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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20 Feb 2013, 08:19 am
@Transformation-19:
Transie, you been hanging out at the Force training sessions?
‘Allegations of spying have surfaced and surrounded the Southern Kings leading up to their opening Super Rugby match against the Force this weekend.
Force scrumhalf Alby Mathewson tweeted about the incident when he said: “Good team training this morning. Had a school watching plus one #Spygate”.
This has been backed up by reports on Arenasports website that mention a person fleeing the bushes at the Force’s training session with a video equipment and a tripod. The man, apparently, fled over a road and disappeared through a service station.’
20 Feb 2013, 08:21 am
@John Galt-51: And climbed into his brandnew Toyota Yaris Reg KINGS10 EC?
20 Feb 2013, 08:21 am
@Te Rangatira-47:
now now not everyone charges R30 a ticket.
think of this as an opening special.
20 Feb 2013, 08:24 am
@BrumbiesBoy-52:
20 Feb 2013, 08:24 am
@gunther-53: But they will charge it again at the end of the season when their “going out of business” special starts.
20 Feb 2013, 08:25 am
Actually a very good article.
I dont think this is exclusively a South African problem though. The emotions evoked by ones sports team is a global thing.
Sport has become high stakes in money and emotion.
Like Brad Pitts character says in Moneyball. ‘..and I hate losing. I hate losing more than I like winning. I never get over it…’ or something to that effect.
Its probably how a lot of us feel on this blog.
I do agree that the vitriol spewed by most of us, me included, is unacceptable though.
20 Feb 2013, 08:29 am
@gunther-53:
Oh…should’ve been on to the marketing angle, probably looking to break even? How much is a similar ticket at say Loftus?
20 Feb 2013, 08:32 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-24: bakkies this dissapoints me – in 2012 the Lions averaged more fans than the bullies. Let’s just hope that the queens do not beat you team in the stands this year.
20 Feb 2013, 08:32 am
@Te Rangatira-47:
I haven’t been to a super game for 7 or 8 years so I don’t know the ticket prices these days but that has to good value no matter what half the locals are making.
@Fern-50:
There you go then a Kings game and a big hunk of meat for US$5 – perfect.
20 Feb 2013, 08:32 am
More abuse from Keohane
20 Feb 2013, 08:34 am
As if his “brain expansion through reading broadsheet newpapers and opinion and counter opinion leading to conclusion” ramblings yesterday weren’t enough.
20 Feb 2013, 08:35 am
Sung to the tune of Creep by Radiohead
We tried to be here before
Maar toe word ons genaai
We didn’t get the hand out
So we screamed and cried
Then we got so sneaky
thanks to Dad and Puke
They claim they are special
They’re so fu.ck.ing special
But they’re creeps, they’re losers
What the hell are they doing here?
They don’t belong here
They don’t care if it hurts
They just want to have control
Feel fu.ckall for the season
Money is the only goal
But no one willI notice
When they’re not around
They’re so ******* special
They wish that they’re special
But they’re creeps, they’re loser
What the hell are they doing here?
They don’t belong here
Whatever makes them happy
Whatever they want
They’re so fuc.ki.ng special
They think they are special
But they’re creeps, they’re loser
What the hell are they doing here?
They don’t belong here
They don’t belong here
20 Feb 2013, 08:36 am
@BrumbiesBoy-52:
I think that’s very cool.
Apparently its branded as well.
I like when fans take it to the next level.
20 Feb 2013, 08:38 am
Just rectified you on the price of a boerieroll
20 Feb 2013, 08:39 am
57 Te R: the S15 tickets at Newlands are going for R140 at the top end and down to about R50 for standing tickets (not 100%) about the last number though
20 Feb 2013, 08:39 am
@Te Rangatira-57:
I cant remember when I last bought a ticket.
I think they are around R200? Scholars would be cheaper.
Fern can probably tell you.
He’s a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
20 Feb 2013, 08:39 am
What goes into a Boer roll?
20 Feb 2013, 08:40 am
@CharlesM-65:
There you go.
20 Feb 2013, 08:41 am
@CharlesM-65:
good value
20 Feb 2013, 08:42 am
@NZINCHINA-67:
Lips and ar.seholes.
And some coriander.
