MORE AUSSIE BASHING
OK, now I'm getting serious.
A couple of weeks ago, when NZ won the hosting rights to the Rugby World Cup in 2011, it emerged that our supposed close friends had voted for Japan. From a nation that bowls underarm to win a cricket game, we shouldn't be surprised.
This week comes the news that AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) are now getting picky about who they invite (from foreign shores) to their world-class facilities. Seems that with the results in Australian sport this year, they've had enough of sharing their knowledge and expertise with others and the attitude now is "unless you've got something to offer us in return, don't come knocking on our door".
Fair enough, you might say. But sport is not war. Sports stay strong through meaningful competition (look at the upsurge in interest in cricket this year in the UK when somebody actually competed with the Aussies for a change). Sports develop and globally grow through both the strong nations keeping strong, and the developing nations having a chance to also progress, and neither aim should be compromised at the expense of the other.
A little history lesson for any Australian readers. Back in the 1970's (and earlier), the Australian rugby team were about at the level of say a Fiji today and when they visited our shores they earned nicknames such as "the awful aussies" and "the woeful wallabies". At the time, the NZ public wondered why we should even bother playing them, but do our duty we did, and handed out regular 40 point thrashings. But in addition to playing them, representative teams also started regular trans-tasman matches, and the rise in competitiveness of Australian rugby is in part due to the regular contact they had with NZ teams both at a national and provincial level. In other words, they learnt off us, and good on them, for some of the recent Bledisloe Cup matches have been great sporting spectacles.
New Zealand entered test cricket in 1930. Apart from one match in 1946, the Australians refused to play us at test level until the 1970's, because they considered us a bit of a joke.
Note the difference in attitudes? Any wonder why rugby is suddenly becoming a global sport while cricket is still played by a handful of countries?
Selfishness in sport has no place. Of course winning is important, and at the highest level, almost the only thing that counts BUT ...
not at the expense of some of the ideals that sport embraces. Sport has given me great friendships, amazing experiences and has probably made me a better person. That is what is important. For the Aussies to suddenly close shop after a bit of a lean trot in results is sad and in some ways shows how dependent their culture is on sporting success. Unfortunately no-one, not even the Aussies, will benefit from their shift in attitude.
If you want further proof about how desperate Australians are to celebrate sporting success to make themselves feel good, this from today's paper:
"The diggers went to work at Telstra Stadium this week. Their target? The penalty spot from which John Aloisi placed the ball seconds before smacking home the winner against Uruguay... to find the last qualifier for next year's World Cup. The grassy souvenir will join Phar Lap's heart and Don Bradman's batting pads as the latest Australian sporting artefact."
So, qualifying for the top 32 in a soccer tournament ranks right up with Australian's greatest racehorse (we'll ignore the fact it was born in NZ) and cricketer. Yep, these sure are desperate times. Gawd help the cricketers if they too lose to the Kiwis this week.
A couple of weeks ago, when NZ won the hosting rights to the Rugby World Cup in 2011, it emerged that our supposed close friends had voted for Japan. From a nation that bowls underarm to win a cricket game, we shouldn't be surprised.
This week comes the news that AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) are now getting picky about who they invite (from foreign shores) to their world-class facilities. Seems that with the results in Australian sport this year, they've had enough of sharing their knowledge and expertise with others and the attitude now is "unless you've got something to offer us in return, don't come knocking on our door".
Fair enough, you might say. But sport is not war. Sports stay strong through meaningful competition (look at the upsurge in interest in cricket this year in the UK when somebody actually competed with the Aussies for a change). Sports develop and globally grow through both the strong nations keeping strong, and the developing nations having a chance to also progress, and neither aim should be compromised at the expense of the other.
A little history lesson for any Australian readers. Back in the 1970's (and earlier), the Australian rugby team were about at the level of say a Fiji today and when they visited our shores they earned nicknames such as "the awful aussies" and "the woeful wallabies". At the time, the NZ public wondered why we should even bother playing them, but do our duty we did, and handed out regular 40 point thrashings. But in addition to playing them, representative teams also started regular trans-tasman matches, and the rise in competitiveness of Australian rugby is in part due to the regular contact they had with NZ teams both at a national and provincial level. In other words, they learnt off us, and good on them, for some of the recent Bledisloe Cup matches have been great sporting spectacles.
New Zealand entered test cricket in 1930. Apart from one match in 1946, the Australians refused to play us at test level until the 1970's, because they considered us a bit of a joke.
Note the difference in attitudes? Any wonder why rugby is suddenly becoming a global sport while cricket is still played by a handful of countries?
Selfishness in sport has no place. Of course winning is important, and at the highest level, almost the only thing that counts BUT ...
not at the expense of some of the ideals that sport embraces. Sport has given me great friendships, amazing experiences and has probably made me a better person. That is what is important. For the Aussies to suddenly close shop after a bit of a lean trot in results is sad and in some ways shows how dependent their culture is on sporting success. Unfortunately no-one, not even the Aussies, will benefit from their shift in attitude.
If you want further proof about how desperate Australians are to celebrate sporting success to make themselves feel good, this from today's paper:
"The diggers went to work at Telstra Stadium this week. Their target? The penalty spot from which John Aloisi placed the ball seconds before smacking home the winner against Uruguay... to find the last qualifier for next year's World Cup. The grassy souvenir will join Phar Lap's heart and Don Bradman's batting pads as the latest Australian sporting artefact."
So, qualifying for the top 32 in a soccer tournament ranks right up with Australian's greatest racehorse (we'll ignore the fact it was born in NZ) and cricketer. Yep, these sure are desperate times. Gawd help the cricketers if they too lose to the Kiwis this week.
posted by Rob Crawford at 1:12 PM
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