Scott Robertson, Zoi Sadowski Synnott, Tyson Fury and Lydia Ko. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
Drum roll please....... and the winners of Chris Rattue’s 2022 sports awards are:
Most uplifting story
Kiwi cricketing great Chris Cairns revealing the life lessons learned from his dreadful health setbacks.
“I have been told by people far smarter than me that there is no medical reason I should have survived,” said Cairns, aged 52, who has endured heart and cancer traumas.
“I have found that taking it day by day and even hour by hour when needed has given the ability to stay in the moment and I find that calming.
“It also helps to focus on the little things, watching the kids play sport, helping with homework, reading books, dinners with family and friends. These little things, strung together, are no longer taken for granted.”
Scandal of the year
The world drooled over the Fifa World Cup despite the tournament being built on the deaths and misery of migrant workers in Qatar. The beautiful game? I don’t think so.
Chess even tried hard for this award, with world champion Magnus Carlsen’s accusations against young American grandmaster Hans Niemann.
Rugby made a late bid via a corruption scandal around world vice-chairman Bernard Laporte.
But it would take more than that to deny Fifa, the perennial corruption pacesetters.
Top quote (1)
See Chris Cairns above.
Top quote (2)
“I have said from day one I don’t want biological boys to be competing against women, especially in school.”
The 1976 Olympic men’s decathlon champion Caitlyn (formerly Bruce) Jenner backs international swimming’s tough stance on transgender eligibility.
Top quote (3)
“It’s that time of the month. I know the ladies watching are probably like ‘Yeah, I got you’. My back gets really tight, and I’m all twisted. So yeah, there you go.”
Kiwi golf superstar Lydia Ko won acclaim for speaking about period problems, something of a taboo or overlooked topic, when asked why she needed treatment during a tournament in California.
Top quote (4)
“I felt it was probably our most improved performance this year - we really shifted our game forward. I thought we shifted up a couple of cogs this test.”
All Blacks coach Ian Foster, after a big defeat in South Africa. Rugby boffins claim stats justify his seemingly bizarre comments, but fans tend to look at the scoreboard.
Worst team, best line?
F1 giants Ferrari’s error-filled season included having only three tyres ready for a Carlos Sainz pit stop at the Dutch Grand Prix.
The Daily Star reckoned: “it would have been perfectly acceptable had the Spaniard been driving a Reliant Robin”, a reference to the little three-wheeler of the 1970s.
Kiwi sportsperson of the year
World golf No 1 Lydia Ko. Also the best comeback.
Best feel-good result
From a New Zealand perspective, the Black Ferns surprise victory in the World Cup with personalities like Ruahei Demant and Ruby Tui winning the crowd over. It could not have been scripted any better, a late lineout steal against England sealing the dramatic deal. What comes next is the tricky part for women’s rugby.
Upset of the year
World Cup nobodies Saudi Arabia beating Argentina - one of the favourites - in the group stage in Qatar. This was upstaged to a degree by Morocco’s fairytale run at the tournament.
Most significant Kiwi groundbreaker
Snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott claimed New Zealand’s first Winter Olympics gold medal in Beijing.
Loudest glass ceiling smash
Dame Patsy Reddy’s election as the first female chair of New Zealand Rugby. She’s got one hell of a job on her hands, restoring rugby to previous glories.
International sports personality
Britain’s heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury is probably the most interesting character out there. And we’ll get to see another side of Fury next year – Netflix has filmed a fly-on-the-walls series ‘At Home with the Furys’.
International sports star
Football superstar Lionel Messi clung to his mantle at the World Cup, but the baton is being passed on.
Worst PR
Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo lost ground with his egocentric behavior at Manchester United and World Cup.
Best cameo
The Black Caps’ T20 World Cup ended in yet more tournament disappointment. But the way rookie opener Finn Allen crushed the Aussie bowling attack will live long in the memory.
Best signing
Erling Haaland. Manchester City scored a game-changing winner with the Norwegian striker, whose incredible goal-scoring exploits suggest he will be the headline act in the glamour English Premier League for years to come.
Best singing
The Argentinian fans at the World Cup. As a TV commentator reckoned, the Argie crowd experience is “an assault on the senses”. There was a lot of stirring crowd action in Qatar.
Houdini (1)
Ian Foster’s All Blacks coaching career was saved by the test win over the Springboks at Ellis Park.
Houdini (2)
A lot of people want to leave Russia, and none more so than American basketballer Brittney Griner during the year.
