“Play up! Play up! and play the game!” - but remember it's only a game.

Although I was never a great sportsman I have always loved football and cricket. Throughout my childhood and teenage years my beloved Preston North End were an ever present part of my life.  Even now, fifty plus years later,  as 5 o’clock on Saturday evening approaches during the football season I anxiously tune in my radio or TV to find out how my team have performed. I now live over a hundred away miles from Preston and never have any inclination to return to watch PNE but when some years ago my father died and I visited the place of my birth for the last time one of the things that I did on that last day was to sit in my car outside the football ground and remember the many wonderful hours I had spent there watching games, queuing for tickets, waiting for autographs and the like. From the day I began teaching until the day that I retired I taught sport and games on a weekly basis – football, cricket, swimming and occasionally athletics. I have coached swimming, tested children for certificates and medals and organised school and district galas. For the past thirty plus years I have been actively involved, and still am, with running football teams and leagues for young players and semi professional players. Sport has been very much part of my life.

As I grow older, however, I increasingly question its value and effect. Comedian John Cleese, I suppose, puts my views well when he says: “I was always a sports nut but I've lost interest now in whether one bunch of mercenaries in north London is going to beat another bunch of mercenaries from west London”.

Lots of positive character traits here - all developed
with the help of sport.

In one sense this is not entirely new. I can vividly remember many years ago standing at swimming galas and watching parents get animated and overly excited as their child raced down the pool and then anxiously check their stop watches to see by how many hundredths of a second the race had been won or lost by. I couldn't then understand why a measurement so small that it cannot be measured by the human eye should be the decider between victory and defeat – why not call it  a draw I often thought? I still have that same feeling when I read of Olympic records being broken or great horse races decided only after  a photograph shows who got their horse’s head past the post first. But, that I suppose is the root of all sport – in the end it is about winners and losers.  It is what defines it – and this, I believe, is increasingly so. I once listened to the great broadcaster Alistair Cooke in his long running programme “Letter from America” suggest that the reason that cricket has never taken off in America is because  the American psyche does not sit comfortably with sharing honours – there has to be a winner and a loser. Cooke recalled that an American colleague confessed his incredulity that a game of English County cricket lasting three days (or in the case of a Test Match five days) could still end as a draw. He saw that as a complete waste of time! I presume the gentleman concerned would be more comfortable with what we are increasingly seeing today - the growth of a different kind of cricket with the limited over game or the 20/20 game where a win/lose result and instant gratification is the name of the game. But, to coin a phrase – it’s not cricket!

My concern, however, about sport today is not really about any of the points raised so far – but rather the way in which it has become such a dominant force in society. Its influence permeates society in so many ways – and, I believe, not all of them good. It has become a leviathan used to justify the spending of huge amounts of money, doubtful actions and justify human traits and behaviours that are to say the least dubious.  In short we have lost, it seems to me, the Olympian ideal of sport and forgotten that in the end it is simply a game, a recreation, a pastime – no more no less. It has become - to coin George Orwell’s oft quoted judgement of all sport “War without the shooting”.

A young fan developing those wonderful
positive sporting characteristics. We have to
teach sport in schools politicians tell us
 in order to these traits. Clearly this lad is an
 "A" student

These various issues have come to the fore in a variety of ways in recent days and months.

A few weeks ago we were on holiday in Spain. One evening the hotel’s large bar was taken over by German guests who all wanted to watch the European Cup Final between two German teams. As I stood at the bar waiting to order a couple of drinks one of the football fans demanded (and I use the word accurately) that the bar man get “more chairs” for the fans to sit on while they crowded around the TV screen. They had already taken all the tables and chairs to sit on so the bar was totally bereft of facilities for any other guests for the remainder of the evening. The fans were no problem except that they spoiled the evening for everyone else in the hotel who wished to use the bar to sit and enjoy a quiet drink – there were no chairs and the chatter and cheering from the football fans drowned any possibility of a quiet evening! The fact that they were German is irrelevant – it just happened to be two German teams involved – had it been two Italian or English or French or Spanish teams the result would have been the same. What was implicit in the situation was that football  took priority over other aspects of life.

