Firstly, you are perfectly entitled to your opinion, and I respect it. But... a) You say 99% of the population never watch tennis, but 17 million people watched the Wimbledon men's final yesterday. Unless our country has a population of 1.7 billion that statement is completely incorrect. I'm sure more than 0.1% of the country play tennis also, but I have no stats to prove it. Perhaps Murray's victory will encourage more kids to pick up the game though? b) I do recall Murray saying the first of those two quotes, but I also remember it was almost a decade ago. He has since apologised for, and retracted, the remarks. He has thanked his English fans for his support on many occasions and, as far as I am aware, now spends plenty of time in England. He also took part in the Olympics last year, representing Great Britain, and, as far as I am aware, was very patriotic about it, electing to year the GB kit at every opportunity. c) As I've already said, he thanks his fans at every opportuniity. Hence why he's playing 100 of them today, in London, for nothing, after getting one hour of sleep last night. Also, I don't know many toe rags who yesterday dedicated all their £1.6 million of winnings to cancer research. d) The 17 million viewers for the men's final and 13 million viewers for Murray's semi-final are the two highest rated TV programmes of the year for any channel. That hardly makes it seem like a minority sport to me, or a waste of programming. Please, do try and be more informed before claiming such inaccuracies again.
When you get to our age memories are the only thing you can cling on to apart from pint glasses and walking sticks!!
I wasn't aware he had done that, HfM! Unbelievable gesture - wouldn't it be nice to see more footballers do similar, as the majority in the top flight can certainly afford to do so.
First, the BBC is the most politically correct organisation in the country; it believes "passionately" (the BBC always believes passionately in itself) in forcing minorities (of whatever ilk) upon us. Indeed one of the great virtues of the TV licence system in the BBC's view is that it gives the BBC the freedom to do what it likes and give two fingers to anyone who objects without fear of the gravy train drying up. Second, having decided that money is better spent on being politically correct, rather than paying for TV rights for majority interest sports such as football, the BBC recognises how cheap outside broadcasts of minor sports can be; fully occupying the major TV channels and R5L with wall-to-wall coverage of e.g. Wimbledon, releases vast sums that would have to be otherwise spent on filling the air waves with alternative programs. This means, among other things, there is plenty of money to pay the grossly inflated salaries of BBC luvvies such as (to take football examples) the Linekers, Shearers, Lawros, Hansens, Savages of this world. Thirdly ........... But to return to the OP, true excellence in any walk of life, including even minority sports, deserves celebrating in a country where the meaning of every superlative in the language has been diminished through overuse, misuse, or blatant ignorance. So: Well done! Andy Murray, you have earned success and what success you have is thoroughly deserved.
Absolutely. Imagine how much we could raise if every Premier League footballer donated just 1% of their weekly wages to charity! Well done Andy, I say.
Please read what I actually did say - particularly ' serious format ' and ' from one Wimbledon to the next ' - before you jump on your high horse!! Read it again and your apology will be accepted. I listened to a radio phone in this morning where the subject came up and it was quite clearly stated ' he has never withdrawn his remarks but accepts, privately, that he shouldn't have said it ' That, in my opinion , still makes him an ungrateful toe-rag. Sir Alex Ferguson gave all the money - more than £1.6m - from his testimonial year to Charity. Does that make him a national hero?
for someone who clearly has many years life-experience, i have to say i find 1950's comments on this thread particularly immature and ill-informed - not for the first time.
I would wager more than 0.1% of the population have played tennis in a 'serious format'. I could be wrong, but I know quite a large chunk of people who have, and I do not come from a particularly middle class background at all. Also, last year's Wimbledon final was watched by an average of 11 million people, so that is one year to the next, surely? And again, from personal experience, I know many people who watch Wimbledon every year. Sir Alex is not a national hero because he has never represented the nation as a whole, apart from his brief stint as Scotland manager. He is still a knight, however, and is certainly a figure that much of the nation is proud of. As for the remarks Murray made, isn't the fact that he accepts he shouldn't have made them enough? Doesn't that show he's grown since then? How could you hold such an immature grudge against a man you have never met? Lastly, I see no reason to apologise as I have clearly displayed that almost all of what you have said is simply untrue. On the Ball City!
And from what Cameron his intimated today, it might not be too long before Sir Andrew Murray of Dunblane joins him
Do 63000 play organised tennis in this Country? I wouldn't have thought so but , unlike someone else who has now chipped in on this thread, I fully accept that I could be wrong. Do 630000 people watch Tennis, excluding Wimbledon? Again I would not have thought so but again I haven't got the viewing figures to hand so it boils down to opinion. You accept ' privately ' accepting that he wished he had not said those words as a withdrawal - I take it as indicating that he mean't it but wished he hadn't said it in view of the bad publicity it caused. Again a difference of opinion - wouldn't the world be a boring place without it. I still don't see though why it has to be on both BBC channels at the same time especially as BBC3 & BBC4 don't start until 7PM.
Sorry for not toeing the party line but if you look at the entire thread you will see that some, like Gandy, fully agreed with me, some partly agreed with me and some disagreed with me - which presumably is what a debating forum is for. Only you came to the ' ridiculous and OTT' conclusion. I really must remember next time when somebody asks for my thoughts I should check with you first to make sure my genuinely held thoughts are correct.
that's fine, they can agree if they like - i didn't say they couldn't. nor did i say you couldn't believe what you'd posted. all i said is that i find your original post was ill-informed and immature. am i not allowed to post my feelings? why do i get shouted down for giving an opinion that you don't like when others, including you, often accuse me of shouting down others for disagreeing? what's the difference? why are you above that but i'm not?
fenland, i see you're new - welcome - as you'll see, i like a good old rant as much as the next man, i just happen to find the completely over the top appraisal of tennis as a sport laughable and immature. just because you don't like a sport doesn't mean nobody wants to watch it
and to be honest, i find the drama and quality at the top of the male game (tennis) far greater than that of anything football has to offer these days.
Personally I enjoyed yesterday a lot.I used to watch Wimbledon in the McEnroe/Borg/Connors/Nastase days but drifted off for many years.Murray is likely to end up as a player in that sort of league as he is still only 26.I had to laugh at the "Even Cliff Richard wouldn't give Sue Barker one" - Had you not noticed that he bats for the other side?
