Tyson Fury’s biggest crime was to refuse to hide behind the PR men

He’s a boxer, for heaven’s sake, not a spokesman for the National Trust

(2015 Getty Images)

Tyson Fury is that rare thing – a British world champion. But, according to the Daily Mail, he’s not the sort of person to invite round for dinner. And just imagine what sort of dinner party that would be: all those strange, off-colour views on homosexuality, religion and the sanctity of marriage. And then there are Fury’s opinions to consider, too.

The newly crowned world heavyweight boxing champion is a man born into the Irish Traveller culture and a rather awkward character. We like our champions to come from different stock, and don’t particularly mind if they are bland, uninspiring characters away from the sporting arena. Who cares what they are like in real life? Their achievements speak for themselves.

Except that, in the case of Fury, that is very definitely not the case. No one seems to be giving much attention to his feat in bringing the top prize in world boxing back to Britain. He may not be a crowd pleaser beyond the ring, but he’s one of only a handful of British men who have been the heavyweight champion of the world in the past century. Not a bad feat; in other years, he would be a hot favourite to take the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award.

The trouble is, it’s Fury – not his achievement – that has been doing the talking. And we don’t like what he says.

The boxer espouses the hardline beliefs of a certain type of evangelical Christianity and has said that, unless the world rids itself of homosexuality, abortion and paedophilia, the Devil will take over. His opinions on the role of women in the modern world – “a woman’s best place is in the kitchen and on her back,” he said in an interview, and he has described the saintly Jessica Ennis-Hill as “quite fit” – are equally egregious.

“I stand up for my beliefs,” says the self-styled “Gypsy King”. And were he in a Christian country in Africa, his views would not be considered sensational. Here, however – where we are supposedly so passionate about freedom of speech – we take a rather dim view of someone in public life who voices such controversial thoughts. And so there’s been a fuss about Fury being among the 12 figures nominated for this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

I don’t know what rugby league player Kevin Sinfield thinks about Europe, or where swimmer Adam Peaty stands on the bombing of Syria. And we haven’t got a clue about what Andy Murray thinks about anything. But we are aware of Fury’s world view and this, in the eyes of some (cue the inevitable online petition), is enough to disqualify him from the list.

That would only meet intolerance with intolerance – and my guess is that if a sportsperson’s privately held views were made public, quite a lot of them might offend certain sectors of society. Tyson Fury’s crime, if you like, was not to hide behind PR men and managers.

It’s very rare that you see a top sportsman raw and unplugged. We didn’t like what we saw, but he’s a boxer, for heaven’s sake, not a spokesman for the National Trust. And whatever we think of him, he’s a high-achieving sportsman and a personality.