“There’s a breathless hush in the Close tonight
Ten to make and a match to win
A bumpy pitch and a blinding light
An hour to play and the last man in.
And it’s not for the sake of a ribboned coat
Or the selfish hope of a season’s fame
But his Captain’s hand on his shoulder smote
‘Play up, play up and play the game!’
As a young boy growing up in Govan in the 60’s ‘The Close’ was not some public schoolboy’s hallowed playing field but ‘the close’ was where I stayed! The notion of playing cricket on “a bumpy pitch” was as far removed from my reality as Andy Murray asking me to be his next Doubles Partner!
Fair play?
And yet, even although the setting and the context of Sir Henry Newbolt’s early 20th Century poem was alien to me, his call for ‘fair play’ resonated strongly within me. The idea that sport in whatever arena it was played could allow the little guy his moment in the sun was the stuff of every schoolboy’s dream.
How sport has changed in the century since that poem was first written when Sir Henry was calling for ‘fair play’. In recent years, cycling, athletics, tennis, football and even horse racing have all found themselves making the front pages instead of the back of most newspapers: even as we speak a number of Russian athletes have been banned from the 2016 Olympics for ‘state sponsored drug abuse’. Inevitably, so much of this is inextricably linked back to the lure of the huge financial incentives offered to those ‘winners’ in their relative sports.
How then do we, as teachers, use sport as a stimulus for our pupils to see past the cheats and the marketing to find something noble and inspiring in those many sportsmen and women who achieve greatness?
Perhaps, a starting point would be to consider the realities of the sporting world in which we all live.
How can Malawi expect to compete on equal terms with any western country when it comes to facilities and coaches?
Rio 2016
The Rio 2016 creates a wonderful opportunity to not only find inspiration in the achievements of the athletes but also allows teachers to encourage in their pupils the opportunity to become better global citizens.
When the world’s 62 richest people own the same wealth as the 3.6 billion (yes billion!) poorest people, how can we expect an equal playing field (if you pardon the pun) when it comes to sport? How can Malawi expect to compete on equal terms with any western country when it comes to facilities and coaches? Within Brazil itself, with one of the fastest growing economies in the world, there are huge inequalities which exist between ‘the haves’ in the beautiful Rio suburbs and the ‘have nots’ in the favelas just a few kilometres away.
A sporting chance
To consider what factors might affect a country's chances of winning a medal or participating in an Olympic sport visit Oxfam’s new resource A Sporting Chance. With separate sessions in maths, geography, PE and English, these resources for 9-14 year olds can be used in both a subject-specific and cross-curricular way. Creative teaching ideas for other areas across the curriculum are also available.
As teachers we should be encouraging our pupils to aspire to being the best they can be whether in sport or any other field whilst acknowledging that 21st century sport and globalisation are inextricably linked.
The best they can be
As teachers we should be encouraging our pupils to aspire to being the best they can be whether in sport or any other field, whilst acknowledging that 21st century sport and globalisation are inextricably linked. We can still encourage our young people to dream whilst extolling the athletic prowess of (real) sporting heroes. However, we should also ensure that they are aware that sport is part of the real world and in the real world inequality of opportunity both in sport and in life still exists.
