Rupert’s Rant
work in their lives, and surely it’s unreasonable to expect these lower echelons of society, the descendants of convicts no less, to behave like gentlemen. It’s not just cricket either, rugby has gone the same way. England’s display at last year’s World Cup was appalling. Yeah sure, they went above and be- yond their call of duty in making it to the final, but the boring tac- tics that they employed in order to get them there bordered on unsportsmanlike. Sport was once a spectacle, but these days I get more excitement watching snails race.
Little do they realise it, but these sports playing common- ers (who are far too oft touted as heroes) are nothing more than performing monkeys. They are thrown into the spotlight by broadcasting businesses with bucket loads of money and or-
All Aboard The HMAS Gamesman Ship Rupert Truscott-Hughes I
n early January, the second cricket test between Austra- lia and India was littered with controversy. Questionable umpir- ing decisions were made, the ‘walking’ debate came back to the fore and after Australia’s nar- row victory their sportsmanship was put into question. But in this modern era of professionalism, where does one draw the line? Is it more professional to look good (or ‘nice’) and lose or look bad and win?
Back in my playing days I was never the best sportsman, nor the best sport for that matter. I always hated the feeling associ- ated with losing and as such I developed a ‘win at all costs’
68 • the Beast
mentality. I always preferred the idea of gamesmanship - the use of unconventional but not strictly illegal tactics to gain an advantage in a competitive game. I can still recall claiming a catch on the boundary for the Cranbrook under 12Cs that quite clearly fell short but without the benefit of the third official how were the umpires supposed to know? Tell your story walking pal! And it seems that I am not alone. The amount of cash thrown into the gentlemen’s games of the past has encour- aged money hungry westies like Ricky Ponting to hone their sport- ing skills to a level where they’ll never have to do an honest day’s
dered to entertain for a pittance of the revenue that their perfor- mances raise - and if they don’t get the results, adios. There is no margin for error and no room for sportsmanship.
I believe that sportsmanship is no longer. Maybe there are a few good men still out there but they are the minority. At the end of the day, professional sportspeople need to succeed in order to pay the bills and they will do whatever it takes (within the rules, of course) to win. Sport is now a game, a game played by professionals and it’s the HMAS Gamesman Ship that our so-called ‘sporting’ types have chosen to sail.
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