I see this often in my work with the youth football league that I help to administer.  It is a sad fact that it is increasingly the case that people – players and team officials will cheat, lie and break any other rules (football, social or moral!)  in order to play football or “get a result”.  For example, we have to have very strict rules  - and equally strong punishments – to prevent young players simply telling lies about which teams they have played for, which club they are registered with or what their age is. I see grown men – become raging monsters if the referee gives a decision with which they disagree. Increasingly, it seems, to me football has become a drug which, like a hallucinogenic, changes the personality. We see this, of course, in the professional game both on the field of play and in the stadium. Highly paid stars “perform” and part of that performance is not to do with their footballing skills but to do with fooling the referee and gaining an unfair advantage over an opponent. Like very poor actors they play to the crowd with their goal celebrations or by feigning injury. And the crowd love it – baying back their approval or disapproval.  Sport, it seems, increasingly today justifies the bizarre and the dishonest. As I sadly move towards this conclusion I find myself agreeing more and more with Noam Chomsky when he said: “Sports plays a societal role in engendering jingoist and chauvinist attitudes. They're designed to organize a community to be committed to their gladiators”.

The home of a Premiership footballer
all paid for by the fans.

This sort of behaviour is not the preserve of football – we see it in other spheres. As Wimbledon begins we will see it on the courts – the twisted facial expressions, the disagreements with the referee, the “emotion” – and the crowd delight in it. Cricket, that game of sobriety, calmness and good manners has gone the same way.  To use the phrased “it’s not cricket” is now totally redundant – a saying from a bygone age. No longer do batsmen “walk” when they know that they are out – they wait to be dismissed by the umpire and then often challenge the decision.  We hear of the often obscene but always unpleasant and unsporting “sledging” that goes on from the fielders as they crowd around the batsman and try to put him off by their comments. And, the crowd, once silent, thoughtful and graceful is now a noisy rabble  and often fuelled with drink. Sadly my observations go across the spectrum – cyclists who are now a bye word for drug related problems, boxers who bite, rugby players who find themselves in drunken brawls. The list is endless. When I read a comment such as this by boxer Mike Tyson prior to one of his boxing bouts “I want to rip out his heart and feed it to Lennox Lewis. I want to kill people. I want to rip their stomachs out and eat their children”  I am more than a little concerned about the motives and justifications for sports.

For me the root of the problem is that sport has become too big and increasingly based upon the celebrity culture. Because of the potential rewards of victory – and by implication the losses of defeat – anything goes in order to secure the prize. It justifies the huge amounts of money invested in sport at every level. Whether it be Premiership football teams who have budgets and debts enough to equate to a small country or a small village club who, the chances are, will be hopelessly in debt and relying on the goodwill of a few local sponsors the result is the same - the sport drug will justify the debt and the mortgaging of the future. All in the name of sport.  Just as was said about the banks at the height of the financial crisis a year or two ago – sport is at every level is becoming  too big to be allowed to fail.

Brazilians asking why they can afford the
World Cup & the Olympics but not schools & hospitals

