Wimbledon victory not enough to justify knighthood for Murray

Andy Murray of Great Britain poses with the Gentlemen’s Singles Trophy following his victory in the Gentlemen’s Singles Final match against Novak Djokovic

If you have ears and/or eyes, you probably know about Andy Murray‘s thrilling and much talked about victory over Novak Djokovic in the final of Wimbledon last week. The victory dominated twitter feeds, facebook pages and actual human conversation for days. Everyone – from politicians, to rock stars, to writers on Sportskeeda – was talking about Britain’s first Wimbledon men’s singles champion for 77 years.

Predictably, even David Cameron couldn’t help but get in on the action. In the aftermath of the victory, the British Prime Minister came out and said something that, whilst pleasing to the majority of the temporarily patriotic British public, is actually quite silly.

Asked about the possibility of a knighthood for the young champion, Cameron responded by saying, “I can’t think of anyone who deserves one more“.

Murray, quite sensibly, offered a much more reasonable opinion upon hearing the Prime Minister’s endorsement. He told the BBC that: “It’s a nice thing to have or be offered but I don’t know if it merits that…I think just because everyone’s waited for such a long time for this [winning at Wimbledon], that’s probably why it will be suggested.”

Well done, Andy, because you’re right. People will get excited about the first British winner of the Wimbledon singles title in over three-quarters of a century. Emotions run high and that leads to silly suggestions from Prime Ministers that a knighthood is in order. But the fact remains that winning Wimbledon doesn’t merit a knighthood; not by a long shot.

Somebody wins Wimbledon every year; so despite what the British press would have you believe, it isn’t actually a miraculous achievement. It is impressive, of course, but not miraculous.

There is an over-hyped sense of accomplishment surrounding Murray’s victory simply because the nation has been waiting so long for it to happen. The fact that the male British tennis players who preceded him weren’t capable of winning the Championship does not mean that because Murray has, he now deserves to be knighted. That is a thoroughly illogical train of thought.

I don’t mean to take away from Murray’s accomplishment, which was obviously impressive and worthy of celebration. But it takes more, or at least it should take more, than just winning a high-profile sporting trophy to receive such a prestigious honour as to be made a Knight of the British Order. To be knighted as a sportsman, it shouldn’t be enough just to win, but to win and then give something valuable back to society.

Sir Stanley Matthews

English football player Sir Stanley Matthews was the first real global star footballer in the 1940s and 1950s, and played at a competitive level until he was a staggering 50 years old. But his knighthood is justified for something far more impressive than the longevity of his career. After Matthews finally retired, he spent years in South Africa coaching black children on how to play football in the slums during the dangerous time of Apartheid in the country.

Matthews was originally invited to a town called Soweto in 1955 by a local businessman. Matthews gladly accepted the invitation, and while maintaining a successful managerial career back in England, the draw of nurturing local African talent was so strong that he continued to return regularly to the region for the next 25 years.

Back in the 1950s, Apartheid and racial segregation was the official policy in South Africa, and it was incredibly rare and also quite dangerous for a white face to be seen integrating with a black community. This was as true in Soweto as anywhere else in the country, but Matthews continued to coach happily in Soweto as well as other towns and regions where few other white men would dare venture into.

Twenty years after his initial visit, Matthews brought his team, dubbed “Stan’s Men”, to Brazil for a short football tour in 1975. The majority of the all-black team had never left their Soweto home before, but Matthews took them to train with the top Brazilian teams and even arranged for them to meet the legendary Brazilian footballer Pele. This was incredibly dangerous for Matthews to do given the strict Apartheid laws in place in South Africa at the time, but the hero of Soweto’s football world did it anyway.

Even now, the influence of the Stoke City and Blackpool legend is still being felt in South Africa, more than a decade after his death. Thanks to the work of the Sir Stanley Matthews Foundation, which was set up in 2000, a great deal of money has been raised to help disadvantaged youngsters participate in sport in South Africa.

The hope and encouragement that Matthews brought to that troubled and disadvantaged region cannot be quantified. He was so respected by the locals that they began calling him the ‘black man with the white face’ – a title that was not lightly bestowed on him.

Paradise Moeketsi, a South African native who was coached by Sir Stan, was interviewed by the BBC about the influence that his coach had had on him. He said: “There’s no way to describe that man. That man, he was like the Jesus of this world.”

The Jesus of this world. That deserves a knighthood.

Sir Ian Botham

England and Somerset cricket legend Sir Ian Botham (C) poses with two Yeoman of the Guard after he received his knighthood from the Queen at Buckingham Palace, in London, 10 October 2007.

Ian Botham is another example of a man who truly earned his title. Despite occasionally landing in the tabloids amid a cricket controversy or personal indiscretion, the ex-England Test cricket captain has raised over £12 million for charity, with leukaemia research prominent among the causes to benefit from his efforts.

While Botham received his knighthood for his charitable work, his contributions to cricket would have probably got him the honour eventually anyway. The man nicknamed “Beefy” effectively single-handedly won the Ashes for England in 1981 despite being stripped of captaincy in a disgraceful fashion mid-series.

The all-rounder finished the series with 399 runs and 34 wickets taken, including two unbelievable innings with the bat at Headingley and at Old Trafford that clinched the tournament for the Three Lions.

Both as a commendable contributor to worthy charitable causes for the last two decades, and as probably the greatest cricketer Great Britain has ever called its own, Ian Botham’s knighthood is justified.

Knee-jerk reactions

One of the biggest problems with sporting knighthoods is that they are awarded with knee-jerk reactions in the aftermath of a single impressive victory that captures the imagination of the entire country, as was the case for Olympians like Kelly Holmes, Bradley Wiggins and Chris Hoy, who were knighted almost immediately following their gold medal performances. All three were still on the shallow side of 40 and were still competing in their respective sports.

That is not the way it should be done. A knighthood should only be given to an older person after a long and established career of accomplishments both on and off the sporting field. This was the case for Botham and for Matthews. It was also the case for Sebastian Coe, the great Olympian who was largely responsible for bringing the Olympic Games to the UK in 2012, as well as spending time before that as a Member of Parliament and a life peer.

It is not the case for Andy Murray. Murray just won Wimbledon. He is good at the sport that he competes in, but so are a lot of people. Perhaps if, following this victory, he goes on to win a few more Grand Slams and then spends the next 20 years putting back into tennis or contributing to charitable foundations, a knighthood would then be justified. But excelling in your chosen sport is, quite frankly, the minimum we should expect in Britain from heavily publicly funded sportspersons, and not something that should be considered remarkable.

Murray is a hero of the nation right now; and with his accomplishments to date, he has fully earned the OBE that he was awarded back in the 2012 Honours List. But to hand him a seat at Arthur’s round table to share the company of men like Stanley Matthews and Ian Botham would be a knee-jerk reaction in the same vein as Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins. One that even he realises he has not earned.

So let’s not get carried away, Mr Cameron. By all means, let Murray be the hero of the hour, but save the knighthood for the people who spend a lifetime to earn it.