I doubt I will ever be a netball fan and I won’t act as though I have the slightest idea about the game, but I witnessed a rare moment in professional sport, where the Australian Opals showed an incredible level of sportsmanship after soundly beating the Malawi Queens.
After the match, the Australians engaged in laughter and conversation with the Malawian opposition, going even as far as having photos of the two teams intertwined.
In truth I am writing this article in the last 20 minutes of my modern history HSC exam, so I can’t remember the exact score, but it was clear from the vision on Fox Sports it didn’t matter.
This to me was a perfect example of sportswomanship that has permeated through women’s sport. Women’s sport idealises why humans started playing sport in the first place.
The Aussies showed the match was a positive experience, not because they won, but because they played.
As a proud sports-participating male, I tried to see where this is apparent in male sport and I struggled, because there isn’t much of it around.
Sure you get the ‘good game mate’ after a hard slog on the footy field, but that is about it. It suggests male athletes are taking their opportunities for granted.
This may coincide with the progression of professionalism of sport, which is making it all about the money rather than the satisfaction of getting better at what you are doing.
On that note, here are my bottom three worst examples of sportsmanship.
The 2004 Ice Hockey World Cup semi final, USA versus Finland
I was in Canada at the time of the 2004 Ice Hockey World Cup as an innocent eight-year-old and I vividly remember the commentators going crazy over the massive upset the Finnish team had caused, beating the USA 2-1 (scoring their two goals in the final third).
What was more apparent was the disrespect the Americans showed to the Fins as they walked from the ice with no acknowledgement of the efforts of their opponents.
The under arm delivery, Australia versus New Zealand
If you follow cricket, you know what I am talking about, if you don’t, then you don’t follow cricket.
The third final of a one day series about 30 years back came down to the last ball, with New Zealand needing six runs for a tie!
The bowler was Trevor Chappell, younger brother of then-Australian captain, Greg. Trevor was told to roll to ball down the pitch to ensure victory.
The bad sportsmanship shown can be best recalled in the commentary of eldest brother Ian Chappell, who was calling the match, and said on-air “No Greg, you can’t tell him to do that”.
Under 18s South Coast Football League
I am a goalkeeper for the Shellharbour team and we became victims of a low act in the game a football.
Our player went down in our half, which led to myself kicking the ball out. One of the unofficial laws of the game, that is abided by 99.9% of the time, is that the opposition then pass the ball back to the goalkeeper of the team with the injured player.
In this case however, the opposition team had a shot on goal.
What compounded my team’s frustrations was that the opposition said they would pass it back to me and after the goal was given, they celebrated.
To say I was frustrated is an understatement, however (in case you were wondering) we won the game 4-1.
So Roarers, what is your opinion on bad sportsmanship? Does it matter if athletes, male or female, are bad sports?
(P.S. I am pretty good at modern history and, even though I finished early, fingers crossed I’ll get a good mark!)
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