Honours should be reserved for those who serve their communities or country tirelessly, those who commit their lives to charity or who make a real difference to society. I'm no fan of the honours system in this country; they just seem to have become so devalued that they don't have the prestige they were intended to give.
I'd be inclined to agree with you on the whole. I think however that most nations have some sort of awards system for honouring the achievements of their citizens. The system in this country suffers from some remnants of the class system, the influence of money and the 'establishment', and the domination of the civil service. We also have a long tradition of cronyism which stretches back to Harold Wilson's 'Lavender List' and before, and continues down to Cameron today and his political apparatchik Lynton Crosby. However, if we do have an honours system, and if sportspersons are included, then there could be no more deserving recipient than AP McCoy. Although it's often said, in his case his achievements genuinely are unlikely to ever be equalled, and his charitable work, his humility and his generosity with his time to the public mark him apart. I'm absolutely delighted by his honouring.
He rides a horse ffs, doesn't get shot at or bombed on a regular basis. I think it's wrong. Give the top sportsmen and women sport related awards but not Knighthoods. Just my opinion.
I think your post summarises what is so blatantly wrong with the honours system in this country. I don't have an issue per se with sportsmen / women being honoured but it happens so often and for so little that when somebody is honoured for appropriate reasons it just looks like 'another very well paid personality being honoured for doing their job'. If they do other things of note such as raising the profile of something and raise millions through charity then fair enough. I don't know anything about horse racing so I can't comment on Tony McCoy or whether his honour is appropriate or deserved however as somebody else pointed out there is a very humble man working at Oakwell who's achievements are likely to go unequalled yet there is no recognition - i know there may be a valid reason for this. Don't get me wrong, if McCoy deserves it then I don't begrudge him his honour but I will always wonder, as I do for most politicians, civil servants, musicians, etc who are awarded honours, if their achievements and contributions truly surpass those of many average folk up and down the country who are never honoured.
4,357 winners from approximately 20,000 rides. A jump jockey has a fall about every twelve rides or so. Imagine coming off a horse that many times! Before McCoy, the most number of national hunt jockey's titles won was 8 by Peter Scudamore. AP McCoy has won the title in all 20 of his fully-fledged seasons. The odds of staying injury-free long enough to win that many titles consecutively weigh heavily against it's being achieved. For all those years, McCoy has had to starve himself to ride two stones (or thereabouts) under his natural body weight. He's had to do that after wasting in hot baths and saunas while retaining the strength to ride a horse over 2-3 miles six or seven times on very cold winter afternoons. And all for less prize money than the flat boys get. His record over jumps will never be equalled.
Don't get it it...people calling for an honour for a bloke with a 21% win ratio...even LJ is better than that!!
My Grandad worked in the pit, was never an ounce overweight, not through starving himself but through working, still had the strength to walk the 4.5 miles home all for less than any prize money. He did all this without the help of an horse. Again lets get real here, a knighthood for what really.
I'm not disputing that his achievements within his sport are unparalleled or that they are unlikely to be equalled however I dont see this as a reason for being made a knight of the realm. He's undoubtedly made sacrifices throughout his career but he's been handsomely rewarded for these. As I said there perhaps is an argument for honouring sports personalities that are outstanding over a long period but they really should be an exception and whether a knighthood is the appropriate honour is a matter of opinion.
Anyway, at least Graham Cunningham of Channel 4 Racing agrees with me! http://www.sportinglife.com/racing/news/article/465/10115096/live-graham-cunningham-chat
