Sports awards thrive on diversity of ideas

On Monday night we were given a new one to debate. The little genius from Argentia became world player of the year again a fifth time. If there was any doubt about it, this was validation once again of Lionel Messi's supreme talent.

Between 2009 and 2012 he was the undisputed master of the show, sweeping four Ballon d'Or crowns in the process. That reign was interrupted by his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo but at the FIFA KongressHause, the Portuguese' bid to draw level with Messi on four Ballon d'Or crowns failed. Instead it is Messi celebrating a fifth that for many underlines his status as the greatest player of his generation and maybe the greatest of all time. He achieved his five-star status off the back of a five-star season when he was the star man enroute to Barcelona's clean sweep of five titles.

There was league and cup double triumph in Spain, Champions League success in Berlin and world club triumph in Japan. And while a lot of that was due to Barcelona's incredible teamwork, a lot of it was also down to Messi's ability to decide games either by the 52 goals he scored or the 26 he set up.

There could have been a significant five star show before Messi swept his award on Monday night but it didn’t happen and the man who was set to make that piece of history Yaya Toure was visibly upset.

He questioned each others intellect except his, asked questions of the voting process and the choices that were made by the various national team coaches, captains and members of the CAF media and technical committees.

Toure asked questions that ring true after every award; what at all do they look out for when they vote? What do you place emphasis on? Is it a player’s contribution to club or country? Or his individual exploits regardless of how the team does?

Truth is you can never have one criteria when voting for a player of the year. If there is anything the Ballon d’Or voting pattern showed us, it is that people make their choices based on a lot of factors.

Lionel Messi’s 41.3% combined votes, by more than 15% of the votes Cristiano was a ringing endorsement of the season the Argentine had but there was also those convinced it should have been the Portuguese. There was also a significant number who voted in a manner that suggested that the questions Toure asked in his angry and big baby outburst could not be limited to the CAF awards.

For instance Ghana coach Avram Grant suggested with his voting that Eden Hazard had a better 2015 than Cristiano Ronaldo did. He thought Arsene Wenger was a better coach in 2015 than Luis Enqrique.

He wasn’t the only one dabbling in choices that got us scratching our head. South Africa coach Shakes Mashaba figured Arturo Vidal was a better football in 2015 than Lionel Messi.

It underlined a simple fact; it is never about a simple criteria and has never been. What Messi’s triumph underlines also is that we know who the best player is over a year when you put it on a balanace scale. Messi scored over 50 goals, set up 20 and won every major trophy. He just wasn’t a member of the teams that won trophies, he contributed key moments.

That is why even though I really wanted Yaya Toure to win the African player of the year again, I have found a lot of the “Africa should value it’s own competitions” unnecessary hot air and a bit hypocritical.

Africa has longed cherised the big leagues, not it’s own. It is so pronounced that we have had to create an African best player for those who ply their trade on the continent, a tacit admission that playing on the continent won’t get you the best individual recognition on the continent in football. And did any of us watching the Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea think that Yaya Toure was the Ivory Coast best player? It was Serge Aurier.

On the evidence of the Ivory Coast triumph Toure could not therefore become African player of the year. His claim rested more on a season with Manchester City that still outshone many players on the continent. The voting panel clearly did not think so, they figured Aubameyang had a better year by the narrowest of margins.

It is the way awards work. There is nothing straight forward about them, no one way of determining who was the best and who wasn't. And that in a sport that has thrived on diversity of ideas in how the game is played and how a good player is judged, that cannot be a bad thing.