Cultural cringe causing a losing whinge?

 

Roar Guru

By Clarky, 25 Aug 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Guru

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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.