We who read newspaper articles are familiar with the benefits of exercise: that in sensible quantities it protects the body against deterioration and that because of the production of endorphins it makes us feel good too. Whereas say, sitting in an armchair and watching five days continuous Test Match cricket will invariably lead to physical flabbiness, mental decline and spiritual death. Especially if England lose.
But what of the function of sport in the body politic? How real are the effects of sporting triumph or failure on the wider motivations of a state’s population? What does it add or subtract to the way Britain goes to work?
The Pakistan team won the T20/20 trophy, to the surprise of most, and the enjoyment of many. The England women’s team won their comparable but less-publicised tournament, and have thus secured themselves an invitation to 10 Downing Street. Lucky them. What’s certain is that the politicians are getting quicker and quicker to exploit any sporting success for their own ends. I’m sure the women will really enjoy meeting Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson, though goodness knows what they’ll talk about. Supply your own dreadful jokes about bowling maidens over if you must. Nevertheless, while Charlotte Edwards, their charming and talented captain had already secured a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, I wonder if the rest of her team-mates will now be similarly rewarded? I suspect not, which will be a regrettable indication of the continuing gender bias in the British establishment, sporting or otherwise. The women’s team are good to watch, and I mean that purely from a playing point of view. Although of course…not only that. Oh bother, I mean…
What tangles men can get into writing about women’s sport. Perhaps that’s why they don’t do it. Which doesn’t explain why the women sports journalists neglect the subject. Ah, but then there aren’t any women sports journalists, are there? Well, not many.
We in Britain are very lucky, able to flit from flower to sporting flower depending on the degree of success achieved in any of many possible fields. This week we hang on Andy Murray’s drop-shot, as we contemplate the once in a century prospect of a Wimbledon champion in the making. Simultaneously, we have an excellent U21 soccer team, who appear perhaps to have the beating of Europe. Our gallant swimmers are about to be done out of medals at the European event by the machinations of international bodies and swimsuit manufacturers, while Jensen Button leads the field in Formula 1 motor-racing (if you count that a sport!). All these things compensate for the fact that the Lions rugby team have been beaten in the first match against the Springboks (the only one they were likely to win because of the altitude at which the other two will be played). And cricket is somewhere in the mix too. In a fortnight there’ll be high excitement as we anticipate the Ashes series against Australia, but if the English team fail, it will be no more than many if not most expect. We British have so many sports to follow, that at any given moment some of our competitors are always being humiliated somewhere in the world. It takes a really special win to get us going. Students of sexual politics please note the gender of the examples quoted. So are we really talking only about the feelings of 49% of the population?
As with Afghanistan back in April, this T20/20 win really should mean something for the Pakistanis. The past five years have been traumatic for the sport there. Indeed, the rest of the cricketing world has tended to view them with suspicion for the past two decades. Ever since, in fact, they started to get good at the game in international terms. They can never get on with each other, they’re temperamental, they cheat, they probably throw matches, they have a chip on their shoulder, their umpires are biased – all these things have been hinted at, or said openly worldwide, and particularly by those whose skin is white. And to top it all, a white cricket coach beloved of both English and South African fans, died in tragic and slightly mysterious circumstances whilst in charge of the side. And when we in England talk loosely of cricket as a national game, we have to remember that for the Pakistanis, it really is.
They have, and always have had wonderfully talented players. Once again, from this lot, I’ll single out Shahid Afridi. On his day (and there were at least three of them in this competition) he’s a devastatingly destructive batsman and to add to that he’s an almost unique bowler too. The Dutch capitulated, having never seen anything like him before, and although his method is well-known by the other playing countries, no one handles him well. His stock ball is the leg-spinner, which turns away from the right handed batsman, not sharply, but just enough. It comes from a considerable height and it’s never delivered exactly slowly, but is varied by balls which with no obvious change of action may come at the batsman much, much quicker than any other bowler of his type I’ve ever seen.
In the Times this week Michael Atherton remarked how radical Islam dislikes sport: like the arts and fashion it’s seen as distracting from the job of obedience to Allah. Islam means ‘submission’ after all, and it’s possible to read that as the laying down of all rights to human pleasure in the service of the Almighty. Christians too, are sometimes polarised in their understanding of the value of these gifts. Are they part of God’s creation, to be enjoyed and fulfilled? Or the Devil’s work, to be abhorred. In my experience the clergy will frequently call upon us to sacrifice what we most love. The less body chemistry that’s going on, the more they’ll be happy.
