Being, as I am, a simple man I do quite enjoy sports. Not so much playing them, alas my passion for that was killed many years ago. But watching them.
It is while enjoying the IRB Rugby World Cup 2011 that I wondered if sports could not be used to solve international disputes.
You see, war, well war is a terrible thing. Hideously, grotesquely expensive not just in terms of actually monetary wealth but in terms of life as well. And not just human life either, let us consider that ‘collateral damage’ must also include animal life too. It makes you wonder why, instead of investing massive amounts on weapons, the technology of killing, the science of killing, the psychology of killing and invading. Why do we not, instead, invest all that money in sports?
I don’t think it is too farfetched an idea, indeed both methods of international dispute resolution are as redundant and futile as the other. But sports, like military training, pits one group or team against another. Sports training, like military training, has a great deal of emphasis on discipline and hierarchy. Sports training, like military training requires the participant to be physically fit and mentally sharp. They are essentially one and them same thing. Except one can be fun, and one most certainly isn’t unless there is something dreadfully wrong with you.
What is more, there is less dehumanisation involved in sport. When you are on the pitch/field/area of play the atmosphere may well be hostile, passions may flare, sparks may ignite little battles, but once time is called you can all be friends again and go share a drink and a meal. Unlike with war whereby, if you are the victorious party, you will presumably have very few people to go share a drink and a meal with. Indeed you may very well not have anywhere to go to get a meal, because you’ve bombed it.
It is while enjoying the IRB Rugby World Cup 2011 that I wondered if sports could not be used to solve international disputes.
You see, war, well war is a terrible thing. Hideously, grotesquely expensive not just in terms of actually monetary wealth but in terms of life as well. And not just human life either, let us consider that ‘collateral damage’ must also include animal life too. It makes you wonder why, instead of investing massive amounts on weapons, the technology of killing, the science of killing, the psychology of killing and invading. Why do we not, instead, invest all that money in sports?
I don’t think it is too farfetched an idea, indeed both methods of international dispute resolution are as redundant and futile as the other. But sports, like military training, pits one group or team against another. Sports training, like military training, has a great deal of emphasis on discipline and hierarchy. Sports training, like military training requires the participant to be physically fit and mentally sharp. They are essentially one and them same thing. Except one can be fun, and one most certainly isn’t unless there is something dreadfully wrong with you.
What is more, there is less dehumanisation involved in sport. When you are on the pitch/field/area of play the atmosphere may well be hostile, passions may flare, sparks may ignite little battles, but once time is called you can all be friends again and go share a drink and a meal. Unlike with war whereby, if you are the victorious party, you will presumably have very few people to go share a drink and a meal with. Indeed you may very well not have anywhere to go to get a meal, because you’ve bombed it.
I stress again, both methods are strikingly similar in many ways, and both are as redundant as each other in regards to settling scores. All that is proven when one army is victorious over the other is that one army had better weapons, tactics and/or numbers than the other. All that is settled in sports is that one team had better players, tactics and or training than the other…See how similar it is? If anything sports is a much fairer way of solving disputes but maybe that’s where the problem is.
I’m missing the rugby to write this piece. If it seems at times my thoughts are distracted or being interrupted then that is the reason. But, I just think sport was an evolution. I think sport was mankind evolving a way of conflict so that rather than have blood spilling all over the place and families torn apart by bereavement and destruction of land, homes and habitats - Instead there’s just an hour or so of fun, followed by a friendly handshake and resolution as one team proves itself victorious over the other in the spirit of fairness. I think it’s time we started demanding this. No more war, just sports!
And another thing. If we invested all that money that goes to war in sports the populations in the Western world would be easily able to solve their obesity crisis. I mean, I would gladly sign up for two years compulsory service if all it meant was two years playing football, cricket, rugby etc. and the possibility of playing in an international match for my country and her allies…A lot of men and women would gladly sign up for that! Hell, they’d do it gladly to save them a fortune on gym subscriptions! Our children would be raised in a happier, healthier world where they are taught that even the most serious issues in the world are trivial when there is fun to be had in their resolution. There shall always be conflict, and disagreement. That is a fact. But to say that, as a result, there must always be war is to be completely blind to any other possible solutions or resolution methods. Make sports, not war. That’s the answer.
And another thing. If we invested all that money that goes to war in sports the populations in the Western world would be easily able to solve their obesity crisis. I mean, I would gladly sign up for two years compulsory service if all it meant was two years playing football, cricket, rugby etc. and the possibility of playing in an international match for my country and her allies…A lot of men and women would gladly sign up for that! Hell, they’d do it gladly to save them a fortune on gym subscriptions! Our children would be raised in a happier, healthier world where they are taught that even the most serious issues in the world are trivial when there is fun to be had in their resolution. There shall always be conflict, and disagreement. That is a fact. But to say that, as a result, there must always be war is to be completely blind to any other possible solutions or resolution methods. Make sports, not war. That’s the answer.
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