20 Feb 2013, 08:42 am
@NZINCHINA-67: Typically sausage and trainsmash
20 Feb 2013, 08:43 am
@gunther-70:
lol
20 Feb 2013, 08:44 am
@NZINCHINA-59:
General admission for the Bulls game is $20.00 on March 10. That’s pretty good but the Kings fans are getting a great deal, agree.
@Dawn-60:
Kia ora Dawn…I hope your Dad is ok and he must be happy proud to have a daughter like you.
20 Feb 2013, 08:44 am
@gunther-70: lol….like the dude in Kill the Irishman…”I may be a potato eater, but I don’t eat fat through a sheep’s ar.sehole” referring to haggis
20 Feb 2013, 08:44 am
@Dilligafrican-71:
A South African hot dog.
20 Feb 2013, 08:45 am
@Te Rangatira-73:
You’ll be going?
20 Feb 2013, 08:46 am
What’s happened to the grim reaper today?
20 Feb 2013, 08:46 am
@gunther-63: Even part of the numberplate is branded.
EC Eish Cheeky.
20 Feb 2013, 08:47 am
@Dawn-61:
I think Keo’s suffering from swelling of the brain rather than an explosion.
20 Feb 2013, 08:47 am
@Te Rangatira-73:
Hi they are coping I hope.
I think they need trauma counselling!
20 Feb 2013, 08:47 am
@CharlesM-65:
Thanks Charles…those prices seem reasonable too.
20 Feb 2013, 08:48 am
@gunther-70:
Railway is good value at Newlands if it doesnt rain.
20 Feb 2013, 08:50 am
@Dilligafrican-62: well done – just change Puke to Pukey it will flow better with sneaky.
20 Feb 2013, 08:50 am
@RL-58:
really RedShark..?..
i had no idea this was the case.
are you sure you’ve got the numbers right?
20 Feb 2013, 08:51 am
@gunther-63:
Fresh reports say that he wasnt carrying a tripod.
The guy lost his pants in an effort to get away was naked from the waist down.
Good for you Transie.
20 Feb 2013, 08:51 am
@BrumbiesBoy-78:
Eina.
Right between the cheekies.
20 Feb 2013, 08:52 am
@NZINCHINA-76:
I’m hoping to get there…I’ll see what everyones doing first
20 Feb 2013, 08:52 am
@John Galt-85:
Farkinhell.
Lucky Transie wasn’t arrested for carrying a cultural weapon.
20 Feb 2013, 08:53 am
I see Sharks Lover was at his abusive best yesterday
20 Feb 2013, 08:54 am
@John Galt-85:
20 Feb 2013, 08:54 am
@Te Rangatira-87:
The Poms are doing it very easy in Napier.
20 Feb 2013, 08:54 am
@NZINCHINA-75: ja, but less dog than the chinese version
20 Feb 2013, 08:55 am
@Dilligafrican-92:
woof woof
20 Feb 2013, 08:56 am
I see Coenie DP is named as a Tighthead in the Cheetahs training squad.
Big mistake in my opinion.
20 Feb 2013, 08:56 am
@gunther-88: de minimis non curat lex
20 Feb 2013, 08:57 am
@Te Rangatira-81: I think so too. The problem is that say for the Grand Stand you’ll be paying the same price wherever you’re seated. My seats are between the 22 and 10 m lines but those in the in-goal area are selling for the same price. Therefore I don’t “mind” selling mine when I can’t go myself. I know it’s good value for money
82 Sasuke – many of the seats on the Railway stand are going for the same prices on the Grand Stand. The biggest problem is the rain as you’ve said. This time of the year if it’s an early season game you are “baking” in the sun ! Fortunately the games are scheduled for late afternoons
20 Feb 2013, 08:57 am
@NZINCHINA-67: boerewors is mixed minced meat = left over ears, skin, tounge, lips, testicles, left over cuttings, horse meat, donkey meat , sheep meat, bull meat and lots of spices to falvour it lekker.
20 Feb 2013, 08:57 am
@NZINCHINA-93: 100 ways to wok your dog
20 Feb 2013, 08:58 am
@Dilligafrican-95:
Are you saying his Panga is more of a Swiss Army knife?
20 Feb 2013, 08:58 am
I think WP put their ticket prices up by R5. The railway tickets in certain catergories now cost R105. Small price for the consumer to pay but that extra R5 makes a big difference to the coffers of WP.
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