Spurs' Bale completes rare treble

Welsh wonder ... Gareth Bale adds to his impressive individual honours. Source: Kirsty Wigglesworth / AFP

Tottenham Hotspur winger Gareth Bale completed a notable treble on Thursday when voted the 2013 Footballer of the Year by England's Football Writers' Association.

The 23-year-old Wales international topped the journalists' poll by a narrow margin with Manchester United's Robin van Persie, last season's winner when at Arsenal, the runner-up.

Last week Bale was named as both Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year by England's Professional Footballers' Association.

His 24 goals in all competitions so far this season helped take north London club Spurs into the quarter-finals of the Europa League and have kept them on course for a return to the Champions League via a top-four finish in the Barclays Premier League.

Bale will receive the FWA accolade, which has been running since 1948, at a gala dinner at the Lancaster London Hotel on May 9.

The first Tottenham player to receive the FWA award since David Ginola in 1999 and the first Wales international so honoured since Neville Southall in 1985, Bale said: "It means a lot to win this award when you consider the number of players that have been outstanding for their clubs in the Barclays Premier League this season.

		P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Man United	35	27	4	4	43	85
2	Man City	34	21	8	5	30	71
3	Chelsea	34	19	8	7	33	65
4	Arsenal	35	18	10	7	30	64
5	Tottenham	34	18	8	8	17	62
6	Everton	35	15	14	6	14	59
7	Liverpool	35	14	12	9	25	54
8	West Brom	34	14	6	14	2	48
9	Swansea	34	10	12	12	-1	42
10	West Ham	35	11	9	15	-8	42
11	Fulham	35	10	10	15	-9	40
12	Stoke	35	9	13	13	-10	40
13	Southampton	35	9	12	14	-10	39
14	Norwich	35	8	14	13	-21	38
15	Sunderland	35	9	10	16	-12	37
16	Aston Villa	35	9	10	16	-22	37
17	Newcastle	35	10	7	18	-23	37
18	Wigan	34	8	8	18	-23	32
19	QPR	35	4	13	18	-27	25
20	Reading	35	5	10	20	-28	25

"I have been very fortunate to be playing in such a fantastic team and I owe a lot to my team-mates and, obviously, the manager who has shown such faith in me."

Bale's latest award also completed a memorable couple of days for Cardiff's Whitchurch High School.

On Tuesday, Bale's old school-mate Sam Warburton was named captain of the British and Irish Lions rugby union team for their coming tour of Hong Kong and Australia.

Being a Tottenham fan, Cardiff Blues flanker Warburton was especially delighted by Bale's latest award. "It's great for Whitchurch. It is great to see Gareth doing so well," he said.

Whitchurch physical education teacher Gwyn Thomas said: "It's not often that you have a former pupil who wins not one but two PFA awards, and the British Lions captain within the space of a 48 hour phase. We had to pinch ourselves this morning."

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