A nice piece in today’s Age by Waleed Aly.
By playing sport we inevitably corrupt it. Like the rest of life.
And what a contaminated soul it presently appears. Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer has just been murdered after his team’s diabolical World Cup loss to Ireland. Precisely why is uncertain, but most suspect a connection with sports gambling, just as they did when Colombian soccer player Andres Escobar was shot repeatedly after having conceded a decisive own goal in the 1994 World Cup. Meanwhile, several AFL footballers have been shamed for gambling transgressions of their own, and it has emerged that a quarter of the West Coast Eagles list has used illicit drugs. Ben Cousins, one of the league’s most glamorous and talented stars needs Hollywood-style rehabilitation. And now, even the axiomatically spotless Ian Thorpe stands suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs. These are dark days indeed. No longer is the sporting conversation dominated by form slumps and hamstrings but drug use and murder.
But we go on believing, probably because we must. In sport like life, hope dies last.
4 responses so far ↓
Five // Apr 3, 2007 at 11:13 am
Beautiful post Phil.
Yes, hope it what keeps you going.
Shaun // Apr 3, 2007 at 11:17 pm
Good find, Phil.
I liked this line “That it tells our stories. It is no more crooked or virtuous than those who play it.”
How people approach amatuer sports is very revealing about their lives. See it every year in 7th grade cricket.
Phil // Apr 4, 2007 at 9:02 am
And tennis parents.
And lets not talk about soccer hooligans, what the heck is that all about? I enjoy my sport, killing someone or destroying property is’nt a part of that enjoyment.
……..or having to wonder if a performance is believable.
Five // Apr 4, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Goddarnit, I meant ‘hope is what keeps you going’ not ‘hope it what keeps you going’.
Swimming parents seem rather like tennis parents – any bad parents near a kids’ sporting field really. It’s supposed to be fun, but the stakes are so high these days. Maybe it’s professionalism that’s to blame, but I guess sport has always been sponsored, one way or another.
Still, while money explains Woolmer’s death (it would appear at this stage), it doesn’t explain soccer hooligans.