Why winning isn’t everything
20 Feb 2013
MARK KEOHANE, in his Business Day Sport Monthly column, says we live in a miracle country and it’s time we started appreciating the miracle of sport.
Sport is entertainment and it is also about effort. A fixation with just the result is going to lead to a lot of heartache.
It wasn’t that long ago when South Africa wasn’t allowed to compete internationally. Familiarity breeds contempt and irrationally so.
Feel good about the joy of indulging in the performance of South Africans, who are among the best ever produced in their respective codes.
We put huge pressure on our performers to produce every time, but the fans and the media have as much of a responsibility in their performance post match.
We also need to grow up and show some perspective to the effort of the individual or team and give credit to the quality of the opposition. There are times when they just are better and they actually win and we actually lose.
For those who are inspired to live in this country only when South Africa wins, take some responsibility for your own emotions. Similarly, don’t blame a poor SA performance for your depression. No player is losing deliberately and no national player should be subjected to the hate and vitriol published on Twitter.
It sickens me that people can actually feel a justification in the abuse and believe they are owed something by the player and that the player has a responsibility to ensure their happiness. The abuse is disgusting and can never be justified. There is so much to applaud and there is a generation of South African performer that is the best ever produced in this country. What a privilege it is to watch them at their peak.
Look beyond the need for a winning result and imagine South Africa being in sporting isolation. It is pathetic how fans think players are there to instil nationalism. Go do that yourself and start enjoying the sport and keep perspective.
There is life the next day and sport always gives your team or the individual a chance to get it right or to flop.
It is an honour to play for one’s country, but it is not a crime to lose and supporters need to take their insecurity and deal with it.
In the days of isolation we never played anyone and never lost. So we allowed ourselves to believe we were the best in everything. The reality is we are not the best in all things sport and that does not deserve the crassness I read on Twitter.
I get irritated with a lot of our sports media coverage, especially in newsprint. It is always all or nothing, as if every win defines the miracle of this country and defeat brings the possibility of doom. Inspire me with a solution instead of repeating what I saw on television 24 hours earlier and what I have read on the Internet a day earlier.
The media is more guilty than the fans in the buzz and the blowout. I have been as guilty as anyone at times of my career so I certainly don’t preach from a pedestal of purity, but rather from a place of apology.
The daily sports media though need to get a grip and invest in some perspective.
An example was the Proteas ODI series defeat against New Zealand. The Proteas did not play well but the game was apparently in crisis after the series defeat and the euphoria of being the best Test team in the world a few days earlier was an afterthought.
The hysteria was excessive, just like the condemnation and ridicule of New Zealand’s tour only a few days earlier. Appreciate the players and the fact that it’s not you out there on days when all is failing save the potency of the opponent.
There’s an added spice when you know you are watching a performer unrivalled in their field and at the peak of their performance.
The South African bowling attack gives me that sense of awe. Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis evoke a similar emotion and Graeme Smith is just never going to get the reward for his effort. No other Test captain in the history of the game has achieved as much.
Smith, having gone past 100 Test matches as captain, still has his doubters. Give him a break. There is a serious projection of insecurity and delusion among many of the South African fans in the way they react to the players.
A guy like Smith must be judged on how he plays and not for how his gum chewing may irk you. It is massive what he has achieved yet there are so many who burden him with not wearing enough flags on his T-shirt and not being proudly South African.
This is sport. Nationalism looks after itself and it can’t be all taken from the player’s performance. We owe the player the simple courtesy of a dignified interaction that does not start with an attack on his mother’s hair colour and outright abuse.
Grow up you trolls or inspire with your cleverness.
Oh, and one last thing, why the obsession with having to feel the need to retire great players at the start of a season because they are supposedly blocking the path of a 21-year-old?
Give the more mature form players the necessary respect. They’ve earned the right through performance to a bit of loyalty. Our rugby players offer the promise of silverware in Super Rugby but the enjoyment must also be in the performance.
