Halberg Awards: The simple change needed to fix New Zealand’s sporting awards – Michael Burgess

All Blacks skipper Ardie Savea, Olympic stars Finn Butcher, Lisa Carrington and Lydia Ko. Photos / Photosport

The Halberg Awards need a new category. They remain special – and are dearly loved – but there is something missing.

The awards, which will be staged in Auckland on Tuesday night, are a vital part of our sporting landscape. They honour the best, celebrate the rest and are the public face of an amazing charitable foundation, which does so much important work in the community.

They have also become – since his death in December 2022 – a way to remember Sir Murray Halberg, one of the most remarkable athletes (and people) this country has produced.

This year’s edition – the 62nd – could be one of the best yet, after an extraordinary year. Look at the sportswoman award, as an example; how can you separate Dame Lydia Ko’s feats from another golden Olympic hat trick for Dame Lisa Carrington and Ellesse Andrews scoring two golds (and three medals) in the Paris velodrome?

What about the team category? Emirates Team New Zealand defending the Auld Mug. The White Ferns winning an improbable World Cup. The Blacks Ferns taking Olympic gold again.

Rowing’s “super mums”, Lucy Spoors and Brooke Francis, doing what many thought was impossible. The K4 500m crew, anchored by Carrington, winning the most coveted kayaking class and breaking a 40-year European stranglehold. And Carrington and Alicia Hoskin’s triumph in the K2 500m, by a ridiculous margin.

In most other years any of that half dozen would be sure things.

Dame Lisa Carrington and Alicia Hoskin with their second gold medal won together. Photo / Photosport

There’s also a sense that the judging panel, recently revamped, is taking a more lateral and imaginative view than in the past.

Hence the inclusion of James McDonald among the men’s finalists, when jockeys have traditionally been ignored. They have also recognised Chris Wood’s achievements in the English Premier League. But Wood also highlights the problem and shows why the categories need to be expanded.

His past 12 months have been staggering, reaching a career peak and firing his club, Nottingham Forest, to unforeseen heights, while continuing to perform for the All Whites.

But this is not new; Wood has been doing amazing things for years. For a New Zealander to play a handful of games in the Premier League – and score even one goal – is little short of a miracle, given the global competition from about 65,000 male professional football players (there have only been six Kiwis in the Premier League since 1992).

Wood has made 252 appearances in England’s top tier, scoring 87 goals, including three hat-tricks. Even before that there were head-turning feats, like finding the net 27 times for Leeds United in a single season in the Championship, ranked as the sixth-richest football league in Europe.

New Zealand's Chris Wood has been doing amazing things in football for years. Photo / Photosport

But until this year, Wood had never even been a finalist. Why? Essentially it’s because the awards have prioritised medals, podiums and trophies. Win something and you’re in. Maybe that’s fair enough – it’s an objective measure and clear to weigh up. But it’s also narrow and a more measured way is needed to consider context and overall excellence.

Because, over the years, many fine accomplishments have been ignored by the awards, almost airbrushed from history. That needs to change. It’s time for a category that recognises those who excel on a worldwide stage, particularly in the most popular sports.

What about “best achievement in a global sport”?

This year, that category would cover Lulu Sun, who became the first New Zealand female to reach the last eight at Wimbledon in the Open era, but isn’t among the sportswoman finalists.

And Liam Lawson, who dominated water-cooler talk last year, with his precocious feats in Formula One – including two top-10 finishes – and has secured, against massive odds, a seat at Red Bull after only 11 races.

Or Scott McLaughlin – who finished third in the IndyCar series – along with Scott Dixon (sixth), who broke the record for most career podium finishes this year.

Then there’s Steven Adams; it’s been a slow burn coming back from injury this campaign but Adams has been an outstanding flagbearer in the NBA – particularly during fantastic seasons in 2017-18 and 2018-19, when he starred for the Oklahoma City Thunder. But the 31-year-old, who has been recently linked with a move to the Los Angeles Lakers, has only been a Halberg finalist once (2014), after his rookie NBA season.

All White Liberato Cacace is another example. The kid from Island Bay has accumulated 74 appearances in Serie A – scoring his first two goals this season – in a country that worships the sport, with more than 3000 professional footballers (you read right).

It’s too late for Ryan Nelsen and Winston Reid, who came through one of the most competitive sporting conveyor belts to captain Premier League teams but were barely recognised here (Nelsen was a finalist once, Reid zero).

It’s also too late for the likes of Julian Dean, Jack Bauer, Dion Smith and George Bennett, who competed with great aplomb in the Tour de France. And it’s too late for the incomparable Wynton Rufer, who won the Bundesliga, along with a European trophy, with Werder Bremen in an astounding career.

But it’s not too late for the next generation.

Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns.