Has sport lost its importance? Has relevance abandoned it? I constantly hear people say to me “it’s just a game” while I curse profanely and repeatedly at my television or computer screen because McCullum has just thrown his wicket away again to a half-pitched long hop. Well to all you over-sized-singlet-wearing-indie-misfits, I’m telling you it is much more than just a game. Just because you only got participation medals at school for cross-country, does not mean that sport (and winning) is something to scoff at.
In this country, we constantly cram the ideal of ‘participation’ down our children’s throats. That it is less important to win than to simply play the game. Then we wonder why we haven’t won a rugby world cup in twenty-four years and currently languish at the bottom of the world’s cricket rankings, despite these being our two most popular sports. Slowly, this kind of attitude infiltrates the social consciousness and as a result we breed a nation of people who do not value winning and the nature of sport.
But try to tell this to Barcelona FC fans whose football team is not only the best club in the world (perhaps one of the greatest ever) but a mighty symbol for Catalan culture and nationalism. To them, as it is to many nations around the world, football is not “just a game”: it is religion, it is politics, it is a way of life. People live and die by their team’s success.
This is passion that is seldom seen in New Zealanders when it comes to the sports field. Not only do we seem to lack support for our own teams, but we also lack a genuine love of sport in general these days. This seems like a strange thing to say, as many consider us a sports mad country, but everywhere you look, latte drinking theatre goers are popping up where rugged rugby gents and dames once stood. Gone are the days when every man and his dog watched footy all weekend with a cold brew and abused his wife if his team didn’t win. Perhaps the term ‘good old days’ comes to mind.
But can we blame sport itself for this lack of interest? Sport is continually dumbing itself down to make itself more accessible to people with ‘games’ such as 7s rugby and T20 cricket, but the problem is that the objective of fandom in this case is to dance and socialise rather than watch. So people are not more interested in sport because of these innovations, despite the increased gate takings.
The beauty of sport does not lie in these abridged versions however. It lies in: a 5-day test match, of which the finest example was displayed in summer’s Ashes series when England drubbed the Aussies; the El Classico, that pits two of the greatest sporting and national rivals against each other where Barcelona showcased their entrancing football in a 5-0 win; or a gritty test match between the All Blacks and the French that we will only be too lucky to witness in this year’s world cup.
So shrug off your ridiculous singlet, throw away your pointed shoes (maybe lose some weight) and watch some sport. Become a fan (and not on Facebook). Because if people can still support the Chicago Cubs and Arsenal fans really believe they can win meaningful silverware this year without choking, then you can appreciate some sport this weekend too.