All right on the knight at long last
SO it turns out those rumours about Andy Murray kicking Corgis — the only possible explanation for Her Majesty deeming him unworthy of a coveted knighthood — weren’t entirely true, after all.
What a relief. What a delight. What, precisely, took the Establishment so long to confer this deserved honour upon the greatest individual athlete in our islands’ storeyed sporting history? It does feel just a touch overdue.
Even those who argue that active athletes shouldn’t be saddled with the extra weight of a knighthood or damehood recognise that Andrew Murray OBE has done more than enough to merit another trip to the Palace. Because he has been playing the part of old-fashioned knight of the realm for some time.
A champion in the truest sense of the word, he has been personally responsible for some of the British public’s most joyful celebrations.
Twice, we have seen the Union Flag raised high at Olympic Games because Murray committed every ounce of effort in pursuit of team victories offering neither prize money nor ranking points to the victor. His performance in leading Britain to Davis Cup glory last year, for the first time since 1936, will forever be remembered as a Herculean labour of patriotic love. He didn’t need to make that team event a priority. Didn’t need to play, even. But he did.
Overall, Murray’s consistent contributions to the Team GB cause, diligently turning up for national service even when he knew there would be a price to pay in his pursuit of individual wins, mark him out as something more than merely a supremely-talented sportsman.
For this, as much as the two Wimbledon titles, the one US Open crown and the season-ending rush to World No 1 status, he deserves the undying gratitude of the people.
Now, you may count yourself among those who feel that the honours’ system isn’t the right way to reward high achievers. There is certainly a case to be made against quite so many sports people being handed baubles for, in some cases, achieving victories that don’t look quite so impressive when broken down and analysed.
Once you start recognising athletes in this manner, though, there has to be some consistency. And it is utterly inconsistent that, with just the OBE awarded for his gold medal-winning performance at the London Olympics, Murray was effectively placed on the same plateau as a dressage rider … and a long way behind newly-minted Sirs Bradley Wiggins and Ben Ainslie.
To put it in perspective, remember that by 2012, Murray had already become the first British man to win a Grand Slam title — the US Open — since 1936, then followed it up with Olympic glory. Yet the OBE was his lot.
When England won the Ashes in 2005, the entire team were rewarded for the one-off achievement, with the skipper, coach, chairman of selectors and tour manager all deemed worthy of an OBE apiece. Do you see the nuttiness in officially rating Murray on a par with the guy who booked hotels for a cricket team?
It’s not as if the powers-that-be haven’t had opportunities to ‘upgrade’ Britain’s No 1 tennis star since that 2012 ceremony. Winning his first Wimbledon title in 2013 wasn’t enough, though, with officials briefing that it was ‘too soon’ to hand him another award. Nonsense!
Adding a second Wimbledon crown and becoming the first man to defend the Olympic singles title, on top of everything achieved in the interval? Impossible to ignore.
Whenever the subject has been raised previously, of course, there has always been a suggestion that Murray himself wasn’t bothered. He even said that he was ‘too young’ for a knighthood.
Surely, though, he wouldn’t have dared to refuse an elevation to join the likes of Sir Chris Hoy et al in the highest esteem of the kingdom? That would be like kicking a Corgi.