Her surprisingly quick release from a penal colony - after a malicious drug conviction - came at a high price for decency though, a vicious arms dealer getting his sentence trimmed in a prisoner swap.
All Black of the year
I’m not awarding one, in protest at the team’s form.
Top Kiwi personality (1)
Scott Robertson. The Crusaders boss is a news magnet with a rare x-factor in rugby. He’s bound to get a gig as an international coach in 2023, and the story will only grow.
Top Kiwi personality (2)
Ruby Tui. The Black Ferns dynamo connected with the crowd.
The double-edged sword award
Partially sighted Deane Robertson got his vision back, which meant he lost his place as a para-athlete in the Commonwealth Games team.
The 55-year-old Cantabrian found out the good/bad news while being tested with special strength glasses during classification for the Birmingham Games.
“I walked out of the hospital pretty upset – in some ways it was joy as well, because I could see,” said Robertson.
Most unexpected firing
Eddie Jones. The obsessive Aussie appeared to have English rugby wrapped around his finger. But even a comeback draw against the All Blacks wasn’t enough to save the coach with England’s highest winning percentage.
Worst adverts
Plenty to choose from – an hour watching Sky Sport springs to mind when searching for candidates.
But the Land of the Free has come up with the winner, thanks to the demise of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
Legendary quarterback Tom Brady, tennis ace Naomi Osaka and basketball’s three-point genius Steph Curry were among sport’s FTX spruikers. Meanwhile, the Miami Heat basketball team had to rip the FTX branding off its stadium.
Worst behaviour
Argentina’s reactions against the Netherlands at the Ffa World Cup. Kicking the ball at the opposition dugout? Taunting the losers? Pathetic.
Rising international star
Kylian Mbappe. The French football forward has an intoxicating mixture of fluid power and magic. The world is anticipating a golden Mbappe era, after his dazzling World Cup.
Most depressing topic
Contact sports concussion troubles – is there actually a solution?
Top coach (1)
You thought it would be Wayne Smith. But the top gong goes to former Black Caps ringmaster Brendon McCullum, who has worked miracles with England’s test cricketers.
Top coach (2)
Wayne Smith, another miracle worker, with the Black Ferns. They surprisingly won the World Cup, having been in disarray before Smith took charge at the 11th hour.
Top coach (3)
Andy Farrell. He’s taken the Ireland rugby team to another level, with a historic series victory over the All Blacks in New Zealand.
Dud decision of the year
French referee Mathieu Raynal’s extraordinary time-wasting call against Wallaby Bernard Foley enabled the All Blacks to come back from the dead against Australia in Melbourne.
The punishment didn’t fit the crime in a sport full of time-wasting at the top level.
Flop of the year
The Rugby League World Cup. Not a complete failure, but still a damp squib.
Special award…
Goes to the Samoan supporters around New Zealand who backed their team at league’s World Cup. The flags were still flying proudly the next day, after the final loss to Australia.
Top reborn Kiwi stars
Recalled Silver Fern Peta Toeava slayed the Aussies - a tiny terror with bags of skill. Supercars king Scott McLaughlin has made amazing strides in IndyCar – he could win it in 2023.
Shiniest hidden Kiwi gem
Basketballer Charlisse Leger-Walker is going great guns with Washington State, including scoring 40 points in a game this year. Fingers crossed she makes it to the WNBA one day.
Rising Australasian star
Watch out for Roosters NRL back Joseph Suaalii, who wowed everybody with his bone-crunching runs from fullback for Samoa at the World Cup. There is bound to be another tug-of-war with rugby for his services.
Nicest surprise
The collective success of New Zealand’s top golfers. Lydia Ko returned to being the LPGA No 1, Ryan Fox came close to pipping the great Rory McIlroy in DP World Tour supremacy, and Steven Alker blitzed all-comers on the American seniors tour. Jamie Reid even won the world speed golf title.
Miss of the year (1)
France’s Caroline Drouin should have landed a simple penalty at Eden Park to end the Black Ferns World Cup campaign in the semifinals. On such matters the course of sports history rests.
Miss of the year (2)
Harry Kane’s botched penalty attempt during England’s World Cup quarter-final loss to France. Perhaps the worst spot kick at the tournament since the Diana Ross howler in 1994.
Most significant signing off - and step up
Kane Williamson stepped down as Kiwi test cricket captain – he’s overseen a fantastic era. Thanks for the amazing memories Kane, but he’ll still be there to help make some new ones. Tim Southee joins a small club – a bowler captaining the test side.
India played all their matches in Dubai, benefiting from familiar conditions.