Sportsmanship and the World Cup

Quote

“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I'm very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that."

Bill Shankly, manager of Liverpool Football Club 1959-74.

"Unfashionable as the word may sound, sportsmanship underpins everything good and worthwhile about our national game."  Prince William, 2010

News

The World Cup tournament has brought 736 players and 373,000 fans to South Africa; each match is being watched by over 100 million people worldwide, and staging the tournament has cost the host nation $8.6 billion.  At the last world cup in 2006, FIFA made $1.8 billion profit from media and commercial licences - more than South Africa is likely to make from the whole games.  While the "beautiful game" is bringing both profits and pleasure to many people around the world, an alternative set of statistics indicate the price that others are having to pay.

The cities hosting matches have been "cleaning up" ahead of the tournament - not primarily litter, but homeless people, street children and beggars.  In Johannesburg alone, 15,000 people have been swept off the streets into temporary shelters out of town. Thousands of informal traders have been evicted from their normal pitches, with only a few allowed to sell near the stadiums, where they must compete with fast-food chains.  Event organisers estimated that up to 40,000 prostitutes were being recruited into South Africa for the games - many lured by traffickers.  

Perhaps the most challenging relational issue surrounding the World Cup is the way the commercialisation of sport generally has been at the expense of sportsmanship - the conduct and attitude of fair play, courtesy,and grace in losing.  Football has the power to build relationships between people and nations with little else in common, but can also expose the worst in people - among players and fans alike. 

When the highest levels of sport are played more for money than for the joy of the game, then society is the poorer for it.

Read on...

A remarkable example of sport helping to build relationships across the deep divide of war was the 1914 Christmas truce in France, during which British and German infantrymen exchanged gifts, greetings and even played football together.  Stories from this are inspirational; you can read some of them here: http://www.christmastruce.co.uk/article.html#match

Walk the talk

A sportsmanlike attitude is one which we all do well to cultivate.  Competitive moments arise in many relationships and circumstances; the next time someone does better than you, take the opportunity to demonstrate a gracious and cheerful attitude to losing.

The last word

From the Bible, Philippians 2 verse 3: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves."

A response from South Africa:

In place of our normal Friday Five, here is a different point of view about the relational impact of the World Cup on South Africa, which I wrote about last week.  It comes someone working with Heartlines, an organisation using a variety of media to encourage South Africans to talk about values (www.heartlines.co.za).  We're more than glad when Friday Five gets people discussing issues and responding, which is why I'm sharing this email: 

"We are experiencing an amazingly positive nation-building experience, as evidenced by the power point (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJj2qCuq-q4) that went viral last week once the South African team was kicked out. This is one of the first times that South Africa is feeling a sense of being a nation, having one thing in common – the World Cup.

"I can’t explain adequately how positive it is feeling here, with total strangers (including South Africans) striking up conversations and people going into areas and being hosted in areas that they have never been in before. We have struggled with a sense of feeling like one nation. This event is helping us to feel as one. Our tourist visitors have been remarking on the spirit in this country, our hospitality, friendliness and sense of humanity.

"I know that there are very negative aspects as well from this World Cup, but you probably haven’t heard of all the church initiatives, such as urban camping in the areas where there is high prostitute activity.

You also probably haven’t heard about the high police activity in stopping the prostitution and crime and 52 courts that have been set up to deal with crime expediently - something we hope will continue after the world cup ends.

You probably also haven’t heard that there has been almost no crime in all of the events which is really quite a miracle, given the high crime rates that we live with on daily basis. This is remarkable!

"I felt I needed to give you a perspective from someone who resides in the nation you are writing about and to potentially point out that the British press does not always capture the positive, relationship-building side of what is happening here in our nation right now. I am not negating the negatives, but we so needed to see some hope and commonality at this time!

Warm regards,

Annie McWalter"