It can be taxing to support Formula One's new driving sensation, but at least the opinionated Scotsman wears his heart on his chest.So Lewis Hamilton is off to Switzerland. Don't worry, he'll be back to collect his Sports Personality of the Year award in December. And when he does return to Britain's shores, let's hope he doesn't listen to those vile rumours that perhaps he went Switzerland for the tax breaks rather than the Toblerone. It was all explained so succinctly by our Lewis in his press conference: "You come home and everyone knows you; it makes it so much harder to do normal things. I can't go to the cinema. I go to the bathroom in a petrol station and people come in there for autographs," he said with a very odd idea of what makes an acceptable example. But let's not start to get jingoistic about this. There is only one real reason we should be angry at Lewis and that is his shameless use of the bland excuses that are now second nature to the media-trained modern sports star. Not for them honesty, God forbid, much better just to treat fans with contempt. So why should we support Lewis when he has so little respect to us? Because he's British? Is that all we have? If we are honest, the idea that you should support a British sportsman as a matter course is infused with sort of unquestioning colonial idiocy that has recently seen the Portuguese police painted as evil-doers for nothing more than the fact they are not our British bobbies. While national teams represent a country, individuals should represent no-one but themselves. Call me a traitor but I would far rather support a foreign sportsman with whom I feel an affinity than a Brit with whom the only thing I share is a quirk of geography. It is for this reason that I cheered Goran Ivanisevic to victory over Tim Henman in 2001; that and my irrational dislike of Henman's sour-faced father. And it is this attitude that makes me so pleased that Andrew Murray has come along, the best candidate as British sportsman of the last decade. Murray knocks the ball around the court like a surly teen wishing he was hanging outside Spar with his mates rather than playing tennis. What's more, what comes out of his mouth is, unlike Hamilton, honest to himself. Like Hamilton, Murray left the UK to further his career; unlike Hamilton he had no bones about telling the press this. Pointing the finger firmly at the LTA, Murray said he was not going to have his career ruined by British training methods like his brother's was (and what's more he was once in a toilet in a petrol station . . . etc etc). Perhaps most beautifully, when asked if he would be supporting the English team in World Cup 2006 he opined that there is no one he would prefer to see lose. Of course he did, and so he should; he was a Scotsman watching the most bloatedly self-indulgent and smug England team in history. If he had said anything else he would have been either an idiot or a liar. Honest. opinionated. Not worried about popular opinion. It is a sad reflection that Murray stands out from other sportsmen for these characteristics. My God, they are always talking about role models in sport (Martina Hingis anyone?) and Murray is the closest we have come in a long time.
Amid Lewis Hamilton's pathetic excuses, honest Andy Murray is a true role model
It can be taxing to support Formula One's new driving sensation, but at least the opinionated Scotsman wears his heart on his chest.So Lewis Hamilton is off to Switzerland. Don't worry, he'll be back to collect his Sports Personality of the Year award in December. And when he does return to Britain's shores, let's hope he doesn't listen to those vile rumours that perhaps he went Switzerland for the tax breaks rather than the Toblerone. It was all explained so succinctly by our Lewis in his press conference: "You come home and everyone knows you; it makes it so much harder to do normal things. I can't go to the cinema. I go to the bathroom in a petrol station and people come in there for autographs," he said with a very odd idea of what makes an acceptable example. But let's not start to get jingoistic about this. There is only one real reason we should be angry at Lewis and that is his shameless use of the bland excuses that are now second nature to the media-trained modern sports star. Not for them honesty, God forbid, much better just to treat fans with contempt. So why should we support Lewis when he has so little respect to us? Because he's British? Is that all we have? If we are honest, the idea that you should support a British sportsman as a matter course is infused with sort of unquestioning colonial idiocy that has recently seen the Portuguese police painted as evil-doers for nothing more than the fact they are not our British bobbies. While national teams represent a country, individuals should represent no-one but themselves. Call me a traitor but I would far rather support a foreign sportsman with whom I feel an affinity than a Brit with whom the only thing I share is a quirk of geography. It is for this reason that I cheered Goran Ivanisevic to victory over Tim Henman in 2001; that and my irrational dislike of Henman's sour-faced father. And it is this attitude that makes me so pleased that Andrew Murray has come along, the best candidate as British sportsman of the last decade. Murray knocks the ball around the court like a surly teen wishing he was hanging outside Spar with his mates rather than playing tennis. What's more, what comes out of his mouth is, unlike Hamilton, honest to himself. Like Hamilton, Murray left the UK to further his career; unlike Hamilton he had no bones about telling the press this. Pointing the finger firmly at the LTA, Murray said he was not going to have his career ruined by British training methods like his brother's was (and what's more he was once in a toilet in a petrol station . . . etc etc). Perhaps most beautifully, when asked if he would be supporting the English team in World Cup 2006 he opined that there is no one he would prefer to see lose. Of course he did, and so he should; he was a Scotsman watching the most bloatedly self-indulgent and smug England team in history. If he had said anything else he would have been either an idiot or a liar. Honest. opinionated. Not worried about popular opinion. It is a sad reflection that Murray stands out from other sportsmen for these characteristics. My God, they are always talking about role models in sport (Martina Hingis anyone?) and Murray is the closest we have come in a long time.