Bafana, in African soccer’s big bi-annual one, were brave and belligerent in a tournament I hoped they could win but never quite had the conviction to believe it was possible. They lost in the quarter-finals on penalties, which was a cruel yet also a dignified exit for the hosts. Dignified in it allowed us to dream of what could have been without confronting the reality of what would most likely have been had they advanced to the semi-final or final.
Bafana played with passion and the support of a nation was a boost, but there are limitations to the current side and the desire to associate with success should also not be confused with the expectation that if they don’t win a tournament they have failed.
Equally our Super Rugby teams.
– This article first appeared in the March issue of Business Day Sport Monthly, which is distributed FREE with the newspaper on the second last Friday of every month.
1,128 Comments
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19 Feb 2013, 22:43 pm
Yes and no.
Winning is the goal of competitive sport irrespective of how we look at it.
Losing against better opponents has no shame, unfortunately it is followed up by blaming the ref, coach, TMO, cheating by the opposition etc.
I don’t agree that winning is not everything, but would rather ask that we lose with dignity, and here I am referring to the spectators and not the players.
19 Feb 2013, 22:59 pm
Keo these players get obscene amounts of money. We pay to watch them, whether on tv or at the stadium. We cheer when they perform well and we have a right berate them when they don’t. Cause they aint doing it for free. If I pay R200 to get into a nightclub, the DJ better make me dance…
19 Feb 2013, 23:02 pm
@mxhosa-2:
“If I pay R200 to get into a nightclub, the DJ better make me dance…”
Love that line
19 Feb 2013, 23:11 pm
@mxhosa-2: bandz a make her dance!
19 Feb 2013, 23:19 pm
@Transformation-4:
These chics clapping and they aint using hands! My favourite song in 2012.
19 Feb 2013, 23:23 pm
To be honest, with the articles regarding the Kings being so prominent in the last few days, I can’t shake the feeling that the title to this piece and the timing thereof is aimed at them, and the probability that they won’t be winning to much.
Of course, I might be wrong, but it will definately have bearing on them.
20 Feb 2013, 00:19 am
Keo’s double-dosed his Prozac prescription… slagging off dead-men one minute… introspection the next…
P.S. this phenomena above is a world-wide scenario… not an indigenous one…
20 Feb 2013, 00:31 am
@bryce_in_oz-7:
> Keo’s double-dosed his Prozac prescription
He’s infected with the Watson virus
First he slags late old Louis Luyt(as much an A grade ars.ehole as Luke) straight out of the Poestoor Cheeky struggle handbook, and now he’s making excuses for the Entitlement Kings
He was more fun full of booze and coke with his pipes cleaned by hookers
20 Feb 2013, 00:38 am
Why winning isn’t everything
aka
“Why whining about the past while cashing in at the present is much more important”
3 mil here(Puke) and a Range Rover(Cheeky) there and Bob’s(actually Gideon Sam isn’t it Keo?)your uncle
20 Feb 2013, 00:56 am
Markies stirring his consciousness a little whatever it takes to rouse a slumbering conscience to evoke some little reaction for a hope and a prayer cause.
20 Feb 2013, 01:12 am
One of Keo’s worst pieces.
20 Feb 2013, 01:54 am
Scared this might happen again?
http://www.iol.co.za/sport/newlands-faithful-boo-watson-1.597676?ot=inmsa.ArticlePrintPageLayout.ot
20 Feb 2013, 01:56 am
Remember this one?
http://keo.co.za/2007/08/24/cheeky-snubs-boks/comment-page-1/#comments
20 Feb 2013, 04:32 am
@ShaunB-11:
Why?
I thought most of it was spot on.
It seems whatever Keo writes these days some people are not happy.
Seriously if you come here to just cry about Keos and his writing….. why bother turning up? Unless you come here for the great in sight of us Kiwis
20 Feb 2013, 04:55 am
the quality of this article is something to behold.very very impressive and we need plenty mire articles like this.
speaking if which, what happened to all the writers from last year?
