Public Opinion – It Cuts Both Ways.

“We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning.”

These words were uttered by French sociologist, philosopher and cultural theorist Jean Baudrillard, who passed away in 2007. He was respected globally for his analyses of media, and technological communication.

There is no doubt that today everyone has a voice via social media. Often the opinions voiced are well informed and based on experience and knowledge. Regrettably far too often they are not. A smidgen of information is stored, and regurgitated implying that the person sharing it is suddenly an expert.

Ask any doctor how many patients now google their symptoms before making an appointment with someone who has dedicated years to training in that field, and then when they sit in front of the doctor tell them what they have wrong with them. The doctor then has to convince the patient that what they believe is the problem is in fact something else.

In the past twenty years we have witnessed various organisations opt to go to the Internet in order to canvas public opinion when voting on certain issues.

One of the most calamitous polls was the 2016 #NameOurShip online poll to name the UKL200 million polar scientific research ship for the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), that was being constructed. The name that won the poll by a long way was “Boaty McBoatface.” However NERC decided to instead name the ship after renowned Zoologist Sir David Attenborough. The name Boaty McBoatface would be used for one of the submersibles aboard instead.

Observers of contemporary culture have now coined the term ‘McBoatfacing,’ this is referred to “making the critical mistake of letting the internet decide things.”

Sports have fallen prey to this on several occasions.

In 2007 the Vancouver Canucks Ice Hockey defender Rory Fitzpatrick hardly had a superstar season. After missing a month of play, Fitzpatrick only had one assist when All Star voting opened. Over 10 seasons, he had only netted 9 goals. He was no superstar. However 22-year-old Steve Schmid from upstate New York, campaigned for Fitzpatrick’s All Star Candidacy.

His campaign took off. A Vancouver computer programmer then developed a Firefox browser plug-in he called the “Rory Vote-O-Matic” to let Fitzpatrick fans fill out ballots automatically, while Schmid launched VoteForRory.com. The defender ended up picking up more than 285,000 write-in votes, and finish third meaning he did not start in the All-Star game. Many believed that the NHL altered the final votes to ensure that was the case.

In 2008 the New York Mets’ marketing department put the team’s eighth inning theme song up for a fan vote. Thanks to what was called “RickRolling” they were caught by surprise when Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” netted more than 5 million votes. This was more than eight times the capacity of Shea Stadium!

When FIFA went down this path at the turn of the century to try and decide who was the greatest player of all time, Argentina’s Maradona picked up over 50% of the votes. Brazil’s Pele managed to only poll 18%. The reasons for this were clear for all to see. Most of those who were Internet savvy at the time of the vote had never witnessed Pele play. FIFA realising the error of their ways had the two greats share poll position. If a poll were taken today Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo would most likely out poll Maradona. Some may believe that such a vote would be warranted, many others historians and analysts would disagree.

The International Hockey Federation yesterday announced the winners of their Hockey Stars Awards. The FIH had stated prior to the online voting how the votes would be compiled. Fans were advised that “Votes from National Associations – represented by their respective national captains and coaches – counted for 50% of the overall result, while fans and players (25%) as well as media (25%) made the other half of the votes.”

Social Media went into meltdown once the results were announced. As Indian athletes and coaches picked up every single award: Men’s and Women’s Player of the year, Men’s and Women’s coach of the year, men’s and women’s goalkeeper of the year, and men’s and women’s rising star of the year.

Not surprisingly the winners in each category of the awards had massive percentages from the fans and players. The men’s and women’s players of the year 79% and 64% respectively. In the goalkeeper’s award, men 79% and women 69%. When it came to the rising stars 66% in the women and 83% in the men while the coaches picked up 79% for Sjoerd Marijne and 81% for Graeme Reid.

To many people the results defy belief, and unfortunately have according to many ‘devalued’ the awards that have gone before. The backlash was so strong that the FIH felt the need to put out a statement justifying the results. This stated that each winner had polled the highest number of votes in each of the three voting categories. In other words from the respective coaches and captains, the fans and players, and the media.

First of all congratulations to all of those who have been voted the best. It is very sad that their moment has be affected by such a public outpouring, for they have done nothing wrong.

The truth is when the list of finalists was announced that is when many of the questions should have been raised. Certainly many very close to the sport were left scratching their heads at some of the players listed and how others had been left off the list.

The sad thing is these awards have become a popularity contest in recent years, rather than an acknowledgement of the best players, so the results in 2021 should come as no surprise.

