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I must admit that I am not a great sports fan these days. Gone are the days that I would always watch Match of the Day, most F1 Races and Tennis which I only could really start enjoying once Tim Henman was knocked out as he inevitably was.

But this past weekend, three sporting events gave me cause to sit and ponder exactly why I had lost interest in watching sport on TV and I came to an interesting discovery…

It’s the Professionalism I can’t stand

On the surface we would all want our British sportsmen and women to be highly professional and their performances very consistent or do we really ?

Professional Politicians at Westminster with their eyes constantly focused on developing their careers rather than the job they were elected to do, have destroyed British Democracy, we now live in an “Elected Dictatorship” of a potential 5 year duration.

No Government will ever again be bought down by a backbench rebellion, it wouldn’t fit in with their “career development plans” of MP, to Junior Minister to Cabinet and possibly, the “Top Job”.

In fact and in the future, the only way for the electorate to change the sitting Government early will likely be by assassination of sufficient Government backbench MPs until their majority has been literally buried or cremated. So professionalism can have a negative as well as a positive side to it.

Tennis

I can make jokes about Tim Henman who likely made a decent living whilst playing even though he never made it to the ‘top’ of his game. Technically he was very good but his Achilles Heel was his temperament, in the end he became painful to watch although I am sure Wimbledon Lawn Tennis was grateful for the additional ticket sales he created.

In comparison, Andy Murray is a delight to watch and his achievements to date, do indeed speak of a future greatness lurking so that even though he hasn’t yet got a Grand Slam, you know he will bring one down sooner rather than later.

To me the greatest tennis I’ve ever seen were the Borg/Connors Men’s Finals and the reason was that they were great contests with true heroes, both flawed but, both capable of winning and great gladiatorial spectacles with no certain outcome at the outset.

However skilful they may be technically, the Navratalova, Sampras, Williams Sisters type of tennis was and is far too boring to watch. Yes it is sport but also because of the money involved “Sport as Theatre” and in this context, it lacks any drama or heroic context though I am sure that the bookies make money on the outcomes…

Football, Formula One, Cricket…

Looking back the same applied to Football where it became obvious that only a handful of rich clubs could/would ever win the various Trophies and Titles, the rest just make up the numbers. Formula One became pretty much the same when it just turned into a Ferrari and Schumacher procession around most circuits in a season which may seem a bit unfair as he was most likely, the greatest F1 driver of all time.

Although when younger, I loved playing Cricket because it is a wonderful and very sociable game to play, I only became interested in watching it as a spectator some years ago when a friend of mine occasionally used to take me to see Test Cricket or some of the NatWest Trophy games when he had spare tickets. I must admit, Lords in particular on a sunny day that turns into a balmy evening, is a delight whatever the outcome.

My Father loved Cricket and we had great fun in “That Summer” when England won the Ashes in what was a roller coaster ride of a series.

Reminded Me of Fun

England won a friendly match at Wembley as a warm up for a more serious event this Wednesday in terms of World Cup qualification. For once England played well as a team and that was enjoyable and unlike past matches, not one “best watched from behind the sofa !”

In the Cricket, England who have had a thoroughly miserable West Indies Tour, had been humiliated in the third One Day International, on Sunday came out fighting in the fourth and levelled the series with the fifth now as the series decider.

Considering the talent they have in the squad, just like the England Football Team, the one thing they are consistent in is their total inconsistency which as we have a busy summer of Cricket, should prove both amusing and sometimes highly frustrating.

Formula One

My son Michael is a dedicated fan of Formula One, I had become rather bored with it all quite sometime ago until this weekend with the first race of a new season, the Australian Grand Prix.

It had the story and drama of Honda pulling out of F1and a new team born from the ashes and very much at the last moment – the Brawn Team. A British driver in Jenson Button who had promised much earlier in his career, rather like David Coultard but similarly, had sort of stalled. In fact both him and his team mate Rubens, didn’t know whether they would even still be in the game only a few weeks back.

With help from Mercedes and McLaren it would seem, they got their car together into a very fast package and in an often dramatic race, Brawn got a One-Two podium win, Button made good and perhaps, his career will now fly.

But there was another inspiring story too in Lewis Hamilton. Neither McLaren nor Ferrari have got their new cars “right yet” and it may well take quite a few more races before either come up to the pace. In fact and because of a gearbox change, Hamilton started from 18^th on the grid and towards the end of the race, looked as though he would finish 6^th and in the points, a remarkable achievement.

But then fate took a hand and because two drivers collided taking each other out of the race and another having slid off the track and then overtook Hamilton behind the Safety Car, Lewis ended up in third place which as his boss said was a remarkable result for him and the Team given the awful package he had to drive – I love that unpredictability, sport as theatre needs all of that !

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