20 Feb 2013, 06:08 am
Is that a soccer web site now?
Or just that Keo’s Landlords told him to drop a word in support of the ‘People’s Sport’
Sound that way,
anyway
winning isn’t every thing, it’s the ONLY thing
20 Feb 2013, 06:36 am
“They lost in the quarter-finals on penalties, which was a cruel yet also a dignified exit for the hosts. Dignified in it allowed us to dream of what could have been without confronting the reality of what would most likely have been had they advanced to the semi-final or final.”
What exactly does this mean? Are you saying that you were expecting them to lose and that they really did well to only lose on penalties because they would have been murdered in the semi and/or final? WTF??????
And this rubbish about winning is not everything in a professional era is just ludicrous. If you want to make examples let me give you a couple. How about football managers losing their jobs after winning the Champions League because they were not quite good enough according to the owner? How about managers losing their jobs after 5 games because their teams were in the relegation zone at the time (and there were 33 more games left in the season). How about managers losing their jobs because of the outcry from the supporters..how about teams playing in empty stadiums because they have only managed to win 2 games all season. How about those same teams being dropped due to non-performance over TEN years??? Not to mention the loss of TV revenue and sponsorship leading to a lack of development, etc, etc, ad infinitum…
If winning is not everything you should rather focus on the amateur side of sports, but at this level it is what every player and administrator is judged on. Hell, managers and coaches even have winning percentages written in to their contracts!!!!!!!
So please Mark. I beg you. Please stop writing rubbish.
20 Feb 2013, 06:49 am
i preferred the other writers.
20 Feb 2013, 06:59 am
Ticket prices are R30 for top tier (level 5 and
6) R45 behind the posts (North and South)
R75 for East stand (Prince Alfred) and R110
for West (Grand Pavilion), #kingsarmy
the top tier R30 tickets sold out,,
better get out and buy your tickets.
Kings 4 Life!
20 Feb 2013, 07:01 am
@Transformation-19:
Sounds like good value.
20 Feb 2013, 07:07 am
@victoriabok-13: wow, where did u even find this???
20 Feb 2013, 07:13 am
They tried to con people into buying season tickets at like a grand each the other day. That’s the equivalent of like 30 games at R30 a ticket. Why would I pay that when I’m most likely just going to saunter down to the stadium when the Bulls come clobber the host team, and possibly for a couple of other big visiting teams’ games? I could get away with R100 bucks for the entire season this way.
Maybe they’re banking om the expected home play off game to add value to the season ticket?
20 Feb 2013, 07:15 am
@Tacitus-22:
Good to hear you will be going.
20 Feb 2013, 07:17 am
full stadiums are always a good thing so in this respect i do hope they’ll do better than the Lions.
20 Feb 2013, 07:20 am
R110 to watch South Africa’s 2nd Division chumps in action?
Excuse the pun, but what a cheek.
20 Feb 2013, 07:24 am
Brumbiesboy
Hey, someone’s got to pay Luke’s 3 bar salary.
To put it into perspective, that’s more than the vast majority of Bulls players are currently earning, I would guess.
20 Feb 2013, 07:28 am
@Tacitus-26:
I thought it was his allowance?
20 Feb 2013, 07:31 am
@Transformation-19:
Thats’s 30 rand for super rugby game, thats like 2 or 3 US$ its basically free then.
20 Feb 2013, 07:35 am
Ask any family with zero income and don’t know where the next meal is coming from if R30 is nothing or basically free.
R30 is a lot for a lot of people.
20 Feb 2013, 07:37 am
@Tacitus-26: After Keohane’s tactless & cowardly attack on a man knowing that he cannot defend himself, expect no mercy on anything Watson-related.
This will continue until SARU fixes the gigantic c.ckup they created last year.
20 Feb 2013, 07:39 am
@Fern-29:
I’m sure it is Fern but US$2 to go watch professional rugby is very cheap, the hot dog at the ground will set you back more than that.
