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Image is (almost) everything

By Bronwyn Magdulski - posted Monday, 5 September 2005


We ask our sporting stars to be many things at once - “the package”. We apparently want them to be successful in their chosen sport, ALL of the time. We also seem to want them to be good role models such that they behave in a manner that seats them comfortably on the moral high ground - ALL of the time.

We don’t want to hear about the details or the reasons why they aren’t perfect. We criticise them for what we see - out of context. If George Gregan’s Wallabies don’t win, then we criticise a selection of Gregan’s personal statistics that support our opinion and question whether he should remain as Wallabies captain. If Ricky Ponting’s team looks like they may lose the Ashes, then we criticise his ability to captain a successful team. We don’t care that any of the remaining 14 or 10 players may not have done their job brilliantly, and we wouldn’t place such scrutiny on “form slumps” if the teams were winning. Never even mind that a win or loss doesn’t occur in a vacuum - there’s always a competitor.

We want perfection.

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Don’t we?

But what is perfection? Do we even know what it is we want these people to achieve on and off the sporting arena? And if they ever did attain that elusive perfection would we feel robbed? After all, aren’t the criticism and dissection of performances, and the ability to gloat when our team wins one of the highlights of a “sports fan’s” experience?

Whether or not we believe that a high profile should generate income for athletes, sponsors, investors, punters, media owners and so on, the fact of the matter is it does. Rightly or wrongly, it’s also true that fans and politicians benefit from the success of high profile teams they align themselves with. This benefit may be financial, or it may be emotional. The aura of success and national pride and so on that a win in sport can generate can be and regularly is, exploited by public figures to enhance their own image.

The drawing power lies in the high profile factor, not in the success alone. Anna Kournikova is an example of that. Some success is a necessary ingredient to bring an athlete to the attention of the public and the sponsors, but it isn’t enough on its own.

Quite frankly we barely recognise athletes who just plug away at training and quietly go about winning their events. They need to be controversial or beautiful to be intriguing to us.

Perhaps the power and influence of a sporting hero or heroic team has something to do with “sex sells”, and the idealism of youth and good health. The connotations surely can’t hurt.

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Print media headlines claimed Australia even forgave Shane Warne his extra-sporting indiscretions when he claimed his 600th test wicket in the Poms’ own backyard.

Image is perhaps not everything, but it’s an awful lot. An image is what sells - and image is what the public knows. Reality and harsh truths are hidden at least in part, but the public sees an image that is presented to them in a format that may be mistaken for being a candid diary.

Fans want success - but consistent success. An athlete that is too close to perfect, can arouse suspicion and resentment. Look how the public jumped on Grant Hackett’s star performance at the Montreal swimming world championships in July. Headlines were asking us “Ian who?” and questioning whether Hackett was the new Thorpe. Why are we so quick to knock Thorpe off his blocks? There’s room enough up there for both of them, and many more.

In Australia fans can be fickle. We love an athlete one week and hate them the next. We turn feral in a heartbeat. We’re lucky enough to have selective memories too. Fans of Australian tennis can turn against a star like Lleyton Hewitt very quickly when they see him doing what they interpret as misbehaving on court. Most people, if it was put to them, would agree that the psychological aspect of sport is very important, and I know some athletes are at their best when they use psychological motivational cues enthusiastically. Some people don’t view Hewitt’s behaviour as a personal motivator that’s got a bit out of hand - they deride it as plain bad sportsmanship. When Lleyton is quiet, his game tends to suffer. When Jai Taurima was slapping his legs and yelling before a jump, he won the Olympic silver medal. When he was quiet he’d more likely foul his jump.

How does an athlete maintain the rage - so to speak - for long enough to cross the finish line satisfied they’ve left every speck of energy and aggression, motivation and dedication behind it? How can an athlete perform in a way that satisfies the fans AND behave in a way that is perfect as well - all of the time?

I suggest they can’t, because “perfection” in the eyes of the fans is fluid.

There is no shortage of callers to talk back radio, and letters to the editor from sports consumers expressing their disgust at the behaviour of athletes. Why do these people not speak with their hands and feet and turn the television off, or walk out of the ground where the game is being played? If you don’t like it - don’t watch it. Don’t listen to it. That way you are voicing your opinion in the most effective way. Ratings talk.

Or - more likely - sports fans don’t want perfection. Maybe they want something to complain about and criticise. Maybe that is actually an integral part of the sporting experience. If your team loses is it obligatory to blame the referee, the coach, the captain, the team doctor, the out of favour athlete?

What’s the use of going to the footy with your mates if you can’t sit down at the pub afterwards and analyse the mistakes of the players, criticise the way the coaches chose positions or tactics, or even suggest they were wrong to hold a training camp at an unsuitable altitude as if we were altitude experts? What is there to join us in conversation on Monday morning if it isn’t scandals, such as whether or not half the Wallabies should be sacked because they’re too old, or whether the video referee needs to be used more often because the on-field referees are obviously useless?

All one needs to do is sit at a sporting event and listen out for someone from the fabled breed of the “armchair expert”. These people will commentate on the rules, the marking, the positioning, the techniques, and the physical and mental shape of the athletes. Sometimes they’re right, sometimes they’re outrageously wrong. Generally there are others from their breed who may engage with them in a loud debate on the sidelines. That’s ok though, because they contribute to the atmosphere of the event, and they help generate debate - and hence publicity - for their chosen sport.

We need the “armchair experts”, the “sports fans”, and the scandal. We need something besides religion and politics to debate over our beers, lattes, cuppas or sports waters. We need the intrigue, the skill, the blood, sweat and tears, the wins and losses (and the draws), and we need to see that our sporting celebrities aren’t immune to being as human - as we are.

We aren’t paying money to see our sporting heroes win - we’re paying them to entertain us - and that’s a lot bigger picture than a simple on-field performance.

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About the Author

Bronwyn Magdulski, a member of the Australian bobsleigh team, is a lawyer and former residential supervisor at the Australian Institute of Sport. She is a co-host of Local ABC Radio’s Grandstand program with Tim Gavel.

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Bronwyn Magdulski

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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