One can only hope that this win gives consolation and encouragement to the mass of Pakistan’s people to resist their would-be oppressors. Even given the current economic diffculties in the UK, they probably need the endorphins more than we do.
But what of the function of sport in the body politic? How real are the effects of sporting triumph or failure on the wider motivations of a state’s population? What does it add or subtract to the way Britain goes to work?
The Pakistan team won the T20/20 trophy, to the surprise of most, and the enjoyment of many. The England women’s team won their comparable but less-publicised tournament, and have thus secured themselves an invitation to 10 Downing Street. Lucky them. What’s certain is that the politicians are getting quicker and quicker to exploit any sporting success for their own ends. I’m sure the women will really enjoy meeting Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson, though goodness knows what they’ll talk about. Supply your own dreadful jokes about bowling maidens over if you must. Nevertheless, while Charlotte Edwards, their charming and talented captain had already secured a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, I wonder if the rest of her team-mates will now be similarly rewarded? I suspect not, which will be a regrettable indication of the continuing gender bias in the British establishment, sporting or otherwise. The women’s team are good to watch, and I mean that purely from a playing point of view. Although of course…not only that. Oh bother, I mean…
What tangles men can get into writing about women’s sport. Perhaps that’s why they don’t do it. Which doesn’t explain why the women sports journalists neglect the subject. Ah, but then there aren’t any women sports journalists, are there? Well, not many.
We in Britain are very lucky, able to flit from flower to sporting flower depending on the degree of success achieved in any of many possible fields. This week we hang on Andy Murray’s drop-shot, as we contemplate the once in a century prospect of a Wimbledon champion in the making. Simultaneously, we have an excellent U21 soccer team, who appear perhaps to have the beating of Europe. Our gallant swimmers are about to be done out of medals at the European event by the machinations of international bodies and swimsuit manufacturers, while Jensen Button leads the field in Formula 1 motor-racing (if you count that a sport!). All these things compensate for the fact that the Lions rugby team have been beaten in the first match against the Springboks (the only one they were likely to win because of the altitude at which the other two will be played). And cricket is somewhere in the mix too. In a fortnight there’ll be high excitement as we anticipate the Ashes series against Australia, but if the English team fail, it will be no more than many if not most expect. We British have so many sports to follow, that at any given moment some of our competitors are always being humiliated somewhere in the world. It takes a really special win to get us going. Students of sexual politics please note the gender of the examples quoted. So are we really talking only about the feelings of 49% of the population?
As with Afghanistan back in April, this T20/20 win really should mean something for the Pakistanis. The past five years have been traumatic for the sport there. Indeed, the rest of the cricketing world has tended to view them with suspicion for the past two decades. Ever since, in fact, they started to get good at the game in international terms. They can never get on with each other, they’re temperamental, they cheat, they probably throw matches, they have a chip on their shoulder, their umpires are biased – all these things have been hinted at, or said openly worldwide, and particularly by those whose skin is white. And to top it all, a white cricket coach beloved of both English and South African fans, died in tragic and slightly mysterious circumstances whilst in charge of the side. And when we in England talk loosely of cricket as a national game, we have to remember that for the Pakistanis, it really is.
They have, and always have had wonderfully talented players. Once again, from this lot, I’ll single out Shahid Afridi. On his day (and there were at least three of them in this competition) he’s a devastatingly destructive batsman and to add to that he’s an almost unique bowler too. The Dutch capitulated, having never seen anything like him before, and although his method is well-known by the other playing countries, no one handles him well. His stock ball is the leg-spinner, which turns away from the right handed batsman, not sharply, but just enough. It comes from a considerable height and it’s never delivered exactly slowly, but is varied by balls which with no obvious change of action may come at the batsman much, much quicker than any other bowler of his type I’ve ever seen.
In the Times this week Michael Atherton remarked how radical Islam dislikes sport: like the arts and fashion it’s seen as distracting from the job of obedience to Allah. Islam means ‘submission’ after all, and it’s possible to read that as the laying down of all rights to human pleasure in the service of the Almighty. Christians too, are sometimes polarised in their understanding of the value of these gifts. Are they part of God’s creation, to be enjoyed and fulfilled? Or the Devil’s work, to be abhorred. In my experience the clergy will frequently call upon us to sacrifice what we most love. The less body chemistry that’s going on, the more they’ll be happy.
One can only hope that this win gives consolation and encouragement to the mass of Pakistan’s people to resist their would-be oppressors. Even given the current economic diffculties in the UK, they probably need the endorphins more than we do.
