Aussie paper bids to scupper Wilkinson's award hopes

An Australian newspaper has launched a campaign to stop England’s rugby World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson being named BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

The Sydney Morning Herald is urging its readers to vote for tennis’s Tim Henman to prevent the prize going to Wilkinson, whose drop goal clinched England’s victory over Australia in the final.

The newspaper has received e-mails from Aussie ex-pats living in London asking for its support to scupper “the dastardly Wilkinson’s” chances.

The paper’s website says: “There’s nothing quite as satisfying as the taste of sour grapes washed down with a big glass of sweet revenge, especially when the English rugby vice-captain Jonny Wilkinson is involved.

“In the interests of bad sportsmanship, readers should go to http://www.bbc.co.uk and click on the sports section. On the bottom right corner there is a link to vote for the personality of the year. Don’t forget: vote 1 Henman just to make Jonny’s day.”

Andrew Hornery of the paper told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme it was a “good natured joke”. He said readers were being urged to back Henman because he had the best chance of beating Wilkinson.

“It is all meant to be fun,” he said.

He said British ex-pats in Australia had carried out a similar ploy to skew a poll by the paper on England’s semi-final performance in the tournament.

The BBC’s Philip Bernie said he was confident the campaign would not spoil the World Cup star’s chances.

“We are fairly happy about the way voting is going,” he said.

“It is going to need a major campaign to make an impact.”