We have seen in the past week many thousands of people in Brazil suddenly begin to question the vast spending on the Olympics and the Football World Cup that their country is hosting. They are asking, not unreasonably, how can it be that we are spending all this money when we don’t have satisfactory hospitals and schools? Good question – but the answer is simple.............  “because it is sport”.  At the same time as the Brazil protests there was a smaller protest in London – by fans of Premiership football who were complaining – not unreasonably – about the cost of watching  a top game. Ordinary people, they said, could no longer afford to go along to support their team. Increasingly, the fans argued, seats are being sold and costs driven up because of hospitality packages and business use. The football clubs didn’t deny this. Sport of all kinds has become big business and the drug of the masses. My Guardian newspaper yesterday  had, out of a total of a total of fifty pages, nine that were devoted entirely to sport, plus two full pages devoted entirely to Wimbledon plus a half page photo on the front of the newspaper of the tennis player Rafael Nadal as he tumbled to defeat on the opening day. Overkill? – 20% plus of a newspaper that likes to think of itself as a “serious” paper was devoted to what is in the end a leisure pursuit, a pastime. Having looked at the previous few days - the pattern doesn't change much – indeed it increases at the weekend. Similarly this morning's Daily Telegraph – another allegedly serious newspaper - had a huge photo of of Roger Federer covering the top half of the front page. It was reporting the fact that he had been knocked out of Wimbledon. Maybe it is big news and many might be interested  - but is it quite so big as the important things of life? The media thrusts sport at us and convinces us that it is the most important thing in  the world. It doesn't end there. After last year’s Olympics in the UK we not only celebrated the fact that the UK did well in terms of the athletic performances and of staging the games but the media were soon telling us that things indirectly related to the event were of great "importance". The broadcaster Claire Baldwin who had been one of the main BBC broadcasters was suddenly being described by the media as a “national treasure”. After the Olympics she was awarded an OBE for her work. For me that seems a bit over the top - that someone receives one of the country's highest honours for simply telling us about the Olympics!!!!! And following from this what in many ways is the really sad part of so much sporting worship. In recent years we have seen so many sportsman lauded and praised only to discover a few years later or as a result of investigative journalism that they were not quite the superheroes we imagined – golfer Tiger Woods, jockey  Frankie Dettori, cyclist Lance Armstrong,  world class cricketers convicted of taking bribes, great Italian football stars and teams convicted of match fixing, Premiership footballers who become embroiled in night club fights when they should be at home tucked up in bed........and so the list goes on. As I said before, it’s not cricket and it’s not, to my mind, what sport is supposed to be about. It’s certainly not the Olympian ideal of sport.

Tom Finney as I remember him - training
in the back streets of Preston - a true
sportsman from an era when sport
instilled the right values 

In the end,  sport has become too big in the national and international consciousness. Not only is it commercially too big to fail  - the debts too great – but the media empires built upon it are  too vast.  Where, for example,  would SKY be without sport ? Sport is by far the biggest single reason that people use SKY TV and as a result each week choose to give Rupert Murdoch huge amounts of their hard earned cash! Youngsters see themselves as the next superstar celebrity – they live in the fantasyland of sport – and in far too many cases their parents promote that dream. In days gone by youngsters would see their favourite footballer walk down the street to the ground or catch the bus home after the match. Today the stars live in gated mansions away from their  fans  - and in any case the globalization of sport means that a club like Manchester United or Liverpool or Arsenal is no longer the preserve of its local fans it is global. Little boys in India worship the stars that turn out at Old Trafford – but those little boys will never go there or meet their heroes as I did as a child. When, as a child I saw arguably the greatest player ever to play for England, Tom Finney leave the Preston ground after each Saturday’s  game he walked down Deepdale Road like the rest of us. And we knew that on Monday morning, as well as fitting a  bit of training in he would be working at his plumbing business – he was known as the “Preston Plumber”. The point is that he was attainable – we little boys dreamed that we might be like him – not a superstar or a celebrity but someone who was just good at football and like us. In other words the whole thing was kept in perspective – the exact opposite to today where over the top behaviour, rewards, excess and “glory” is the promise that sport offers to its participants. The personalities, the life style and the perverted value system have become the important thing,  not the game.

Tom up a ladder in his day
job as a plumber - we could
all relate to it

 The globalisation of sport, the vast media bandwagon that promotes it, the indulgent life styles that the stars live, the excess and of course the rewards obtained beg the question is it worth it? Does it provide value for money? Does it make individuals or society a better place? Value for money is probably in the eye of the beholder. Would I pay £50 or £60 to watch a top game – no. But of course many people would.   Often I wonder what goes on in the human mind when a parent of limited means pays his money to go to the game with his son – knowing that the money which he can ill afford is going into the pockets of people who earn more in a week that he earns in two or three years? Russian oligarchs, Indian industrialists and Saudi princes many of whom have gained their vast wealth by dubious means in their home countries or by  the labours and poverty of their fellow countrymen buy Premiership clubs and ensure a champagne life style for the players and officials of clubs in exclusive areas  of London or Manchester. And no –one seems to question this, it is simply what happens – it is sport. Those football fans who were complaining in London last week about the cost of watching their favourite team have a simple solution - don't go to the game. Don't they ever stop to think of the utter stupidity of their situation? - they are being encouraged to spend money that they can't afford (and which they complain about) and this goes to vastly wealthy players and billionaire club owners like Roman Abramovich  which in turn further encourages the rising costs. The sporting drug, like all drugs has them hooked and they can't kick the habit.

