Bugger
At times you wonder if there’s a higher power scripting sport. Of course the most competitive America’s Cup match in recent times has to be decided by a 1 second margin in what turned out to be the final race. That final puff of wind to appear out of nowhere to give the dead-in-the-water Kiwis one final sliver of hope, only to be dashed by a bad wave, proves to me not only is there a supreme being at work, but he (or she) has a nasty streak that almost matches mine.
As always, I’ll be watching the reaction to come out in the wash to this latest Kiwi sporting performance. Most of us will reflect on an honourable effort in defeat and I suspect there will be not much criticism of Team NZ, especially given the debacle four years ago when we lost the Cup.
But the cold hard fact is we lost. We came second. It always intrigues me the NZ public’s reaction to our efforts in the global sporting village and a lot of it comes down to prior expectation versus actual result. Which to me is inconsistent with what our Government through SPARC says our sporting philosophy should be – that winners are grinners and if you come second (or third, fourth etc), take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror and consider a change in vocation to macramé or origami.
I hesitate to hark back to the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, but when Chantal Brunner gets pipped for a medal by 1 cm in the Women’s Long Jump or Paul Hamblyn (who?) misses out on a medal by 0.05 seconds in the 1500m, our Heineken-loving Sports Minister questions their mental toughness. Yet when we lose a yacht race by 1 second, it’s “hard luck chaps, great effort and here’s $10 million of taxpayer’s money for the next one”.
Yes, this is another dig at SPARC and their philosophy they have foisted on sporting organisations in this country. Of course the NZ effort in the America’s Cup proves there is such a thing as honour in defeat, you can finish somewhere other than first and be considered "successful", and our high performance sporting people should be funded accordingly. That we can give $10 million to the next America’s Cup campaign a nanosecond after FAILING to win it a few days after NZ Hockey miss out on $270,000 funding because of conceding a golden goal in overtime shows to me those controlling the purse strings for sport in this country still don’t have a fkg clue.
As always, I’ll be watching the reaction to come out in the wash to this latest Kiwi sporting performance. Most of us will reflect on an honourable effort in defeat and I suspect there will be not much criticism of Team NZ, especially given the debacle four years ago when we lost the Cup.
But the cold hard fact is we lost. We came second. It always intrigues me the NZ public’s reaction to our efforts in the global sporting village and a lot of it comes down to prior expectation versus actual result. Which to me is inconsistent with what our Government through SPARC says our sporting philosophy should be – that winners are grinners and if you come second (or third, fourth etc), take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror and consider a change in vocation to macramé or origami.
I hesitate to hark back to the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, but when Chantal Brunner gets pipped for a medal by 1 cm in the Women’s Long Jump or Paul Hamblyn (who?) misses out on a medal by 0.05 seconds in the 1500m, our Heineken-loving Sports Minister questions their mental toughness. Yet when we lose a yacht race by 1 second, it’s “hard luck chaps, great effort and here’s $10 million of taxpayer’s money for the next one”.
Yes, this is another dig at SPARC and their philosophy they have foisted on sporting organisations in this country. Of course the NZ effort in the America’s Cup proves there is such a thing as honour in defeat, you can finish somewhere other than first and be considered "successful", and our high performance sporting people should be funded accordingly. That we can give $10 million to the next America’s Cup campaign a nanosecond after FAILING to win it a few days after NZ Hockey miss out on $270,000 funding because of conceding a golden goal in overtime shows to me those controlling the purse strings for sport in this country still don’t have a fkg clue.
posted by Rob Crawford at 10:24 AM
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