20 Feb 2013, 07:40 am
Interesting:
“1. The 251 Springboks capped since 1992 have been drawn from 142 high schools
2. Only one in every 35 schools play rugby in Limpopo, Mpumulanga, Kwazulu Natal and North West
3. Sixty percent of all rugby-playing high schools are in the Western and Eastern Cape
4. Forty percent of Springboks come from just 21 schools”
20 Feb 2013, 07:41 am
@NZINCHINA-31:
I’m not sure china.
I think the horsemeat boerrie rols are R8.99
20 Feb 2013, 07:45 am
@gunther-33:
I told everybody in China the savages in Europe were eating horse, they were disgusted.
20 Feb 2013, 07:45 am
The Bulls game against the Kings is going to be like a koshuis match back in varsity. Two groups of supporters on either side of the field hurling insults at each other.
Going to be lekker.
20 Feb 2013, 07:47 am
@NZINCHINA-34:
The French love it.
The English with their Anglo Saxon sensitivities are horrified.
How does it compare to Fido?
20 Feb 2013, 07:51 am
@Tacitus-35:
Are there many Bulls fans in PE?
Do we have a supporters club?
20 Feb 2013, 07:52 am
@NZINCHINA-28: USD3.39
When you get paid in ZAR in SA, then ZAR30 is not “for free” for a large segment of the populace.
Way back in 1981 a then apartheid-era SA Health, Welfare and Pensions Minister, Dr Lapa Munnik, even (callously) suggested that pensioners could survive on R20 a month.
20 Feb 2013, 07:52 am
@gunther-36:
The Belgians too I believe, not for me buddy but they’ve probably slipped it into a ‘lamb hotpot” and I wasn’t any the wiser, contrary to popular belief it’s not widely eaten here but unfortunately some do, I saw some Bull p enis in the supermarket the other day enough to feed the whole family.
20 Feb 2013, 07:56 am
@Angostura-38:
sure it wasn’t a dig just an observation that US$3.39 to attend a super rugby game is very cheap!
20 Feb 2013, 07:58 am
@Tacitus-35: ja, ‘n lekker opruiende refrein van “hak, hak die bulle is k_ak” van die een kant van die veld
20 Feb 2013, 08:02 am
@Angostura-41: Wag net dan sien jy hoe k_k is hulle.
20 Feb 2013, 08:04 am
@NZINCHINA-40:
don’t mind Angostura he’s just bitters.
20 Feb 2013, 08:06 am
@Transformation-19: Thats not bad. Hopefully the people of PE come out to support.
20 Feb 2013, 08:10 am
Winning isnt everything? You’re right, its much more important than that.
Seems to be another spin so as not to judge the Kings too harshly when they get hammered all season long. They’ll soon lose their delusions of mediocrity.
20 Feb 2013, 08:11 am
@victoriabok-13: hahahaha…..how does the cnut now justify his lily white side? Or does he not support them?
20 Feb 2013, 08:12 am
@NZINCHINA-31:
Hi China…excellent value for money the price of tickets in Sa, I suppose when you’re getting 3x the attendance at some grounds compared to Nz, you can charge those type of prices and of course you can buy more with say 8 rand in Sa than with 1 Nz dollar over here, not even a 1/2 litre of gas.
I read your post about the farkups happening in the milk powder business…me thinks Fonterra and the other playas are taking the Chinese for granted and are trying to give them a shoddy product, yet still trying to get top dollar.
20 Feb 2013, 08:13 am
In other news Ross Taylor has scored a ton against Eng. Brendon M score 74 of 36 balls!
20 Feb 2013, 08:14 am
@gunther-43: si,
agrodolce, non molto amaro
with emphasis on the sweet
20 Feb 2013, 08:14 am
Going rate is R20 for footlong boerie roll on a Saturday at the butcheries in my area.
Hotdogs?
WTF!
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