why are we so **** at sport

Mark

I think my dislike of rugby might also be because of how seriously it is taken here.

The old news media adage is that "if it bleeds - it leads". Well, issues such as who will coach the All Blacks, which All Black is in court for assault, which All Black is not being picked this time around, are all quite capable of leading less "important" news in NZ.

Why crap at sport?

Perhaps you could develop this to so many areas of our way of life.

Since being a child growing up in the Seventies, it is clear there has been a (largely government fueled) desire to create equality. Whether in schools/education, consumer rights, household income, discrimination and so on.

Now many of these are clearly a good thing. However, over time, it is clear and apparent that it is far easier to the lower the bar of recognised achievement in all these areas such that greater numbers 'achieve', than it is to keep the bar at a recognisably high level whereby possibly fewer achieve but to a greater extent. It seems there is less room, or even perhaps desire, to be smarter or more successful than others, that is not allowed.

So whether it's youngsters playing sport, exam grades or the tunes on your Ipod, it's all about quantity as opposed to quality. So much easier to report that 469% of pupils now get A+ grades or better, than that most people leaving school couldn't tell you what is 40% of 50. Let alone know what a Gas bill is.

It's reached a point that 'pulling on the England shirt' is enough and that's it. Having an A grade in your GCSE is great until you realise it's largely because you'd studied 87 very similar questions prior to the test and that in the real world this is of little value (confirmed by a selection of kids being given '80's era O'level papers and largely failing abysmaly). Someone losing £25 quid in a scam whereby they sent off £25 to someone who advertised they could show you how to make lots of money, is not a gullible idiot who may learn an easy lesson as a result, but a victim who should be protected and allowed to continue to be a tit.

We're crap at sport because when it comes down to it 'we ain't bovvered'.

Posted by Deane F:

"What's so important about your national teams being the best? I mean, there are a lot of countries in the world and you guys are just one of them. So why is it a sign of failure when you don't happen to be the best?"

Easily the wisest words yet spoken. The sooner England and the media realise this the better. If they don't win the World Cup then the team are branded a failure. Incredible. Strikes me, as a Scotsman, that England are just having a bad patch. C'est la vie.

However, England are notoriously bad losers.

E.g: Scotland v England game

Outcome 1:
Scotland Win
Reaction: England Fans Miserable & Moaning, Scots Drunk & Happy

Outcome 2:
England Win
Reaction: England Fans Momentarily Satisfied, Scots Drunk & Happy

aussies have a slight edge? dont make me larf - anyone can see they are light years better than us!! we are heading for a whitewash mark my words. infact i bet u cant get odds on that happening not after this 1st test joke by england.

jeeezzz, just when you think they could pull something out of the bag ( 2nd test) they go and embarass us yet again. just send them home NOW for a public flogging! RETAIN THE ASHES MY ARSE.

quote:

Originally posted by scottyhammer:
RETAIN THE ASHES MY ARSE.

Scotty. See my last ashes post!

The proliferation of these must play a part;

regards
Richard S

Nowadays some old fart reports kids for playing football in the street and they end up with an asbo not an England place.

The notion that we are 'crap at sport' is, I suggest, based upon the perception of the amount of success achieved in those sports (soccer, cricket, rugger, golf etc) that receive the most media coverage. Look a little deeper at those 'minority' sports that get an hour's TV once every 4 years during Olympic coverage, or a condescending mention on BBC SPOTY and you will find many world champions who have achieved success without consequent financial reward and yet continue in their chosen sport for the love of it. It's a pity that only the mega-earners get 95% of the media exposure. Perhaps it's also a sign of the times, the "I'll only do it to be rich and famous' syndrome so adored by the 'X Factor' generation.

point taken reg BUT we are talking national sports here and to be quite frank most of the time we are f*****g shit at them.
the cricket team are a bloody disgrace.!

Perhaps we have just chosen our 'national sports' unwisely. Get Murdoch behind cycling, archery, sailing. National pride would floweth over.

At one time (approx 10 years ago)there were more indoor tennis courts in Stockholm than in the whole of the UK.

says it all really

May be of interest:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/olympics_2012/6217388.stm

2 out of 3 of those minority sports are the preserve of toffs. That's about all we are good at. Sports played by the leisured classes. Didn't our croquet team beat someone 12-0 earlier this week?

Croquet is played at many levels

MacRobertson Shield Final Results
GB 15 - 6 NZ
USA 7 - 14 Aus
GB 19 - 2 USA
NZ 10 - 11 Aus
GB 19 - 2 Aus
USA 13 - 8 NZ


GB retain the Macrobertson Shield

quote:

Originally posted by bob mccluckie:
2 out of 3 of those minority sports are the preserve of toffs. That's about all we are good at. Sports played by the leisured classes. Didn't our croquet team beat someone 12-0 earlier this week?

Why are the British so dismissive of sporting success which does not emanate from one of the 'national' sports? Inverted snobbery? Embarrassment?
And I wonder how many of those 'toffs' have hi-fi as 'posh' as many on here?

I can't get excited about sports that have a few hundred participants, maybe thousands if they're lucky. It stands to reason that it isn't that hard to be successful in sports that acknowledge they are of minority interest.

When you were a teacher, Bob, did you give as much encouragement and respect to those pupils with a passion for the less mundane as to those who went with the flow?

The reason English teams seem so crap to you is that for some reason you expect them to be the best in the world. Why should they? In some ways having won the world cup once is a bit of a curse for you. Now you expect to win it every time.

Being Scottish I have no such problem. I enjoy it when we play well and don't get too pissed off if we lose. I think I probably have more fun, even though England has better football and rugby teams.

Anyway, as someone pointed out, you won the last Rugby World Cup and the Ashes last year. WTF's the problem?

David

Of course I did. I also told them that being world champ at tiddlywinks wasn't worth anything compared to world champ at soccer. Comprendez?

You must have been really hacked off with the 6 tiddlywink champions you nurtured who persistently hammered the school footy team at cricket

quote:

Originally posted by bob mccluckie:
I can't get excited about sports that have a few hundred participants, maybe thousands if they're lucky. It stands to reason that it isn't that hard to be successful in sports that acknowledge they are of minority interest.

Maybe we should make a distinction between numbers of participants and numbers of spectators. I bet there are more people sailing in this country, than there are playing rugby for example, but of course, watching sailing can be like watching grass grow sometimes. And it's certainly not a sport for toffs - that's an old perception these days. And it's pretty difficult to be successful at it internationally.
Let's hear it for British success in 'minority sports'

quote:

Originally posted by Nero:

quote:

Originally posted by bob mccluckie:
I can't get excited about sports that have a few hundred participants, maybe thousands if they're lucky. It stands to reason that it isn't that hard to be successful in sports that acknowledge they are of minority interest.

Maybe we should make a distinction between numbers of participants and numbers of spectators. I bet there are more people sailing in this country, than there are playing rugby for example, but of course, watching sailing can be like watching grass grow sometimes. And it's certainly not a sport for toffs - that's an old perception these days. And it's pretty difficult to be successful at it internationally.
Let's hear it for British success in 'minority sports'

Quite. But Bob inter alia appears to denigrate sporting excellence unless the particular sphere in question has a (numerically-yet-to-be-defined) broad participant/spectator/media coverage base.