Back in days of yore, when I was a lad at College, the headmaster of the time had this idea that we would all benefit by playing a team sport.
It is here, he reasoned, that we would learn that timely spirit of cooperation and good old fashion esprit-de-corp. Before 3rd form, I had tried team sports (both rugby and soccer) and failed to impress in any way shape or form (as they say).
In the 2nd form, I took to running and found my niche in the personal realms of individual sport (don’t ya love redundancy!). I was at heart an individualist. The odd relay gave me all the taste of steamy teaminess that I needed.
So I was, in the 3rd form, miffed to hear the head preach about the values of team sport and stuck to my guns, pursuing my interest in track and cross-country running.
The news of the fracas at a recent schoolboy rugby match and the ongoing outrageous behaviour by parents and supports at these team games only serves to strengthen my conviction, that the nicest and most generous of people are found in the domains of individual sport and particularly in the sphere of middle and long distance running and race walking.
Back in 1956, in Melbourne, Ron Clarke tripped and fell in a mile race. As John Landy stepped over him he accidently spiked him. Landy stopped and helped Clarke to his feet checking that he was alright. In spite of losing some 30 metres on the field, he went on to win the race. He had been on target for world record, but disregaded that to assist a fellow athlete. Quite a contrast to the constant news of fracas in these rugby games! Landy went on to become the Governor of the State of Victoria.
Schoolboy rugby fight 1
Schoolboy rugby fight 2 Watch these! Yep! espirt-de-corp folks!!
Rugby fights
Seldom do you hear of runners being thrown out of a pub and/or being involved in some unfortunate sexual liaisons. Runners and walkers are the most intelligent of all sports people – men and women of immense self-discipline who employ all their cognitive acumen to compete strategically and successfully.
The names of those middle-distance people in the past who go on to fame in other areas are innumerable.
Murray Halberg, Peter Snell, Roger Bannister, Ron Clarke, John Landy, Haile Gebrsellassie, Herb Elliott, Kip keino, Sebastian Coe, and …
Well I rest my case!
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
The Song of the Ungirt Runners
We swing ungirded hips,
And lightened are our eyes,
The rain is on our lips,
We do not run for prize.
We know not whom we trust
Nor whitherward we fare,
But we run because we must
Through the great wide air.
The waters of the seas
Are troubled as by storm.
The tempest strips the trees
And does not leave them warm.
Does the tearing tempest pause?
Do the tree-tops ask it why?
So we run without a cause'
Neath the big bare sky.
The rain is on our lips,
We do not run for prize.
But the storm the water whips
And the wave howls to the skies.
The winds arise and strike it
And scatter it like sand,
And we run because we like it
Through the broad bright land.
Charles Hamilton Sorley
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