Robertson the ‘greatest-ever’ British player? What about Gillian Gilks?

Gillian Gilks, winner of 11 gold medals at the All England

Nathan Robertson, the popular England doubles/ mixed doubles player, announced his retirement recently after a successful career. The English press seemed to belatedly discover news of his retirement, and recent tributes have been overflowing with praise and hyberbole.

The Guardian, no less, headlined the story: ‘Nathan Robertson, Britain’s greatest player, retires’, while Daily Mail called Robertson a ‘legend’. It began: ‘Nathan Robertson, widely regarded as Britain’s greatest-ever badminton player, has announced his retirement.’ BBC was less adulatory, using the term ‘best-ever’ in single quotes, but its intro read: ‘Olympic medalist Nathan Robertson has been hailed as Britain’s greatest-ever player after confirming his retirement.’

Two of the reports – Daily Mail and BBC – quoted Robertson’s mixed doubles partner Gail Emms conferring the ‘greatest-ever’ title upon him. Emms was quoted as saying: “Without a doubt in my mind, Nathan is the best badminton player that Great Britain has ever produced. His natural talent and almost genius-like qualities stood him out from the crowd and won respect from elite players all around the world. It was an honour and a privilege to play mixed doubles with him. A true legend and icon of the sport.”

All of these accolades point to one thing – complete ignorance of even recent badminton history. Robertson was a fine player, one of the best of the last decade, but to call him the ‘greatest-ever’ British player is to do injustice to several other names, some even more accomplished than him.

To be sure, Robertson was one of the best doubles players of his era. At a time when British badminton had nothing to feel pleased about, he and Emms won the World Championships and Commonwealth Games in 2006. Two years earlier the duo had been outstanding as it reached the final of the Olympics in Athens – only to lose by a whisker to Zhang Jun and the legendary Gao Ling of China. Robertson was inspirational in that match, covering the baseline and tirelessly whipping smashes that nearly carried the day for the British – but Zhang Jun and Gao Ling just about squeaked through to the gold medal.

Nathan Robertson was inspirational in the final of the Athens Olympics

Comparing across generations is unjust. Robertson – winner of one All England title, in 2005 – can hardly be compared with the likes of George Thomas or Kitty McKane – who were not only multiple All England winners, but were brilliant at other sports as well.

But for comparison’s sake, we shall consider only the time from the late Seventies onwards, from when badminton became professional. The Chinese entered international competition in 1981, and any discussion on the ‘greatness’ of a player must be done keeping in mind Chinese competition.

Robertson has four major medals to his credit, all in the company of Gail Emms: the 2004 Olympics silver medal, the 2005 All England gold, the 2006 World Championships gold, and the 2006 Commonwealth Games gold.

The Olympic medal cannot be used to compare with past generations because badminton has a recent history at the Olympics. The 1992 Barcelona Olympics did not have the mixed doubles event, which means that event has had just four Olympic appearances.

The World Championships and the All England (from the late Seventies) are more reliable indicators. Taking these two into consideration, Robertson has one title each – but so does Jane Webster. Taking only the All England into consideration, Robertson’s record trails the likes of Nora Perry, Martin Dew, Mike Tregdett, and above all – Gillian Gilks.

It’s astonishing that the English media would even contemplate crowning the one-time World Champion and All England winner their ‘greatest-ever’ player when they only had to look back 30 years or so. Gillian Gilks was a phenomenon. She won four World Championships medals (two silver, two bronze) and an amazing 11 medals overall at the All England – two singles, three women’s doubles and six mixed doubles. In 1976 she won a triple crown at the All England – singles, doubles and mixed. Robertson might have won one Commonwealth Games gold – Gilks won three CWG gold medals in a single year – in 1974! She repeated that feat at the 1976 European Championships as well.

Gilks had a long and rewarding career from the late Sixties to the mid- Eighties – a span that few players can boast of in a physically demanding sport such as badminton. She held her own against the world’s best – even as the Chinese asserted their dominance in the other events, Gilks won two mixed doubles titles at the All England in the post-1980 period. Renowned writer Pat Davis doffed his hat to her with these words: “Never has there been a more talented all-rounder.”.

Robertson will be missed. He’s a fine ambassador for the sport, handsome and articulate, and his accomplishments speak for him. He can be satisfied with what he has achieved, and his record needs no artificial propping up from poorly-informed writers who crown him the ‘greatest-ever’. Besides, there cannot be a ‘greatest-ever’ in any sport because time travel, sadly, is just not possible.