebrities and others in the media are showered with plaudits and honours. Is this really the way it should be ?