PT Sports Awards: Peterborough Sports are just ‘four-some’

The area’s premier non-league football club picked up four major trophies after a fortnight-long popular vote with inspirational manager Jimmy Dean leading the way.

Dean won the big one - the Sports Personality of the Year - and added the coach of the year crown.

Star player Dion Sembie-Ferris won the Footballer of the Year prize, while Stephen ‘Tommy’ Cooper, the man who laid the foundation for the club’s remarkable rise up the football rankings, collected the Lifetime Achiever award.

Surprisingly, given their success in every other category, Sports were beaten to the Team of the Year prize by Peterborough Town Cricket Club who won two county titles in 2019.

Dean was understandably, delighted. “I’m thrilled to bits,” he said. “I never thought this would ever happen to someone like me.

“I’m a proud Peterborough man so to win the city’s top sporting prize means an awful lot. I’m proud of my record, but it’s also an award for the players and the rest of the staff as there are an awful lot of people who have put an awful lot of work into us getting where we are today.

“We haven’t just won the local leagues like the Peterborough League and United Counties League, we have been winning at a level no other Peterborough non-league side has ever managed.

“It’s great that the city has recognised what we have achieved as a club.”

Karate king Rob Taylor and swimming sensation Amelia Monaghan both completed sports awards hat-tricks by winning the sportsman and sportswoman prizes. Athlete Joe Purbrick (junior sportsman), Jamie Robinson (junior footballer), Natalie Durham (unsung hero), Richard Pickering (community) and Jennifer Goodwin (disabled achiever) were the other winners.

A full round-up of the winners will appear at www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk over the next few days.

Trophies will be presented to the winners when the coronavirus crisis is over.