Murphy offers Sinfield support ahead of SPOTY

Alex Murphy OBE is the last name to back Kevin Sinfield in his bid to become the first rugby league player to win Sports Personality of the Year.

Murphy, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1988, has said that the success that Sinfield has had over the years in the sport means he is a deserving winner of the main prize on Sunday evening. 

“It’s absolutely superb that KEvin’s in the running for this award. It’s a great achievement just to be nominated, let alone win it,” he said.

“What he’s done for the game and his club is magnificent. He has all the skills a rugby league players needs and he’s a thoroughly professional person both on and off the field. For me he deserves to win purely on merit. He’s led Leeds to many major honour through the incredible influence he has on the team. He’s the perfect professional.”

Murphy has also added that it’s great exposure for the sport to be placed on a national stage.

“It’s great for the game as well as Kevin to be amongst the nominations for Sports Personality of the Year,” he said.

“There’s a huge opportunity to push the sport out there even more if people vote for him.”

Rugby League fans have been urged to unite and support Kevin Sinfield by voting for him to be crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2015.

Voting for BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2015 on Sunday December 20 will be available over the phone (numbers will be provided on the night of the awards ceremony) and for free on http://www.bbc.co.uk/spoty.

In order to vote online, you will need to be registered with the BBC sign in system, BBC iD, by visiting https://ssl.bbc.co.uk/id/register.

If you have already registered with BBC iD, then you only need to sign in on the day of the awards to cast your vote.