If we are to become a truly great sporting nation, Australians need to get better at losing.
Much of the world would have rejoiced if the Socceroos had gone through to the quarter finals of the World Cup. The event thrives on giant killers and outsiders that go a long way. It’s happened before, and in recent tournaments the world cheered on South Korea, Croatia, Cameroon and Romania as they took on the traditional giants of football.
Winning the final is not the only measure of success. The Socceroos gave their matches all they had and Australia is rightly proud of the team.
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However, there is an ugly side to the Australian love of sport that has come out once again. The knee-jerk reaction to losing a game is that the referee supports the other team or that the rules must be wrong. Australians need to learn to accept losing with much more grace.
This time around we saw Harry Kewell berating the referee after the match against Brazil and the media complaining about unfair decisions after all the matches, especially the Italy game.
Referees can get things wrong. They do not have a variety of camera angles, with replays and reverse angles. Referees make split second decisions, based purely on what they can see and under enormous pressure. On top of that, they follow the ball over the entire pitch, unlike the players who at least get to slow down when the ball is away from them.
So, mistakes are inevitable and go with the territory. Most are small, but every now and then a refereeing error influences the outcome of a game. That’s unfortunate, but it’s also unavoidable and all countries have to learn to live with it.
The Australian media, up to and including the normally more mature ABC, have had a field day picking apart the refereeing of Australian matches during the World Cup. This adds fuel to the growing trend of poor sporting behaviour from elite sportspeople to school sports clubs.
Unfortunately the World Cup is the latest in a long history that demonstrates an inability to accept refereeing decisions and accept losing sometimes.
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In the 2001 US Openm Lleyton Hewitt, who was playing the African-American James Blake, insisted that a Black linesman be changed after he called two foot-faults against Hewitt.
It is now customary for crowds to boo the winning team in Rugby League’s State of Origin if the winners are playing on the opposing state’s territory.
And the intensity of the complaints rises if Australia loses to the old enemy - England. Here the second line of defence is employed - the rules are wrong. In 2003, thanks partly to the exceptional boot of Jonny Wilkinson, England won the Rugby World Cup final against Australia, in Australia. The media and public unanimously declared that a drop goal was not a real goal and the rules should be changed to prevent a repeat of this kind of win.
When England won the Ashes in 2005, for the first time since the 1980s, Ricky Ponting hit out at England’s use of substitutes and demanded that the rules be revisited.
On the other side of the ledger, Australia has used the rules to its advantage. Who can forget Trevor Chappell’s infamous use of the rules for his underarm bowling that won the 1981 One-Day International against New Zealand?
Other countries are also guilty of not accepting refereeing decisions. Mention Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal to any England fan and see what happens. 1986 is a long time ago and it may be time to move on. (But just to be clear, Maradona did use his hand!)
These kinds of incidents can be described ad nauseam, at least as far back as Bodyline and probably further. The essential point is that we - media, players and the public - need to accept that referees are fallible and that the rules of a game are what they are. To pretend that either amounts to a conspiracy against Australia or that somehow these things always penalise Australia disproportionately, is simply childish.
The real damage done by the media’s complaints and elite sportspeople like Kewell and Hewitt castigating referees and umpires is the example it sets. It gives the impression that sport is only about winning and that whining and complaining is the only response to losing. It inspires the next generation of sportspeople to think that abusing the referee and the rules is acceptable. We shouldn’t be surprised that children’s sports matches now regularly turn in to punch-ups, which increasingly centre on the referee.
Perhaps a leaf should be taken from another football World Cup story. England won the 1966 World Cup against West Germany (and don’t we know it). Studies of match footage show that England’s third goal did not actually cross the line. Had the correct refereeing decision been made, West Germany may well have won the 1966 World Cup. But when did you last hear a German mention that?