Joey Barton Says 'Tax Exile' Lewis Hamilton Should Not Be Eligible for SPOTY

Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton was named BBC Sports Personality Of The Year, but not everybody was happy with the decision.  

Many felt that golfer Rory McIlroy should have won the award after winning two majors and helping Europe win the Ryder Cup. 

That was the opinion of notoriously outspoken footballer Joey Barton, but he also offered up a more controversial reason as to why Hamilton should not have won the award, suggesting he should not have even been eligible.

"

Hamilton was giving everything by this country then moves to tax free country as soon as he starts earning big money.

— Joseph Barton (@Joey7Barton) December 15, 2014"

The accusations of being a tax exile are not new to Hamilton, and indeed the driver tackled the controversy just this weekend. 

He told The Sunday Times' Style magazine, as per The Independent:

"

People moan and say, 'He doesn't live in the country, but he's happy to raise the flag'. It doesn't matter what country you live in. I was born here, man.

What people don’t realise is that I pay tax here, but I don’t earn all my money here. I race in 19 different countries, so I earn my money in 20 different places and I pay tax in several different places, and I pay a lot here as well.

I am contributing to the country and, not only that, I help to keep a team of more than 1,000 people employed.

"

Hamilton moved to Switzerland in 2007 before relocating to Monaco in 2012 after complaining that his life in Zurich was "a bit boring," according to Reuters' Alan Baldwin.