Cultural cringe causing a losing whinge?
Roar Pro
By Clarky, 25 Aug 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Pro
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- Cricket, NRL, professional sport, Rugby League, Rugby Union, The Ashes
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Is it just me or is the Aussie culture the problem with our losses in major team sports? Have we forgotten how to play as a team?
Overnight we lost the Ashes, the Wallabies got rolled by the All Blacks, and neither side has done much to be overly proud of for a few years. And let’s not mention the long list of NRL issues.
Why?
If you read the papers we have a problem in our society with anti-social behaviour. Young people in particular (18-30) are going out, binge drinking and then getting into fights. Drunk, violent out of control behaviour. Assault, sexual assault, domestic violence … the list goes on.
Each time it comes back to the simple question – where was the ownership and respect for others?
The blame game shifts the problem onto our pubs and alcohol, but we all know that drinking just reduces inhibitions and encourages behaviour that respect and accountability keep in check.
How does this relate to our sporting idols?
Coincidentally, the vast bulk of our professional players are in the same age bracket (18-30). Each code has again a failure to accept ownership for your actions or respect your team-mates, the history of the sport or your opposition.
Win or lose, you still get paid!
Us Aussie’s have lost something – we’ve lost our sense of ownership, of accomplishment, of a fair go and respect. You see it everyday driving a car on our roads, in the papers, on the TV.
We no longer respect each other.
Everything comes so freely and easily, and everyone happens at a million miles an hour that we don’t take time to acknowledge the efforts of those before us, of those around us. We have a generation who have grown up without knowing hardship, who generally don’t help others in unfortunate positions.
We’ve lost the ability to focus on the fair go, of fighting for our mates.
Our young blokes (and girls) needs lessons in humility, and respect. Can we consistently win on the paddock when we can’t win off the field?
I think the cultural cringe in this country is perpetuating the losing whinge.
Bring back some key values in our society by encouraging volunteering, hard work and respect, and we’ll start the see the same values and ethos creep into our professional sporting teams.
Our young people in society are not mentally tough, they’re not instilled in core values of respect and accountability, the response to confrontation or violence shows that. That poor ethos is perpetuating into our sporting codes and broadcast to the country in their exploits on and off the field.
Can we get back into winning form?
Yes, but not on talent alone. We need to build the right mentality in our society and in our sporting teams.
We all have a stake in getting this right, not just for the future success of our sporting teams, but for the future success of our country.
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ohtani's jacket said | August 25th 2009 @ 1:49am | Report comment
I’m not in a position to judge what you’ve written, but if it’s a cultural thing, why did the Wallabies lose so much prior to the early 90s?
Kevin, Meath said | August 25th 2009 @ 3:47am | Report comment
Sorry missed which country you are talking about, was it Celtic Tiger Ireland? in which case quite agree with your point. Was it the UK in which case most of my British friends would agree as well. Perhaps you meant 5th century BC Athens in which case Socrates would agree with you.
Tim said | August 25th 2009 @ 10:40am | Report comment
Maybe we should just stop feeling sorry for ourselves and making up excuses.
If we focus on becoming the best we can (not just in our minds) maybe then we have a shot at actually winning something.
Even your article just bashes Australians. There isn’t that much wrong with this country other than maybe taking ourselves too seriously and looking for complex answers to simple questions.
MarkH said | August 25th 2009 @ 11:45am | Report comment
Tim, I dont think we take ourselves seriously enough. Im sick of this ‘its ok, youll do better next time’ crap. People are afraid to say ‘mate your hopeless’. Maybe Australians need a bit of bashing? get that agro, get that fire in the belly.
I dont think were as tough as we like to think we are. Not in a violent way but in a mental way, call it a mind set. We accept crap. We accept a soft attitude, we dont like it tough. Australians 30-40 yrs ago would walk all over todays Australians. Our laws are soft on offenders, you have radio jocks pushing their crap on radios etc. Our Moralistic view of the world is…I dont know anymore….lame. Why do we need to look at chicks in the nude in mags??? get a girlfriend drop kick.
