The Fall and Fall of British Sport

After Andy Murray's loss in the Wimbeldon final today, to an excellent Roger Federer, there has been much discussion of why, when it comes to winning tournaments, Britain is generally quite bad.

Let's get one thing straight. When it comes to tennis, I don't like Andy Murray. He has the charisma of a particularly grey piece of coal, (despite today's tears!), gets angry too often when the situation asks for a cool head and ever since he wore a Paraguay shirt when England were playing them in the football World Cup, I have been hesitant to support him as a Brit. I'm not his biggest fan, and I love the way that Federer plays the game. He is arguably the greatest, but is classy and a touch modest aswell as being hugely competitive at the same time. A winner, but gracious.

But this post has nothing to do with personality. It's about attitude. Over the years, I have always been an advocate of "it's the taking part that counts", but slowly and surely, I am changing. I have been involved in sport long enough now that taking part simply isn't enough. As captain of 2 cricket teams at the weekend, I am trying to instil the attitude of winning. Not winning in an arrogant or senseless way, but winning with grace. I want to play at a better standard, without jumping ship. However, whilst my own personal attitude is switching from one stage to another, the general consensus in British sport is going in the other direction. At this moment in time, schools, clubs and teams around the country tend to go into lessons, games and tournaments with the attitude of "giving everyone a go". Give everyone a fair game, a fair slice of the action, and keep them interested. In the short term, its the easy option, but in the long run, the competitiveness is just going to evaporate. As a young teenager, I wasn't given this option. I was once the captain of a successful young football team, but when I stopped playing well, I was dropped. Left on the bench, game after game, because my team mates were winning. Our team was winning leagues and cups, so why change it? At the time, it was hugely frustrating, but having matured, I know it was the right thing to do. By keeping the best side available, we won trophies. We were winners.

And after a few years of playing the game through enjoyment, I am now swinging back to wanting to win again. As captain of my cricket club, I go out of my way to pick the best 11 players available to me to win matches. Because of this, we are top of the league on Saturdays, and after taking over the captaincy on Sundays, improving our league position. I am going against the attitude of the club in general, to boost our own chances of success, and this is how it should be.

Looking into the future, the British chances in sport in 20 years time look bleak. The competitive nature of school sport especially is being extinguished by the horrible notion that kids will get upset if they aren't given a fair game.

One other aspect that affects British sport's prospects are membership prices. On a personal level, I had football, tennis and golf memberships up until I was 18, and then the prices rocketed. At junior level, I paid £120 for a year's worth of green fees at my local golf club. When I turned 18, that price went up to over £500. At my local tennis club, I paid £30 per term, (£90 for the year). When I turned 18, the price went up by over 300%. I think it was about £105 per term. When you add kit and equipment on top, the vast majority of people cannot afford to carry on, which ultimately means they lose interest, and somewhere in the country, that club has lost a talented individual. Only football and rugby have the inclusive nature where everyone can get involved at little cost, which is probably the main reason why they are 2 of the most popular sports.

Also, Britain still suffers from the divide between the upper, middle and working class. Watching the Wimbeldon final, I saw a crowd full of famous faces, some of which must have no interest in tennis at all. Why? The public must get annoyed watching at home, knowing that a "normal" person's seat has been taken by Victoria Beckham's botox-filled face.

Increased competitiveness, lower membership prices leading to higher participation and deletion of the traditional British class values are all needed to get Britain's kids off their PlayStations and out in the fresh air. If we don't, then watching Wimbeldon finals, world cup finals and British Gold medal ceremonies are going to be few and far between.