Doug Laing.
The naming of finalists for the Halberg Awards provokes quite some debate across the sporting sphere as to what really makes the supreme award winner.
As it happens, the contenders in the six categories were named just three days after the Golden Globe Awards and a month or so before
the Academy Awards, each with about 25 presentations to be made.
Such is the place sports take in the Kiwi culture, the Halbergs really are our Oscars, or more to the point Golden Globes given that, like the Globes, Halberg Awards are decided by the critics rather than the industry itself.
While the Halbergs have stretched well beyond the original dream of founder and publisher Jack Fairbairn - the "Sportsman" of the Year Award being twice awarded to sportswoman Yvette Williams in its first four years - it is time the Halbergs took another step forward and recognised a greater breadth of sporting achievement. It could do with more awards.
It was not until 1987 that the first Sportswoman of the Year was named as the Halbergs went from singular to plural, recognising also the Team of the Year and the Coach of the Year in what, on reflection, looks as if it may have been a step inspired by the All Blacks winning the first Rugby World Cup.
