Sport as the opiate of the people

While our young people are channelled into sport other activities are ignored. It is often the case that children who are not athletic are relegated to exploring the life of the spirit. They do this out of a feeling of unworthiness, of alienation from the tribe and they sit in the playground reading above their years. They are not selected to be prefects or head boys or girls; they are the nerds, the chess players, the musicians, the writers of poetry, the arts tasters.

They do not understand why someone would frame a sports jersey and hang it on the wall. They resent the enormous funds spent on the Olympic games and on huge sports stadia they will never attend. They seek out a tribe of their own and talk guiltily of the arts as if they are engaged in subversive activity.

But these rejects from the world of sport have been given the richer life. Their understanding of the humanities have made them human and they live in a lasting gift that accompanies them to the grave. They need not live the rest of their lives from a brief flash of fame.

Much of the above must be tempered because it is all a matter of degree. My innate snobbishness, earned from being a sporting reject myself and many hours reading in the playground, I am biased. I have known the extremes in people, the academic who was so obsessed by the life of the mind that he made a show of neglecting the body. The men who can only speak of sport and think of sport. Many find a middle ground and celebrate both the body and the mind.

Still, sports occupy a large part of the public consciousness and one wonders if Australia can be a serious nation.