ANDY’S A BRIT.. UNTIL HE LOSES
Finally we have proof.. Murray is British if he wins, Scots if he loses
It’s been a gripe among the country’s sports fans for years.
Our heroes are referred to by commentators as British when they win – and Scottish when they lose.
Now researchers at a French university have found that our suspicions are correct.
The phenomenon has been identified by psychologists as MOAT in g–which stands for Moving Others Away/ Towards.
And academics from Bourgogne University’s social psychology department in Dijon say a leading example is Dunblane- born tennis champ Andy Murray. A new study – entitled Is Andy Murray More British Than Scottish? It Depends On His Success – found MOATing was common in the sports world.
It stated: “Albert Einstein once said, ‘ If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. “Should my theory prove untrue, France will say I am a German and Germany will declare I am a Jew.’
“About a century after, the case of Andy Murray, a Scottish-born tennis player, illustrates this phenomenon in a similar manner.
“That is, before achieving the status of star player in 2012, he was essentially described as Scottish by news reporters.
“But, following an unsurpassed series of victories (the US Open, Wimbledon, the 2012 Olympic Games, Davis Cup for the English team, Masters of London, world’s No1 player in 2016), reactions from the media drastically changed.
“Later on, Murray hence became systematically portrayed as a British national.”
The paper – which measured perception of national identity of a fictitious athlete depending on his success that confirmed MOATing happened – also said the phenomenon was first identified after Olympic drug cheat Ben Johnson’s fall from grace.
The disgraced sprinter was stripped of his gold medal in the 1988 Games in Seoul, South Korea, after getting caught doping.
In the aftermath of his downfall, Canadian media stopped calling him Canadian and started referring to him as Jamaican, the country where he was born.
The research, published in the journal Psychological Reports, said MOATing could also be found in other spheres such as science and politics. Other examples in the study included linking former US president Barack Obama with his Kenyan ancestors and former French president Nicholas Sarkozy with his Hungarian background when things weren’t going well for the politicians.
Study author, associate professor Iouri Bernache-Assollant, said: “Andy Murray is a great example of MOATing. After he found success, he was portrayed very positively in media and more often than not as British.”
Commentator Archie Macpherson, who was in Seoul covering t he Olympics in 1988, said: “This phenomenon isn’t new and I’ve seen it many times over the years.
“Just about every Scot who is successful in the Olympics goes from being Scottish to British.
“I’m thinking of people like sprinter Allan Well sand cyclist Chris Hoy. There are various reasons, such as the London-based press writing more about them. But it really comes down to people wanting to identify with success.
“It’s only natural that people would claim successful athletes as their own and that means trying to find common ground such as nationality. Contrastingly, that might also see them distance themselves from them if they fail.”