They say that the heroes you have from the time you are 13 years old are the heroes that stay with you the rest of your life.
Hopefully you have paused and thought about that for a second, and contemplated who was your hero when you were aged 11,12 or 13 and wondered how you rate them against the sports stars of today.
If we asked sports fans over the age of 40 who their heroes were the chances are we would be given a wide range of names. The number of names would become far more limited amongst those aged 30-40 and even more concentrated among those under the age of 30. If you don’t believe this statement simply visit the profiles of many up and coming sports stars or aspiring sportsmen and the names will be very limited. Messi, Ronaldo, Federer, Nadal, Steph Curry, Lebron James, Tiger Woods, Tom Brady, are the names that frequently appear.
The question that few who compile these questionnaires ask is why are these sportsmen their hero? What qualities do the aspiring sportsmen admire in the stars they look up to? Is it simply that they are winners? Is it because they are rich? Or is it the admiration that follows them, that they too crave such attention?
It is an interesting fact that currently if you do the same test with females the outcomes are very different. It would appear that the aspiring female athletes have a far wider and more diverse list of heroes; we use that word as ‘heroine’ seems today to be both out-dated, and not the word of choice. With women’s sport moving ahead in leaps and bounds there are all manner of new heroes emerging and many of these are exceptional role models for young women wanting to become involved in sport.
Once again with such a difference one wonders why those driving women’s sport would want to couple themselves to the men’s administration? Sure, it makes sense in terms of clubs having men’s and women’s teams, but one feels that in time this diversity of role models and heroes could also be lost, and that would be a great shame.
When one looks at the dearth of male sporting heroes one has to ask what has changed? Is it the win-at-all-cost attitudes of teams and sportsmen today? Is it the money that is now available? Is this why there is little or no room for personalities to shine through? Is it the styles of play that have been adopted in many sports that have nullified many of the other players impact and influence?
In the past year we witnessed the passing of many truly great sportsmen. Many, as is the habit when they pass away, becoming greater than they possibly were after death.
Basket-baller Kobe Bryant was one lost in 2020, aged just 41. Diego Maradona left us aged 60, many will argue he was the greatest footballer of them all. Certainly the scorer of the best individual world cup goal. Another World Cup star in Italian Paolo Rossi also passed away aged just 64 after succumbing to lung cancer.
There were plenty of household names from the world of football that were lost in 2020, Jack Charlton and Nobby Stiles, two world cup winning players for England. Gone too were goalkeepers Ray Clemence, Harry Gregg and Peter Bonetti. Leeds United lost club legend Norman Hunter and Trevor Cherry in 2020 and this year Peter Lorimer. Liverpool’s former coach Gerard Houllier also passed away. Coaches are often forgotten, but there is no doubt that Houllier would be rated by many as their favourite coach.
Australian cricketer Dean Jones was just 59 years old when he suffered a heart-attack from which he did not recover. Also closing his innings was Sir Everton Weekes from the West Indies, who was 95 years old. Racing Driver Stirling Moss, whose name lived on well past his racing days was 90 years of age when he died last year.
Nearly all of these would have been heroes to many.
So why are there so few heroes today?
Has the world of sport become too sanitised, that now all we see or hear about are what the athletes management, clubs and sponsors want us to see or hear? Are the broadcasters a part of the propaganda machine, having to kowtow to the management or they will be denied access to the said star?
How much has the abundance of cameras at sporting games had an impact on the behaviour of players? Is it for the best or has it been detrimental? The argument is that this is what the fans at home want, they want to feel that they are a fly on the wall in the dressing room and part of the whole game day experience, yet why should they have such access? Does it really add to the viewing experience?
To be in that dressing room on a match day is an honour. It is something that all of the players inside that room have worked extremely hard to achieve, so why should that access be given away? What right do those of us outside of that team have to know what is said or what rituals a player or a team goes through on a game day?
It was great to hear that one Olympic team after receiving their gold medals banished anyone who was not a part of the team set up from their celebrations. Only those who had been a part of the team could stay for the celebrations. The administrators were not allowed in, only those who had contributed to that success. All who were there have said it was a very special moment, and that this decision was made because one person realised that it was unlikely that they would all ever have the chance to be in the same room together ever again. To date that prediction has proven to be true!
Are the true sporting characters a thing of the past? Do coaches now see them as ‘problem players’ because they have the vision and ability that others do not possess, and are thus labelled ‘not a team player?’
How much has media-coaching taken away from learning more about our potential heroes? Jose Mourinho whether you love him or hate him has ripped up the media guide book and that is why he has the profile he has. He may polarise opinion, but even those who dislike him will admit that at times his honesty is refreshing and his passion for the game is clear.
It seems ironic that television and the media, the two things that have the ability to elevate players to superstar status are in fact the two things that are possibly taking the characters and heroes out of the game. As the players are never allowed to be themselves because of television and the media. Could this be why the women’s sports have so many diverse heroes, because they have not been gagged completely at this point in time?
As one international cricketer stated, as a fast bowler he was expected to be aggressive. His job was to intimidate and dismiss the batsman. Yet his body language was monitored, the banter between bowler and batsman was monitored, and in his words he felt that the authorities were ‘looking for opportunities to fine me.’ That being the case the fans missed out on a great contest and the player felt inhibited in doing what was essentially his job.
You look back to the 70’s and 80’s and the fans loved the sight of Lillee and Thomson not only bowling at full pace, but also sharing their thoughts with the batsmen! The same was true of the West Indian pacemen, Roberts, Holding, Garner, Marshall, Ambrose, Walsh and Patterson. Is there a single bowler in world cricket today that instils such feelings in batsmen or fans?
Sport needs to have a good look at itself at the moment, as it needs heroes. Sporting heroes are the lifeblood of the game, and the clubs. That select pool of players elevated to hero status has been diminishing for the past 20 years, and it is now becoming extremely limited. Without heroes what do the next generation have to aspire to?
As mentioned earlier, this is one of the reasons why women’s sport is making such headway at the present time, because they have allowed many of their sportspeople a voice, let them be themselves and express themselves on an off the pitch. Only then can they influence those following them.