The media digs in behind the sport they support. Ch 9 is the home of the NRL. We love Joey Johns. We feel sorry because he got ADHD…arse. Hes just a dead shit with to much time and money to burn. As for his homo erotic brother doing things to girls while other boys watch….. What ever. That goes for all those other tossers.
We allow this behaviour, we accept this behaviour. They make excuses and we eat it up. Im not saying we turn into some Spartan type country but…stand up for christ sake.
We need tough uncompromising Captains in our sporting teams, who lead from the front and are not scared to make decisions. He/She should be the one who disciplines team members for doing the wrong thing. Make the Captain accountable for on and off field behaviour. Then we will see some Leadership. Un-afraid, un-compromising.
We’ll thats enough out of me..Im off my soap box.
Richard Brockhurst said | August 25th 2009 @ 12:26pm | Report comment
The Wallabies got rolled by ths All Blacks?? The Wallabies got done by the ref !!
ExpatSin said | August 25th 2009 @ 1:35pm | Report comment
Carky, you must be an armchair psychopath, oops sorry psychologist. What a lot of dribble. The only thing I agree with is the constant excuses rolled out every time something goes wrong. Look at the last post from Richard. He blamed the ref, who if anything favored the Wallabies on the day. Boys just face facts. This team is a bunch of ego blotted under achievers. Full stop. I’ll never forget a post game interview this year with Phil Waugh after a losing Waratahs game. He went from blaming the weather, travel schedule, the draw, to finally having a sook about the media being too harsh on them as a team. Grow some balls bud. This mentality is epidemic within Ozzie culture. It’s always somebody else’s fault.
Campbell Watts said | August 25th 2009 @ 6:22pm | Report comment
I think you’re on the wrong website Clarky,
This is about all things sport – not societies problems dealing with alcohol and young people!!
Ben J said | August 25th 2009 @ 8:55pm | Report comment
Wait, I think Clarky is on to something. Australia, not many years ago was THE envy of world sport, punching way above it’s weight. Olympics, cricket, rugby etc, Australia was at the top of the pile. Australia had a desire to be regognised and hence poured millions into sport to lift it’s global profile. A few years on it has become too easy, mere kids have every oppurtunity their forebears never had. A culture of entitlement is not difficult to breed.
I just have to get this in: South Africa is now the number one ranked team in Rugby Union, Test & One day cricket. Marvellous. Pity about soccer though.
QC said | August 25th 2009 @ 9:11pm | Report comment
And it only gets worse for Australia,
They took a sound old ass whipping in the Basketball Oceania series tonight from the Tall Blacks 100-78 in Wellington.
Giving NZ the Ramsey Shield, after going down in the first match 84-77 the TBs neeed to win by 8 or more points and they surpassed that with ease against a highly fancied Australia even with the presence of NBA sta Nathan Jawai. With the series win the Kiwis also take top Oceania ranking into the World Championship.
At least Australia still has swimming
Mushi said | August 26th 2009 @ 3:46pm | Report comment
We are talking about the same Nathan Jawai? The guy who has 19 minutes of NBA game time.
Now I know we throw the term “star” around loosely but that is an all time new record. Can we at least set a new rule you have to have played the equivalent of one full game before being regarded a star?
QC said | August 26th 2009 @ 4:18pm | Report comment
I am only repeating the words of your own commentators I think you might want to take the issue up with them. I’d never heard of the bloke but the big ups your own boys were giving him before the game would suggest he’s a rather important cog in the Boomers,
Funny how some try to dilute the tall Blacks achievement, another case of where the Aussies were highly fancied much like the RL world cup and they crumbled
Lauren said | August 25th 2009 @ 10:07pm | Report comment
Clarky I thing you are generalising quite a bit here. It seems you are putting the blame on the “young boys and girls” of this nation. If you want to talk accountability for ones actions, blaming the young “mentally weak” generation is a bit hypocritical. Gen Yers may have a bad reputation but from what I have witnessed (as a Gen Y myself), are a compassionate group of people who don’t really care to blame other people for things. We lost the Ashes because England were better, We lost the Bledisloe because NZ played better, nothing to do with societal influences.