S P O RT Is it luck, or history?
ifty-odd years ago an Australian historian called Donald Horne wrote a book called The Lucky Country. In it he argued that Australia was a country run by second-rate politicians and folk generally who lacked creativity and curiosity, and operated “in a social climate largely inimical to excellence”. Despite this, Horne was forced reluctantly to admit, luck had serendipitously befriended Australia and its people. Almost by default, it had become widely prosperous and peaceful. Luck, in other words, had come knocking on Australia’s door rather than Australia proving to be the meritocratic equal of other societies in the world. It was lucky, if you like, in the very worst sense.
Sounding a little like a caricature of an ageing misanthrope, Horne bemoaned the fact in later years that the book’s title had been misinterpreted, for many missed the nuance and understood the book literally. The book, in fact, became part of Australia’s self-definition, not only as being a lucky country but also one conspicuously blessed. Few were interested in Horne’s jeremiads on the subject of the mediocrity of private and public life. Rather they wanted to believe in their luck and its capacity to transform. Horne’s book became a strange and unintended symptom of what it in part condemned. The Lucky Country became a lucky book, sometimes for all the wrong reasons.
Nowhere is the lucky country more at home than on the sports field, or so goes the theory. This might be due to Australia’s widespread egalitarianism, but could also have to do with historically deep notions of comradeship and support, the mateship of the range. Whether this is actually the case or not, Australian teams always give the impression that they are stronger than the sum of their parts.
The reason for this is not only that the sportsmen are invariably good rugby players and cricketers; it is because the emotional and spiritual context in which they play is an untroubled one. The path into the past is intact, stretching backwards like the tar road First line Second line Third line JP Pietersen, Percy Montgomery and Bryan Habana Springboks have a reasonable chance of repeating their 2007 triumph