So, at the risk of swimming against the tide (sporting analogies are almost inevitable in a debate like this), there is one big question. Who thinks there is a danger in people looking through rose tinted spectacles and seeing only what is good about the Olympics and, conversely, only seeing what is bad about football?
Not that football doesn’t provide a rich palette of subject material…
We have just experienced one of the most exciting Premiership seasons in modern memory. We had the lows with the Suarez/Terry race scandals. We had Joey Barton (not that we really wanted him!). But then there were the highs; an inferior and ageing Chelsea side dispatching both Barcelona and Bayern Munich to improbably lift the Champions League trophy. And, lest we forget, there was the minor event of Manchester City winning the Premiership (on goal difference) with the very last kick of the season.
The Olympics? Where to begin? Mo Farah, Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins, the Cycling team in general really, Jessica Ennis, the Boxing team, Michael Phelps, James Bond and the Queen. What’s not to like, right? But it turns out the Olympics has it’s villains too. The Badminton disqualifications, Victoria Pendleton being shoved off the track and subsequently losing out on a gold medal. The Kenyans and Ethiopians running in packs, pushing and shoving during the 10,000 and 5,000 meter runs. The judges voting in favour of Anthony Joshua despite the fact his Italian opponent was clearly the superior fighter.
Now, it could be argued that the Kenyan and Ethiopian runners were merely demonstrating good team-work. But, could this theory not also be applied to a footballer who throws himself to the ground in order to win a penalty for his team? In truth, although there is a lot to be said about 'Olympic spirit' in the way the games were played, the difference between football and the Olympics has been in ourselves, the media and our reaction to it. Because apart from the empty seats scandal, and the G4S Security debacle, everything bad about the Olympics was ignored.
When the England national team returned home from Euro 2012 having lost against Italy in the quarter-finals they were yet again seen as a bunch of over-paid failures. By contrast, Rebecca Adlington, in fact our entire swimming effort, was said to have ‘under-performed’ but where was the inquest? They were greeted with open arms at the closing ceremony, which, however you look at it, has to have been a glorious celebration of failure given the ratio of medals awarded versus athletes competing. Was this because they ‘tried hard’? If this was the case, then what are we saying about our footballers? I think we can safely reflect that most of the highest profile players (the ones we hate the most) have worked extremely hard and made extraordinary life sacrifices to get where they are.
So where does this leave us? There are real lessons to learned here. Apart from Andy Carroll having a few less drinks, Terry staying away from racially motivated discussions and, of course, other men’s wives, Rooney courting fewer older women and players in general treating referees with more respect, the problem is not among the athletes. It is in us and the way we see ourselves.
The Olympic spirit is how the country wants to see itself in an ideal world and its up to us to take this forward into the rest of the year. If we are just going to revert back into the same old ‘resentful zombies’ commuting in on the 7.20 from Bromley then the entire experience has been in vain.
If we can hold on to this then maybe, just maybe, football might follow suit and begin to reflect the optimism generated by this world-class experience.
Posted by Idealogy
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