A collection of a few thoughts.
I want to think about bad sportsmanship, so therefore you get to read about it.
Not in sport, but around it. I feel that if you are a supporter then you should not spend your time 'unsupporting' the opposition, but instead supporting those you feel strongest about. There have been several times in the recent year that I have thought, wait a minute, that's not right. For starters, way back, towards the beginning of the football season, when Ashley Cole had just transferred to Chelsea from Arsenal (getting into trouble with the FA on the way), and when the first time came for Chelsea to go up against the reds, the reds fans decided that the penalties enforced upon Cole were not enough and booed him. And continued to boo him whenever he got the ball. There are multiple other occasions of this happening, even when the transfer has been completely legitimate, and of course, when it hasn't been a transfer, but rather someone who has managed to injure a player, and has continued through the rest of the game being hounded by the fans.
Obviously I can only talk from my perspectives in football, as an Arsenal fan, and from my perspectives in other sport as a British fan. So most of my examples that I'm cross about come from things that I am passionate about anyway. The idea will no doubt be put forward that it is only a game, or only a sport and therefore I shouldn't take it so seriously. To that I say, well yes. That's what I'm asking too, that the diehard fans take a step back and realise that the people they are victimising are people, and have every right to do what ever the hell they want with their lives, even if the fans think that that is detrimental to their team's status, or game playing. I don't see that it's necessary to boo people. In fact I think it's a waste of energy and time, since really the energy the fans are putting into booing the opposition could be quite easily channelled into singing or yelling for the team they support. As opposed to providing 'anti-support'.
Don't get me started on people who waste time complaining about people they don't like in the sports that are solo efforts. It's one thing to object to a team - and I must say that I am not particularly quiet on the subject of Chelsea, although having said that I've been trying to be good about my Chelsea bashing. While they are not my favourite team, they do on occasion play good football, and while I'll admit I was grateful they came out of the last season with as much silverware as we (we in this case, and most cases actually, meaning Arsenal) did, and will also say that I don't like them much I won't actively throw hatred or derision at them. But it's quite another thing to stand there and pour derision and hatred (a word I've been trying to avoid, but just recently that's what it's sounded like) on a solitary person, just because you happen to like someone else better. Just because you happen to be a fan of one person, doesn't mean that gives you the right to abuse, or deride someone who maybe made it slightly more difficult for them. Say, in F1. Kimi Raikkonen ran into the back of Adrian Sutil. It was the worst piece of driving I've seen by a world champion (and I watched F1 when Damon Hill was driving...) and yet, if Sutil didn't punch Kimi in the face for it, then why should anyone else get to complain about it? Yeah, it was a bad outcome, and yes, my father and watched it and said "I would be surprised if someone doesn't punch Kimi in the mouth for that, but Sutil had his upset, and then pulled himself together and headed for the next race. I'm not even going to touch on the last race, it's too soon, and I'd get some angry responses because my thoughts are not the same as those of some other people I know.
Maybe I'm too stuck in a "Would it be nice if everyone was nice" mentality, but I am upset by the amount of bitching and hatred that gets put out there when someone does something stupid, or when someone does something to inconvenience someone else. Name calling, and that sort of thing is unproductive, and is generally put out there by someone who doesn't actually know what they're talking about. For example, when the horrible accident happened to Eduardo in February, it's probable that there were people calling Martin Taylor nasty names but they were the Arsenal fans that actually didn't pay any attention to the fact that he definitely didn't mean it, and was extremely unlucky that the outcome was what it was.
I'm going to stop now, since I should have better things to do. But I needed to write this down, because I feel strongly about it.
Not in sport, but around it. I feel that if you are a supporter then you should not spend your time 'unsupporting' the opposition, but instead supporting those you feel strongest about. There have been several times in the recent year that I have thought, wait a minute, that's not right. For starters, way back, towards the beginning of the football season, when Ashley Cole had just transferred to Chelsea from Arsenal (getting into trouble with the FA on the way), and when the first time came for Chelsea to go up against the reds, the reds fans decided that the penalties enforced upon Cole were not enough and booed him. And continued to boo him whenever he got the ball. There are multiple other occasions of this happening, even when the transfer has been completely legitimate, and of course, when it hasn't been a transfer, but rather someone who has managed to injure a player, and has continued through the rest of the game being hounded by the fans.
Obviously I can only talk from my perspectives in football, as an Arsenal fan, and from my perspectives in other sport as a British fan. So most of my examples that I'm cross about come from things that I am passionate about anyway. The idea will no doubt be put forward that it is only a game, or only a sport and therefore I shouldn't take it so seriously. To that I say, well yes. That's what I'm asking too, that the diehard fans take a step back and realise that the people they are victimising are people, and have every right to do what ever the hell they want with their lives, even if the fans think that that is detrimental to their team's status, or game playing. I don't see that it's necessary to boo people. In fact I think it's a waste of energy and time, since really the energy the fans are putting into booing the opposition could be quite easily channelled into singing or yelling for the team they support. As opposed to providing 'anti-support'.
Don't get me started on people who waste time complaining about people they don't like in the sports that are solo efforts. It's one thing to object to a team - and I must say that I am not particularly quiet on the subject of Chelsea, although having said that I've been trying to be good about my Chelsea bashing. While they are not my favourite team, they do on occasion play good football, and while I'll admit I was grateful they came out of the last season with as much silverware as we (we in this case, and most cases actually, meaning Arsenal) did, and will also say that I don't like them much I won't actively throw hatred or derision at them. But it's quite another thing to stand there and pour derision and hatred (a word I've been trying to avoid, but just recently that's what it's sounded like) on a solitary person, just because you happen to like someone else better. Just because you happen to be a fan of one person, doesn't mean that gives you the right to abuse, or deride someone who maybe made it slightly more difficult for them. Say, in F1. Kimi Raikkonen ran into the back of Adrian Sutil. It was the worst piece of driving I've seen by a world champion (and I watched F1 when Damon Hill was driving...) and yet, if Sutil didn't punch Kimi in the face for it, then why should anyone else get to complain about it? Yeah, it was a bad outcome, and yes, my father and watched it and said "I would be surprised if someone doesn't punch Kimi in the mouth for that, but Sutil had his upset, and then pulled himself together and headed for the next race. I'm not even going to touch on the last race, it's too soon, and I'd get some angry responses because my thoughts are not the same as those of some other people I know.
Maybe I'm too stuck in a "Would it be nice if everyone was nice" mentality, but I am upset by the amount of bitching and hatred that gets put out there when someone does something stupid, or when someone does something to inconvenience someone else. Name calling, and that sort of thing is unproductive, and is generally put out there by someone who doesn't actually know what they're talking about. For example, when the horrible accident happened to Eduardo in February, it's probable that there were people calling Martin Taylor nasty names but they were the Arsenal fans that actually didn't pay any attention to the fact that he definitely didn't mean it, and was extremely unlucky that the outcome was what it was.
I'm going to stop now, since I should have better things to do. But I needed to write this down, because I feel strongly about it.