Alistair Cooke

But above the economic value of sport there is something more important. 

Traditionally, in the UK at least, there is the notion that sport is somehow character building. Politicians frequently remind schools of the value of sport in the curriculum to encourage a healthy life style and to develop basic human attributes such as the will to win or the ability to accept defeat honourably or to understand that  everyone can’t be a winner. Indeed, much of this philosophy came from the Greek Olympian ideal and in its purest sense maybe has much to recommend it. In writing that I am reminded of the words of one of my favourite poems – “Vitai Lampada” by Henry Newbold.

Vitai Lampada
("They Pass On The Torch of Life")

There's a breathless hush in the Close to-night --
Ten to make and the match to win --
A bumping pitch and a blinding light,
An hour to play and the last man in.
And it's not for the sake of a ribboned coat,
Or the selfish hope of a season's fame,
But his Captain's hand on his shoulder smote --
'Play up! play up! and play the game!'

The sand of the desert is sodden red, --
Red with the wreck of a square that broke; --
The Gatling's jammed and the Colonel dead,
And the regiment blind with dust and smoke.
The river of death has brimmed his banks,
And England's far, and Honour a name,
But the voice of a schoolboy rallies the ranks:
'Play up! play up! and play the game!'

This is the word that year by year,
While in her place the School is set,
Every one of her sons must hear,
And none that hears it dare forget.
This they all with a joyful mind
Bear through life like a torch in flame,
And falling fling to the host behind --
'Play up! play up! and play the game!'

Sir Henry Newbolt (1862-1938)

Newbold’s poem spells out the Olympian ideal well. The boy at Rugby School going into bat. Last man in. The fielders gather around him -  a silent battle (no sledging from the fielders!) between batsman and the fielders as they try to take his wicket.  At all times he and they must “play the game” – play fair. It’s not about personal glory or fame it’s about doing a job that has to be done for his team and his school or club. It’s about following his captain’s orders, being disciplined and honourable, not losing his wicket, hanging in there for an hour so that the win might be gained or defeat avoided. And then the poem reminds us that these lessons learned on the sports field are transferable to life. The boy is now a young man in a battle. Everything is going wrong, the Colonel dead, the gun jammed but the young man has to again do his duty honourably, disciplined, hanging in to ensure victory and the safety of his comrades – “Play up! Play up! and play the game!”

Not at all like the cricket of
yesteryear 

Go to The Oval cricket ground in London - one of the great grounds of the world - and you will see the memorial to past Surrey players who fell in the Great War (1914-18). It has the inscription "They played the game". But, today, that seems, like Newbold’s poem, a bit twee and “cheesy”.  Today’s world is a long way from Newbold's - it's a place where media pundits are heralded as “national treasures", sportsman too often cheat, money rules the game, glory is dispensed like confetti upon the heads of sportsmen, teenage footballers happily tell lies about which clubs they are registered to in order to get onto the pitch and  kick a ball, where sporting organisations like the Olympic Committee and FIFA will demand from countries who wish to host these great events that monies raised for the organisation are tax free, or where the media devote huge amounts of time and money to promoting the dubious antics of stars and sport. It is a game that has lost its integrity and, too often, represents all that is wrong and shallow in the world.

