2016 is almost over and after year of providing thoughts and whinges on sport, it’s time to sign off the year with our 2016 Sporting Year Review.
This year saw a number of giant upsets, and drought breaking wins. The usual controversies, most of them in rugby league.
There was also a lot of meh-diocre performances, and some standout gear. All off which we’ll explain below.
We pick through what took our fancy and what pissed us off this year with our 2016 Sporting Year review.
2016 SPORTING YEAR REVIEW – BEST PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
- Leicester winning the EPL
- Western Bulldogs and Sharks finals runs.
- Iceland at the Euros
- Mercedes F1 winning almost everything
- Parramatta’s Eels on field form despite points reduction for cheating, wandering players, and misbehaving players.
- Max Verstappen at Brazil
- Daniel Ricciardo at Monaco
- Illawarra Cutters thrashing Burleigh in the NRL State Championship final
Winner – LEICESTER winning the EPL. A team almost relegated the year before with loads of players who came from the Championship kicking the EPL’s arse for a special one-off season will more than likely never happen again.
2016 SPORTING YEAR REVIEW – DROUGHT BREAKING WIN OF THE YEAR
- Western Bulldogs winning the AFL
- Sharks winning the NRL
- Rod Pampling winning on the US Tour again – Gurgler favourite and Person of the Year nomination for his exploits.
- Chicago Cubs win the World Series – 108 Year wait between titles is a long time.
Winner – CHICAGO CUBS – 108 years is a real long time.
2016 SPORTING YEAR REVIEW – WORST PERFORMANCES OF THE YEAR
- England at the Euros – took disappointing on the international stage to a new level
- Aston Villa – looked doomed from August until the relegation that has been coming for years finally arrived.
- Newcastle in the NRL – rebuilding, but the worst NRL team since some ordinary Wests and Souths sides in the early 2000’s.
- Australian Cricket during Winter and up until Third Test in Adelaide. Fixed for now? Well at least one game.
- Brisbane Lions in the AFL – so many floggings, so few wins. Another head coach sacked. Bandwagon well and truly unhitched.
Winner – ASTON VILLA
THE MOST MEDIOCRE TEAM OF THE YEAR
Winner – IPSWICH TOWN. It’s always Ipswich Town
2016 SPORTING YEAR REVIEW – JERK OF THE YEAR
We have already launched the Jerk of the Year, and since most of them are sportsmen, why not have a vote for yourself. So check out the nominations and the poll.
Winner – Lewis Hamilton
2016 SPORTING YEAR REVIEW – DUD OF THE YEAR
- Daniel Ricciardo pitstop at Monaco – ruining a certain and deserved win at Monaco
- Semi Radradra – The fall of former Gurgler Person of the Year nom and favourite was sad.
- Kieran Foran – whilst we’re on Parramatta’s case. Poor form.
- South Sydney’s mid season form – appalling, terrible, and unwatchable. Then all of a sudden they could win, making fans wonder where it came from after months of dross.
- Sunday Afternoon 4pm game of NRL. – enough Channel Nein bashing this year.
- Channel Nein’s Cricket Commentary – OK, one more
- Australian Rugby
- Manchester United – spent many hundreds of millions and achieved f*** all.
- Nutbag owners ruining English Football League clubs – e.g. Blackpool. Leeds, Charlton, Coventry, Leyton Orient.
Winner – Channel Nein for both NRL and Cricket.
2016 SPORTING YEAR REVIEW – UPSET OF THE YEAR
- Leicester winning the EPL – will never happen again. Especially the 5000-1 payouts.
- Iceland at the Euros – another football minnow capturing the sporting world’s imagination
- Bulldogs winning the AFL flag – did anyone really think they’d win the flag in week 1 of the finals?
- Sunshine Coast Falcons beating the PNG Hunters in the finals – first side to win in PNG for over 2 years.
- Scotland Rugby League draw with New Zealand –
Winner – Leicester again
2016 SPORTING YEAR REVIEW – MEH OF THE YEAR
- Formula 1 – A season that never quite took off apart from the promise of Red Bulls for next year
- Olympics – So much hype – actual events ruined by constant barrage of ads for unwatchable TV shows
- State of Origin 2016 1st game – months of hype and Origin bolters ended with a shit boring game.
- Cristiano Ronaldo – for all his genius he is essentially a spoilt teenage girl.
- Obsession with Australian Swimming come Olympics time – promised much – delivered bugger all.
- NRL Rounds during Origin – 4/5 games with origin affected rosters.
Winner – Olympics
2016 SPORTING YEAR REVIEW – OUR SPORTING HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
- Roy and HG’s Olympics podcast – you really realise what you’re missing after their 2 weeks of gold.
- AFC Wimbledon promotion to the third tier League One
- Adebayo Akinfenwa and team mate fighting over who would take final penalty in the above winning game. The beast won and deservingly so.
- Leicester winning EPL
- NRL televising all games on Fox Sports
Winner – Roy and HG podcast.
2016 SPORTING YEAR REVIEW – BEST SPORTS MEDIA
- Fox Sports coverage of F1 – one remembers the old days of Channel Nein’s ad filled delayed telecasts. Just.
- Fox Sports coverage of NRL – ad free and Ray free.
- BeIn Sports joining Fox Sports – providing an unwatchable amount of Football from everywhere including English Football League.
- Bathurst 1000 – is there a better excuse to hog the TV and sloth all day with beer.
- SBS picking up one EPL game.
- Roy and HG Olympic Podcast
- Guardian Football Weekly podcast
- Santo, Sam and Ed’s Total Football podcast.
- The Betoota Advocate Sports coverage
- ESPN NFL Red Zone Coverage – only way to watch NFL. A reward for insomnia.
Winner – Fox Sports F1
2016 SPORTING YEAR REVIEW – GOOD RIDDANCE
- Michael Ennis
- Paul Gallen from Origin
- Rod Marsh as selector
- Parramatta’s board
- Rugby Union
- Most of the FIFA Jerks
- The Hayne Cam
Winner – Rod Marsh – no more bullshit selection theories. Jut best players who are fit make the side.
2016 SPORTING YEAR REVIEW – GURGLER SPORTING PEROSNALITY OF THE YEAR
- Adebayo Akinfenwa – The Beast provided plenty of golden moments. Pity he didn’t get by an A League club.
- Claudio Raineri – Provided Football’s biggest F*** You. And reportedly took $5M with a shrewd contract inclusion.
- Fernando Alonso – making the best out of a bad situation at McLaren.
- Daniel Ricciardo – plenty of shoe work
- Willie Minoga – not as good as 2015 but always highly entertaining. And a favourite.
- Andrew “Beefy” Johnston – a golfer with personality. Surely not.
Winner – Adebayo Akinfenwa
So that’s our thoughts with the 2016 Sporting Year Review. We’re sure not everyone or maybe no one will agree. Why not add your thoughts below or email us as contact@gurgler.com where we will publish the best back here.
[contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]
