Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer walk out onto the ground – AAP Image/Jenny Evans
For many years, the first line that French school-children were to taught to recite at school was: “Our ancestors, the Gauls…” Children were taught that they, the modern French, were descended directly from the Gauls.
It was a splendid notion in every respect apart from one: it wasn’t really true. In fact, the Franks, a Germanic tribe, had much more influence on the formation of modern France than the Gauls. “Our ancestors, the Gauls…” was merely an invention of 19th century romanticism.
Now, every nation has its myths. Some are dangerous; some merely curious.
In the case of Australian sport, we have one of the best of the type – the myth of Australianism. Deep in the soul of every red-blooded Australian male lurks the belief that Australia’s splendid recent sporting record is testament to the unique virtues of his compatriots: mateship, resilience, and have-a-go bravado.
The bronzed Aussie warrior wins because he is tough and plays hard and sticks by his mates – and then, like any true Australian, he proves he is not only hard but also fair by going for a beer with his beaten foe after the game.
Now, one hates to be the shatterer of cherished myths, but I’m afraid these sentiments are the purest piffle. They might well satisfy the romantics amongst you, but they ought not for one moment to satisfy those of you possessed of more rigorous and inquiring minds.
The French eventually changed their text-books, and it is high time that Australians ditched their own sporting romanticism.
Let me elucidate.
Australia used to be rather rubbish at sport. Sure, you held your own in sports that were not widely played at the time, such as tennis and cricket. But this was vastly out-weighed by a litany of humiliations on the world stage: not a single gold medal at Montreal ’76; the Wallabies a complete irrelevance for much of their history; Kim Hughes bursting into tears in the 1980s; Craig Johnston preferring England ‘B’ to the Socceroos. Painful times.
But then a funny thing happened – suddenly Australia became rather good at sport. In fact, let’s be perfectly candid: you became very, very good indeed. Visiting Pommie cricketers were eaten up and spat out in the Tasman Sea, broken men. South African cricketers took refuge on the psychiatrist’s couch.
Athletes clad in green and gold stormed successive Olympics, easily beating much bigger and more powerful countries on the medal table.
For much of the 1990s, even the hitherto powderpuff Wallabies dished it out to the fearsome men in black. By 2000, and the Sydney Olympics, Australian athletes prowled the globe like Trojan warriors. In John Eales and Ian Thorpe and Steve Waugh, we had super men fit to give Hector himself a run for his money.
What on earth happened?
Had Australian sporting teams somehow rediscovered the virtues of mateship, resilience, and fierce will to win? Was there a collective Great Awakening of the dormant Aussie soul? Were the no-hopers of the 70s and 80s somehow un-Australian?
I think not. I think the real reasons are rather more prosaic. In truth, it’s perfectly easy to divine the root cause of Australia’s sporting transformation: you started to take sport awfully, awfully seriously. Indeed, Aussie sport became the Antipodean equivalent of the NASA space programme.
A vast, well-funded Institute of Sport was formed. This hothouse of sporting excellence took in promising young talents and, through the rigorous application of the latest sports science, turned them into lean, mean fighting machines. It churned out men like Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist, sporting robots who combined superb technical proficiency in their chosen field with admirable levels of resilience and fortitude.
These sporting graduates at times came to resemble cult members – they would indulge in bizarre rituals such as the kissing of helmets on reaching a century, or the ostentatious refusal to wash their sweat-stained caps; one graduate, Mr Gilchrist, was so well programmed that even 20 years later, he was still proudly preaching the virtues of “Australianism”.
It was nothing less than a sporting revolution. Australia did to sport in the 1980s what England had done to industry in the 1780s. And the Australian public, like the Greeks after the sacking of Troy, lapped it up.
Soon it became possible for otherwise rational and intelligent human beings to ascribe the sporting success of their nation to “Australianism” – every medal, every trophy, every urn was seen to be yet another validation of Australia and its values. A collective madness set in.
