England Player Honours -
British Sports Writers' Association Sportsman
and International Newcomer Awards

Player Honours Index

Team Honours

Coach/Manager Honours

Players Index

Sportsman of the Year Award

The Sports Writers' Association, founded in 1948, made its first sportsmen awards by committee ballot in 1949, and in 1951 began its annual Sportsman of the Year award, which is decided by vote of the members and honours the sporting figure who has contributed most to Britain's international sporting prestige.  Footballers have won this most coveted award only twice, and the performances which gained them the award came while they played for England:

1966 - Bobby Moore and the England World Cup team

2001 - David Beckham

Other England players have finished second or third in the balloting for the Sportsman of the Year award:

1961 - Johnny Haynes, runner-up

1978 - Kevin Keegan, runner-up

1979 - Kevin Keegan, runner-up

2001 - Michael Owen, runner-up

2005 - Steven Gerrard, runner-up

Peter Wilson Trophy for Outstanding International Newcomer

1990 - David Platt 

1998 - Michael Owen

2003 - Wayne Rooney

2006 - Aaron Lennon

[Many thanks to Trevor Bond, secretary of the Sports Writers' Association, for information regarding the Association's awards.]

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