SPOTY v Facebook

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Before you bet on the SPOTY 2010 market have a read at this interesting article from Betfair...

Could market favourite be defeated by the social media? Twitter and Facebook stats are a worry for McCoy supporters

Tony McCoy currently trades as the 2.1 favourite on Betfair for the BBC's Sports Personality Of the Year award - he is generally an odds-on chance elsewhere - but is even that industry-best price too short?

Looking at the opposition, the answer is surely yes.

Horseracing is sure to get behind McCoy in the next week or so, and there is probably no-one as deserving of the award than he, for his unremitting excellence in his field over the past two decades.

And, remember, you don't need a lot of votes to win the award, because it isn't that popular with the general public. Last year, Ryan Giggs won by a furlong, hard held. But he only attracted 151,842 votes, from a total of just 516,473 cast.

So a concerted campaign by horseracing could work, although McCoy's boycott of Racing UK won't aid his cause.

This is no weak field that he is up against, though.

Jessica Ennis finished third last year but she is only eighth of ten in the current Betfair betting.

Graeme McDowell is immensely popular on the social media circuit as well as on the golf course, and both are key to winning SPOTY these days. He won the US Open this year, sealed the deal for the Ryder Cup and shared the European Golfer of the Year award with Martin Kaymer.

But he also has 55,584 Twitter followers and just under 10,000 Facebook fans - and those are very strong numbers bearing in mind the number of votes that Giggs won with last year. McCoy has 2,853 Twitter followers and under 2,000 Facebook friends.

Lee Westwood won the Nedbank Challenge at the weekend to cement his position as the world's best golfer. And Phil Taylor has been as dominant in his sport as McCoy has been in horseracing, perhaps even more so in terms of high-profile victories, year in, year out.

Graeme Swann's five wicket haul in the second innings in Adelaide puts him bang into the voting public's recent consciousness at the right time (and England could well have effectively retained the Ashes by SPOTY night), and the sad fact for racing fans is that the likes of Amy Williams and Tom Daley are probably as recognisable as McCoy to the general public.

Odds of 2.1 look a touch skinny, in that light.

Betfair spokesman Tony Calvin commented: "Everyone in horseracing will be rooting for McCoy in the coming days. But Betfair customers are perhaps a more hard-headed bunch than most, and it wouldn't surprise me to see his price drift.

"Because even odds of 11-10 look to underplay the strength of this year's opposition, and the potential of the social media network."

[dandydons1903]

I think for once there are alot of deserving candidates,
Mcdowell - won the us open first european to do so in 40 years and holed the winning putt in the ryder cup.
Westwood - World no 1, also part of the ryder cup team
McCoy - Absolute legend of his sport finally won the Grand National this year
Taylor - Dominated his sport for nearly 20 years, doesn't get enough credit