By 2004, an exhausted rower was being denounced as “un-Australian” for collapsing during her race. By 2010, the head of the Australian IOC, was denouncing as “un-Australian” any suggestion that sporting funds be cut. And in the same year, Lucas Neill, the doughty captain of the Socceroos, was accused of being “un-Australian” when he dared to assert that – horror! – the three-times world cup winners Germany perhaps boasted better footballers than Australia.
Hubris had indeed set in – and after hubris, as any schoolboy knows, comes nemesis.
For the thing about revolutions is that they tend to be imitated. No sooner had England industrialised in the 1780s than half of Europe was in on the act. Men imitate what works for other men. Australia’s sports programme worked, and so the rest of the world, not least the English, set to work copying it.
Australian swimming coaches were imported lock, stock and barrel. Cricket coaches, likewise. Vast new laboratories of sport were built in the English shires to mould a new generation of sporting robots – these fellows possessed of pastier skin, but equally monomaniacal in their desire to win at games. The French, the Germans and even the Spanish followed suit.
For what the Australians took to be Australianism was in fact simply professionalism – and professionalism knows no national boundaries.
And remarkably enough, these nations found that chucking money at sport and taking it awfully seriously – in other words, professionalism – began to pay dividends on the field. By 2003, the English had won a rugby world cup.
By 2005, the Ashes were back in English hands. By 2008, Great Britain was dishing the Aussies at the Beijing Olympics and The Sun newspaper was driving a billboard van around Sydney emblazoned with the words “Is That All You’ve Got?” (Yes, truly, Orwell was right to say that sport was “war minus the shooting” – just rather more absurd) And by 2010, English golfers were flooding the upper echelons of the world game.
But all this paled in comparison to the Spanish, whose superb sporting academies had produced a breed of super athletes who made Australia’s earlier heroes look positively feeble.
World and European soccer champions; F1 champions; tennis champions; golfing champions: in 2010, it can justly be said that Spain is the sporting capital of the world.
Now, this newfound success has been too novel to have quite gone to English or Spanish heads just yet. Few Spaniards are yet proclaiming the superiority of “Spanishism”. It takes a while for popular sentiment to catch up with the facts on the ground. Likewise, and conversely, Australia’s recent sporting trough has been too novel to have quite dampened the Aussie enthusiasm for their self-flattering mythology.
Like Germans after the siege of Stalingrad, Australians wander through a fog of doubt, their intellects telling them that perpetual sporting dominance is no longer possible, but their hearts not quite believing it. Some Roarers, indeed, still hold by the Aussie Superman theory like it’s 1999.
So what does the future hold for Australianism?
Will it vanish, or will the Aussies sell it off to the English or Spanish?
Could it be that, in 2012, when Great Britain will almost certainly finish third or fourth on the Olympics medal table; when England might well have knocked the Australians out of the rugby world cup for the third time in succession; and when England might have won three of the last four Ashes series – could it be that the Fleet Street tabloids will ascribe their nation’s success not to money, organisation and rigorous planning – boring old professionalism – but rather to the cardinal English virtues of “the stiff upper lip, bulldog mentality and Blitz spirit”?
To, dare I say it, “Englishism”?
Funnier things have happened. After all, national self-flattery is by no means a solely Australian phenomenon.
Derby County FC
Guest
Thought I'd look you up Andyroo. We might have won less medals in total at Shanghai but more golds, this is just the beginning.