I don’t disagree that sport can and does indeed develop a number of worthwhile attributes – the sorts of thing hinted at in Vitai Lampada . Billy Jean King famously commented that “Sports teaches you character, it teaches you to play by the rules, it teaches you to know what it feels like to win and lose-it teaches you about life”.  But I think it’s also true that as well as building character it also reveals it. And, if sport does indeed develop certain worthwhile traits, then might it not also develop and encourage others that are less worthwhile?  Sadly, that conclusion  is increasingly my experience – cheating, aggression, intimidation, a sense of failure for those who cannot match the best players.  The oft mentioned observation of many teachers – and one that I have experienced more times than I care to remember - is sadly true. Yes, sport in school is great for the winners – it reinforces their belief in themselves and maybe does all the things that Billy Jean King praises. Sadly, however,  most children are not sporting winners and they often increasingly learn that they are failures – the ones that never get picked for a team or who the better players don’t want in their team. That is not a reason for not doing sport  but it is a reason for keeping in perspective – it is a game no more no less and to start attributing all sorts of other qualities to it is both a nonsense and dangerous.

The All Blacks' Haka may be a bit of pre-match
fun but its purpose is to intimidate - a
wonderful personal characteristic

When Sir Alex Ferguson recently retired as Manchester United manager  he recalled that early in his career at Manchester United he had been concerned by his team’s less than satisfactory performances. By chance he had recently attended a concert and so he took the team to a concert. He pointed out to the players that everyone in the orchestra was vital – whatever their part, large or small, and that one missed or wrong note could ruin the whole performance. Everyone has to play their part, the whole is the result of the efforts of each individual and that each instrument  although different from its neighbour was vital in the whole piece. He was of course quite right – it was a good analogy. But it goes further and highlights the fact that sport is not the only way that people can learn important character building lessons. Learning an instrument or being part of an orchestra is an obvious example – it requires hard work, determination, diligence, awareness of the role of others, the overcoming of difficulties ....... in fact just the same qualities that Billy Jean King was hinting at! It is my belief that there are few pastimes or interests, if entered into with the enthusiasm and effort needed to succeed at sport, will not help in developing positive personal attributes. Becoming a ballet dancer, collecting stamps, becoming a mountaineer, becoming a gardener, becoming a good cook or a skilled carpenter, these and many others will require and develop worthwhile characteristics that are traditionally seen as the preserve of sport. Sport does not have a monopoly on positive personal development – in fact, it is increasingly my belief, that it encourages more negative attributes than many other occupations. I'm with American neurosurgeon and author Ben Carson when he famously said to University students: “Don't let anyone turn you into a slave. You're a slave if you let the media tell you that sports and entertainment are more important than developing your brain”.

Ben Carson

As I become older I too often reflect what, perhaps, has been lost. And I wonder if in today’s world sport really does pass on the sort of values and behaviours that we want for our children. My own feeling is that the answer to that is no and that overall we would be better without it. I find it very difficult to accept that sport today is the force for good in society that we popularly imagine. What I am absolutely certain about is that in the 21^st century it has become too big and too important in the national and individual psyche. As my daughter says “Football [and all other sports] is just 22 blokes running around a field chasing a bag of wind – and thinking that it is important”. There’s nothing wrong with the blokes chasing the bag of wind – in the end all sports and indeed most leisure pursuits are very individual choices.  To coin a phrase, “whatever turns you on!” But my daughter’s final comment “thinking that it is important” is not only true it is worrying.  So many people - including those who should know better - seem to think that sport is the only thing and so important that huge amounts of money, emotion, posturing, celebrity worship and the win at any cost mentality  must be invested in it in order that it should  dominate our lives and the lives of others - the opium of the masses. Just as it did at the hotel in Spain where most of the guests were denied their relaxation in the bar because of the demands of football fans! Sport and its promotion in the media has become a justification for unacceptable behaviour and the assumption that it is the most important thing in the world. It isn't – it’s a game, no more and no less – and to add to it all sorts of alleged attributes and worthwhile characteristics is a nonsense. It is equally as likely (especially in the modern money driven sporting world) to reinforce and generate aggression, dishonesty, cheating, willingness to go into debt, a sense of failure and other negative characteristics as it is the promote other more worthwhile traits. Benjamin Carson was right when he wrote: “If we would spend on education half the amount of money that we currently lavish on sports we could provide complete and free education for every student in this country.”  Carson was speaking as an American  but his comment rings equally true of the UK, and I suspect to the people of Brazil. There are things of importance and value upon which to spend money and to devote media coverage - sadly, the sportsmen, sporting event and the culture of modern sport are n ot amongst these.