The year 2021 has been a hard one in which to judge players as teams did not play as regularly as they would normally, with many international competitions cancelled and many teams being unable to travel. Looking at the FIH Pro League Belgium’s men played three matches in 2021, Australia and India just two. The only meaningful competition for all nations was the Olympic Games. The European nations also had their European Championships.

It seemed hard to believe that the Netherlands Josine Koning was not amongst the nominees for best female goalkeeper, after all she had been a part of the Dutch side that won the European Championships and only conceded two goals in the tournament (5 Games). At the Olympic Games the Dutch only conceded four in eight games. Possibly because the Netherlands are such a good attacking side many overlook the consistency of their defence and their goalkeeper. However the fact that they won Gold in both tournaments says a great deal.

Australia’s Rach Lynch was the incumbent FIH goalkeeper of the year, yet she two was passed over as a finalist despite breaking an Olympic record for going the longest without conceding a goal. Australia bowed out in the Quarter finals but only conceded two goals in six games. (Hockeyroos Enter The Olympic Record Books).

India’s Savita, who had a fantastic tournament conceded 20 goals by comparison in eight games.

On the men’s side with inconsistencies in terms of games played outside of the Olympic Games if we just look at these matches, PR Sreejesh who picked up the award conceded 23 goals in Tokyo in eight games and won a bronze medal. Andrew Charter who won silver after losing the shoot out in the final conceded 13 as did Vincent Vanasch who won the shoot out and a gold medal. Many will tell you that they have not seen a more dominant display in a shoot out than Vincent Vanasch’s in that gold medal match. He was phenomenal when the pressure was on.

The FIH Rising star award was changed a few years ago from being an under 21 player to an under 23 player. The reason given was there were not enough players under 21 who fit the bill. The problem this created is some players are well established in the side by the time they reach the age of 23. Take this year’e winner Vivek Prasad of India who is undoubtedly a star in the making. He is 21 years old, but has already played 70 times for his country. Is that really a rising star?

The two players he was up against in this category New Zealand’s Sean Findlay only has 11 international caps and South Africa’s Mustaphaa Cassiem is believed to only have played seven matches for his country. These players truly are players in the making whereas Prasad is already well established on the international stage. As raised before should a player be penalised for establishing themselves at international level at a young age? (Don’t Shoot Me I’m Just The Player).

The FIH Player of the Year award is without doubt one of the most prestigious. For a number of years this writer was a chosen member of the media who was requested to nominate players for the award. That invitation ceased in 2017. The most probable reason for this was I passionately argued that Great Britain’s Maddie Hinch should be a nominee for the FIH Player of the Year Award. I was advised by counter argument that she was already in the Goalkeeper of the year and was likely to win that. The argument made no sense. Hinch was at that time the best in the world. Her heroics had seen her secure a first Olympic Gold for her team and only a second European Championship for England. She was in many people’s opinion the standout player in Women’s hockey at that time. Just because there is a goalkeeper of the year award why can’t a goalkeeper win the Player of the year award? (Goalkeepers Left Out In The Cold)

One feels that the process needs to be reviewed. In the past the players would have a vote. Sadly this has we believe stopped, – despite being listed – and one can only presume the reason for this was it was an extra administrative duty for the national association; certainly some national players revealed that they had never been asked by their national association for their votes.

That apathy would appear to be at an all time low with so many of the FIH’s member nations failing to vote. The FIH revealed that in Africa only 11 out of 25 Member Associations voted. In Asia there were 29 out of 33, Europe only 19 out of 42, Oceania 3 out of 8 and Pan America only 17 out of 30. You look at these figures and in many confederations less than 50% are voting, why?

It is very sad that the announcement of the winners in 2021 has met with so much negative comment. One feels for the players and coaches that have been announced as winners, as their moment has been tarnished through no fault of their own.

What is clear is that the sport and those who follow it are not happy with the process, and that it needs to be changed moving forward.

Should such important awards be open to input from the public? Or have these awards now lost their meaning because of that public input? While there is more information out there how many actually stop to study that information and what it means in context to make an informed decision?

Maybe the public should have their own “Fans Choice Award?” However in the world today there are still no guarantees that the outcome will be to everyone’s liking and that could be the result once again of the modern day phenomenon “McBoatfacing.”

Public opinion on this occasion is very strong and very clear, and there is no need for a vote. There is a need for a review and a return to the ways of old, in order to restore the prestige attached to the awards that date back to 1998.