Who was Lollipops 2012 SPOTY?

“Ladies and gentlemen the Sports Personality of the year is Bradley Wiggins,” announced BBC presenter Sue Barker. And it’s not really a surprise the Gold Olympic Medalist and Tour de France champion won – he was the bookies favorite.

But who was Lollipops favorite? Who was our favorite?

10,000 metres and 5,000 metres champion Mo Farah was inspirational to us this year and it was not just for his popular mobot celebration dance.

Born in Mogadishu, Somalia 1983 Farah moved to West London at just 8 years old and could barely speak a word of English.

But he has always had a passion for sport. Before the 2011 World Championship in Daegu where he won the silver medal in the 10,000 m and then the gold in the 5000 m Lollipop and I had rarely heard his name.

After a disappointing campaign in the 2008 Beijing Olympics where he was knocked out before the 5000 m final Farah fought back. He became the first British man to win a global title over either distance and made a major breakthrough on the world stage of athletics in 2011.

Then of course on the 4^th August 2012 or Super Saturday as many like to remember it as he was one of the three British athletes who took gold – running a time of 27:30.42 in the 10,000m.

Watching the adrenaline pumping highlights of that night on the BBC Sport Personality of the Year awards show bought back all those Goosebumps Lollipop and I felt just months ago.

We jumped for joy when he won and we jumped again when he spoke on stage tonight about his achievements as Double Olympic Champion

In 2011 he came third in the SPOTY awards. This year we hoped he would come first, which is what we got used to this summer.

But as winner Bradley Wiggins said: “What a year. To stand on this stage with the people next to me is incredible.”

Each of the 12 the sporting heroes and heroines who were nominated for the coveted award are incredible. They all could have been clear favorites as they made their mark in 2012.

So to Sir Chris Hoy, Andy Murray, Jessica Ennis Mo Farah, Katherine Grainger, Rory McIlroy, Nicola Adams Ben Ainslie, Sarah Storey, Ellie Simmonds and David Weir. Also to Martine Wright, Dave Brailsford, Lord Sebastian Coe, Sue and Jim Houghton, Usain Bolt and Josef Craig. Thank you for being our outstanding champions of 2012.

Please sit for your British Cultural Lessons footballers

So racism is being tackled by the FA with cultural lessons to be introduced to foreign players by February next year.

But is this really what footballers who refused to support the anti racism campaign Kick it Out earlier this year want?

Over 30 footballers including Reading Striker Jason Roberts and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand refused to wear a campaign T-shirt just months ago in protest of racism in the sport.

Now the FA seems to have heard their cry but Lollipop and I just don’t think it’s enough.

The BBC reported the proposal forms part of a detailed response from football to Prime Minister David Cameron‘s demands earlier this year for tougher action to tackle discrimination.

The 93-point document, called ‘English Football’s Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Action Plan’ includes the idea that foreign newcomers to English football should be inducted in what the document describes as the “British cultural environment.”

This stems from the Luis Suarez racism case last year where the Liverpool player was banned for eight games after calling Manchester United’s Patrice Evra a “negro.” Suarez argued in his disciplinary hearing that this was not racist as it was a term widely used in his home country of Uruguay.

The FA dismissed his claims but their proposal clearly shows they believe more needs to be done to educate foreign players.

The problem is that it’s not just overseas players.

Former England Captain John Terry was also banned by the FA for four matches for racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand.

The FA is also considering a fixed ban for racist offences to avoid the discrepancy which occurred with the length of bans handed out to Suarez and Terry.

And earlier this week in Norwich City’s 4-3 victory against Swansea police were subsequently told by the club of four separate incidents of alleged racist abuse towards their centre-back Sebastien Bassong.

A Swansea fan has been released on bail after allegedly making offensive gestures towards the defender. The other three cases evolved on Twitter when racist messages were sent after the match.

Norwich City have reiterated their zero tolerance stance on racism but it seems the FA have not.

Foreign players clearly are not the only ones who would benefit from a course in anti-racism. Especially when it seems that our players and supporters are no different. The proposal could cause segregation and further prejudice in football.

The key points discuss British cultural lesson and anti-discrimination clauses to appear in contracts.

Lollipop and I believe the points should look at all sides of the game. The players, managers, referees and supporters. If this lesson is not being followed by ourselves how can we ask others to abide by it?

The FA needs to come up with more constructive proposals by the time Premier and Football league clubs meet again in February otherwise football will no longer known as the beautiful game in the UK.