The game is the winner
If only real life could be more like competing in a sports event, writes Mark Barnes
The Alt toggle on my DStv decoder remote was getting a good workout last Sunday. The Proteas were playing India in the T20 World Cup in Australia (a critical game in log standings for the semifinals), while the Blue Bulls were playing the Sharks in the Rugby Championships at Loftus Versfeld. Both contests went through alternating fortunes, with the cricket going down to the final three balls. Exciting stuff.
At times I could feel, if not hear, my heart beating at full tilt. I was getting a thorough workout lying on the couch, the second-best exercise you could hope for on an otherwise lazy Sunday afternoon.
Sport can do that, and we can learn a lot from it.
Supporting your local sports team gives you a sense of identity and belonging. You can wear the jersey, dress in the colours, and generally include yourself in the other rituals and behaviour of the tribe that is your team supporters.
Other than national sides, we support teams not just because that’s where we come from. I support the Blue Bulls because I was included in a school trip to watch them in Standard 6 — my first experience of rugby at that level. I’ve never looked back. I’ve never changed allegiance and I never will.
I support Manchester United because I knew their goalkeeper at university. Soccer boasts some of the most fanatical fans, probably because it’s accessible to all levels of society. You only need a ball and a gap for a goal to play. A dusty street makes a pretty good pitch.
We can see ourselves kicking that winning goal or sinking that critical putt, just once, that the pros do so regularly. Sport requires only talent and determination, with scant regard for birth-wealth, title or social standing to have a shot at the big league. We all know people who have played at the highest level. We imagine we could too. Some of us can play.
We can all be good sports.
Our teams are our warriors, our gladiators, our national anthems, our war cries, though the score is kept on a board, not in the morgue.
In sport there is common purpose, which is clearly defined and non-negotiable. You can’t strike if you don’t like the score; you can’t take the score to court. Violence (though frequently resorted to on and off the field) is an unacceptable dispute resolution mechanism.
In sport, we have rules and referees (equipped with nothing more threatening than a whistle). Their decision is final.
Common purpose is derived from a clear and unambiguous definition of the end result. There’s an equal-opportunity starting point, but not equally matched sides and there are rules to decide draws.
Winning is great but losing is accepted with grace. This happens within a fairly peaceful environment in view of thousands if not millions of spectators and, win or lose, there’s handshaking if not hugging between the sides. The game is the winner.
Why don’t we behave like this in everday life?
In sport, if you break the rules you get penalised, disqualified, dismissed or even banned from competing. No deferrals, no bail applications, no parole — go to the sin bin and do your time.
Breaking the rules in life starts a process (if you get caught) that can be interfered with and might take years to solve, depending on who you are. In sport you’re a number and you wear that on your back, so we know where you are and what you’re up to.
Cheating is not allowed. Cheats are made outcasts, no matter how talented. It’s just not done. In some sports, such as golf (where you may not always be in your opponent’s company and are required to keep your score), cheating is up to you. You can get away with it, but the punishment is worse — you’ll have to live with your conscience and the knowledge that you didn’t really win.
In life, particularly in business, many cheats are rewarded, and applauded. You know who you are. Shame on you.
Sport is fun and gets you fit. There’s little else in life where that happens.
Maybe we should import some of the principles from our sports fields into our everyday lives, social norms and cultures.
South Africa is a complex ecosystem of many differences and not enough intersections. If you want to fix it, look no further than sport — we mix it up and we win
— common purpose, national pride.