ThelmaWrites
Guest
Hi Ben S! I wish to assure you and Colin that I have no intention of belittling other nations' efforts in sports. I do, however, take great delight in seeing Australian sports do well. One reason is that the blokes here are only too happy to make me feel in-group when they learn that I’m keen on their sports. As an Asian woman (I look like Rory and Tony Underwood’s mom), I stick out like a sore thumb in a sea of spectators. The guys always try to make me feel at home, whether it’s rugby, cricket, hockey, etc. I think His Lordship calls that “mateship”. You’re right about the painstaking attention to technical detail that is the hallmark of Australian sports. My son has just earned his MS in Sports and Exercise Science, and he’s hoping to go on to a PhD if he could work out the financing. He’s in no way very advanced in his undertaking because his first degree was in Applied Physics. But I tell you, our small place is inundated with paper! He has just bought two more lever arch files for his photocopies of scientific articles, mainly on sprints (his academic interest) and exercise and low back pain (his work interest). And the privation he goes through…! The fruits of this focus on technique were so evident in the swimming in the recent Commonwealth games. The starts and the turns were amazing. They’re getting it right. It was a pleasure to have made the acquaintance of Larry, and to meet the owner of the pots and pans in my daughter’s garage!!! (They needed to store their stuff for when they’d return from England.) He was very nice.
Colin N
Guest
Fair points, But: "However the medal counting (and it sounds like you do it too!) gets a bit out of hand." It's hard to miss it when it's staring you right in the face on the BBC page, with the number of golds, silvers and Bronze's won, plus the total amount. Also, when I look at the medal table, I look where Britain or England are, not where other countries are placed in the table.
Parisien
Guest
"I also don’t see why one has to belittle other countries achievements like Australia so regularly does." I don't think Australia or Australians belittle other countries achievements. We just especially enjoy beating the English at sport for historical and cultural reasons which are pretty obvious. Australians know that one thing they are particularly good at on an international level is sport. They are good at other things too but are still learning and recognising this. Sporting success gives instant gratification, is easy to recognise and understand, and is cleverly used by politicians to harness natural pride. However the medal counting (and it sounds like you do it too!) gets a bit out of hand. In time, I hope Australia will be more like the UK, France, and other older countries and have some balance, realising that a nation's richness is also measured by success in many other areas.
Colin N
Guest
"Handing out Knight Hoods and OBE’s to World Cup and Ashes winners seems a little self indulgent to me." It is, but I was referring to the culture in general of each nation. At grass roots, Australians are naturally inclined to get involved with sport at an early age - I don't believe Britain is the same.
mickh
Guest
"In Britain, it isn’t so important. I also don’t see why one has to belittle other countries achievements like Australia so regularly does." Handing out Knight Hoods and OBE's to World Cup and Ashes winners seems a little self indulgent to me. When Australia wins we just win and move on. When England win they carry on like giggling schoolgirls at a high school dance. Belittling others achievements is what this article does. The English are not immune to dishing out snide comments so it seems. The responses to this article a fair.
Colin N
Guest
Compare this years medal haul with 2006, although I wouldn't call the Commonwealth Games the primary way of comparing a countries sporting prowess (especially as England were missing quite a few of their top athletes); I would say the Olympics is. Rugby World cup winners 03, a better soccer team than Australia, 2005 and 2009 Ashes victors. Pretty equal athletics teams. Australia far better swimming but Britain overall has improved in this area significantly. There is a lot of rubbish spouted about the Australian population in comparison but Australia put far more emphasis into.....sport - the weather means outdoor activity is encouraged, meaning more money is thrown at sporting achievement. Britain increased the funding significantly to cycling and look what happened. More emphasis has been placed on success at Swimming - the results are much improved. In Britain, it isn't so important. I also don't see why one has to belittle other countries achievements like Australia so regularly does.
