Sporting moments that prove greater than sport itself
Joss Miller looks at some sporting moments that are greater than sport.
SPORT entertains and enthrals. Players and athletes with unique talents and skills perform their craft at the highest level often providing magnificent spectacles for the viewing public. Exciting though these competitions are, the outcome of most games and events blur over a period of weeks and years and are generally difficult if not impossible to recall.
Sometimes however, albeit rarely, a particular event becomes forever memorable because of some extraordinary factors that elevate it beyond the purely sporting realm.
Of recent note was the magnificent win by India against Australia in the fourth and final cricket test at the Gabba ground in Brisbane. With a combination of courage and skill and against all odds they humbled the Australians to win the series outright. This was no normal victory. In the first test match in Adelaide, the Indian first innings succumbed for the embarrassing low total of 36.
Shortly after, their captain and star batsman Virat Kohli returned to India for family reasons.
Most commentators had written them off at this point. However, they regrouped and managed to win the second test, clung on for a draw in the third and the rest is now history. An achievement even greater, given several of India’s top line bowlers were unavailable through injury and young and relatively inexperienced players had to step up, which they did admirably.
Despite some hostile Australian fast bowling, the Indian batsman performed with grit and determination for a nailbiting win.
This was the first time since 1988 that Australia had lost at this ground.
What also stood out was the professionalism and humility of the Indian players and the calm and determined manner in which they reached their goal.
A rugby match in 2008 between the All Blacks and Munster was memorable even though the local team were considered rank outsiders to win at odds of 33:1.
The venue was Thomond Park, Limerick in The Republic of Ireland.
There, an extremely large crowd maintained absolute silence whenever a penalty kick was taken by either team. No jeering, boos or insults being directed towards the kicker. Just silence. Pure, golden silence. And what a game. A great and rugged contest. The red shirts of Munster repelled the All Blacks and led for most of the game until the final few minutes, when the All Blacks scored a try to win 1816. Both teams had played themselves to a standstill in upholding the true spirit of the game. Even though the hopes and dreams of the Munster crowd were dashed, they stood and equally applauded the courageous efforts of both sides.
Here was a rare beacon of light showing that common courtesy and respect will always be greater than any game. Of note, 30 years earlier in 1978 Munster, against all odds, defeated the All Blacks 120 and this game became part of rugby folk lore. This victory was the inspiration for a play by local playwright John Breen, entitled Alone it Stands.
Scottish athlete Eric Liddell put his religious faith ahead of possible Olympic glory in refusing to run in the heats of the 100m at the Paris Olympic games in 1924 because they took place on a Sunday. This was his favoured event.
Despite this, a few days later he went on to win gold in the 400m, setting a world and Olympic record.
His story is told in the movie Chariots of Fire, along with England’s Harold Abrahams, who won gold in the 100m.
New Zealander Arthur Porritt was a beneficiary of Liddell’s withdrawal from the 100m, coming third in that event. Eric Liddell spent most of the rest of his life as a missionary in China, dying tragically in a Japanese internment camp in 1945. He was a man whose personal faith took precedence over sporting success.
These are but a few examples of something greater than just sport.