Steve Puddicombe on why he thinks Mark Cavendish should win Sports Personality of the Year 2011
The Yorker's sports team says what they would like for Christmas this year
The second blog for The Yorker from the University of York Riding Club
Sports Editor James Tompkinson looks at York Sport in 2011 and gives his highlights from the year
With his quick feet, daring runs and fancy step-overs, he was unlike any player I had seen before and it was a thrill and joy to watch him play every week for my club. His nickname “twinkle-toes” quickly saw him become established as one of the most exciting, and best, young players in the Premier League.
Even his weekly-changing hair styles, his fancy ear-rings and numerous scandalous stories didn’t deter me from admiring him. His upbringing on the small Portuguese island of Madeira - living in a tiny house with his family and being sent to a football academy aged 11 where he was mocked by his teachers for his colloquial accent - just endeared him to me even more.
For the next four years as Ronaldo grew and developed as a player at United, so did my love for him; no matter how many times his step-overs failed, his crosses were blocked by the first man or he gained soft free kicks, in my books he was still a hero.
Even his spat with Wayne Rooney at the 2006 World Cup couldn’t degrade him in my eyes; I was heartbroken at the thought of my favourite player leaving the club. Being only in my mid-teens, Ronaldo was the first sports star I had really admired and in my books he was always right.
Only when I got a little older, just as Ronaldo was getting unsettled at United, did I begin to accept that perhaps my favourite player could have flaws. This, of course, is true of everyone.
But Ronaldo’s determination to go abroad, his little tantrums like throwing his jacket on the floor after being subbed, and his ever-increasing celebrity persona made him a player a whole world away from the one I had originally admired.
Without doubt though, Ronaldo is one of the best players in the world- you only have to look at his achievements with Manchester United and Real Madrid and his individual awards, not to mention his performances on the pitch, to see that.
That’s why, despite being dubbed “the world’s favourite footballer to hate” by many media sources, Ronaldo remains one of my sporting heroes. His love of football and his talent in the sport is undeniable and he made my early years of the sport pure joy.
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