Ben S
Roar Guru
Capello has already said that he's leaving at a certain date, but I accept your point. I don't think people in Australia could ever recognise just how un-professional sport is in England. Sir Clive Woodward was astonished when he took over his current role. To that extent, any English success in any sport over the past decade has generally been over-achievement. IMO there is a lack of a) coaching nous, and b) funding. I box at a local club: the standard is reasonably high and we have a fighter who competed at the Commonwealth Games, however the onus is on fitness work, and prior to any technical work we have to run a 2.1 mile route, skip for 18 minutes, shadow box for 18-30 minutes and then do 'groundwork' which is a collection of basic circuit work, but on a mat, to the point of exhaustion. The thrust of the issue is that before any real pad or technical work has been undertaken the body is completely fatigued. How can you work on foot work if your legs are full of lactic acid? The same attitude has pervaded all sporting clubs I have been part of, ranging from soccer to rugby union to athletics, and that same attitude was present all through my youth. I suspect that the climate plays a huge part, because with poor facilities it is hard to practice skill work for outdoor sports, but the most pressing issue, IMO, is the need to educate and develop young coaches, who in turn develop the kids at the youngest age possible. If the intellectual legacy is there then surely the lack of facilities will become largely irrelevant.
Walt
Guest
England has certainly done well of late, but they best head down to the German Institute of Sport and find out how many years they are behind them before extending Capellos next contract.
AA
Guest
VC wrote "For the thing about revolutions is that they tend to be imitated." I suppose that's why the Kiwi's are trying to copy Australia's recent success then hey. Imitiation is the greatest form of flattery.
Derby County FC
Guest
Harry If you assert that having discussion about an article is taking the bait well then i'm hooked, but it seems i only have the same opinion as you, some things i agree with some things i don't. Reel me in friend.
p.Tah
Guest
VC, great read, very amusing. Thank you. I read this in the spirit it was written but it still irked me despite there being some home truths. On reflection I don't think it was the content, but the fact that it was written by an Englishman (I presume) who had the audacity to challenge the "Aussie bravado"... but I think that was your intention! We don't mind criticism, but we prefer criticism from within. This article, http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1078067 , although less eloquent than yours, didn't concern me because it was self depreciating not external criticism. In the end, I don’t care if it’s a myth or not. I would say that the majority of us do believe it because it’s comforting. When the chips are down in sport or in life in general you sometimes need to call on something to get you through the tougher times. I’m grateful we have “mateship, resilience, and have-a-go bravado”. I find them inspiring.
Tortion
Guest
Ever been to England?
Tortion
Guest
You seem to think that these Australian heroes are unique. This being the point I was getting at. I'll certainly try harder to make it clearer next time.
jameswm
Guest
You have? What was the medal count at the Commonwealth Games? How many golds did England get compared to Australia? And how many people are there in England again? England got half as many with 2.5 times as big a population. My maths tells me that makes Australia 5 times as good per capita. Doesn't sound like caught up to me.
Colin N
Guest
"Larry told me that sports in Australia was 20 years ahead of that in Great Britain. 20 years!!!" We've obviously caught up pretty well in the last 10 then!
Rowdy
Guest
Oh dear. Chips with everything, hey ?
Parisien
Guest
Interesting point about war and sport sledgeross, but Australia's ability for recognition on a global stage is fortunately not limited to sports or war. Australians also have a recognised history of excellence in literature, music, cinema, science, and medicine. (and Vale Joan Sutherland! - perhaps the world's finest soprano alongside Maria Callas...) Sadly these other domains and their stars just don't get quite the same degree of press coverage, popular support or goverment funding. Perhaps too many Australian's are only aware of their countrymen's sporting prowess as results are more visible and easier to understand. I love my sport but I for one would love to see some of these other areas get the same degree of coverage and support - and we'd have even more success of which to be proud.
jameswm
Guest
I stopped reading at "It churned out men like...Adam Gilchrist, sporting robots who combined superb technical proficiency..". Gilly a robot who is superb technically? That's one of the most absurd things I've read for a while. I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt - maybe he was using irony. The other absured point was using Steve Waugh as the proof against Aussies benefiting from mateship, resilience, and fierce will to win! Classic! There are more holes in this author's arguments than there are in Phil Hughes's "AIS-honed" batting technique!
Ben S
Roar Guru
I think it's hard to argue on any level that the EPL is the most professional league in the world.