Entry 619, on 2007-10-08 at 17:25:41 (Rating 2, Comments)
Can a country's national sport be labelled as "just a game"? Just how seriously should an unexpected defeat in an important sporting event be taken? These questions have arisen as a result of New Zealand's national rugby team, the All Blacks, being defeated by France (with a lot of help from the English ref!) this weekend.
The All Blacks are generally considered the world's best rugby team and were favoured to win the Rugby World Cup this year, but they have been eliminated from the competition earlier than in any other year and, judging by the news coverage, it seems to be the end of the world for some people.
Practically the entire front page of our local paper was taken by the story of the defeat and other national news sources included headlines such as: All Blacks inquest begins, All Blacks crash out of Cup, New All Blacks coach by Christmas (we have a tradition of quickly eliminating coaches who fail us), and others suggesting the country's economy could be adversely affected!
The World Cup campaign cost $50 million and yet the highly paid professional team didn't behave professionally at all. So is it just a game? International sport is more than a game now, its big business, politics, and part of a nation's psychological profile. I read somewhere that research has shown that governments can lose elections because they receive less votes after a major sporting failure.
So many people have become quite depressed after the latest fiasco. The jokes are already circulating: what's the difference between a tea bag and the All Blacks? The tea bag stays in the cup longer. Yes, you can always tell when a sporting loss really hurts when the jokes start circulating!
Comment 1 by Dave on 2007-10-23 at 22:22:32:
I share your pain my friend. The All Blacks' loss was a shock to me as well. I suppose we will just have to wait four years to try again.
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