G&P Awards - Sport

Sportsman of the year – it’s been a great year for sport, as long as you were not an England rugby fan. 2011’s World Cup saw the unnatural prospect of having to watch a rugby match with a cup of tea rather than a beer, then saw the startling development that you can drink beer first thing in the morning, it’s actually just social convention that frowns upon it. The tricky think was to get out of the habit when the World Cup ended, but after a few days most of us were back to nursing a beaker of coffee on the train rather than a can of Harp. While the rugby team were rather better at throwing dwarfs than the ball, there were notable successes in other fields, with records set in badger baiting and deer chasing. However, the award has to go to Richard Carello, the jockey who distinguished himself this year at meet at Chepstowe by starting on one horse and, when it started flagging, tossing another jockey off of a neighbouring horse and winning the race on his horse-jacked mount. Caarello was, quite properly, disqualified for improper use of the whip in unseating the other jockey.