In the past few months we have witnessed the re-run of various matches in numerous sports. We have been shown our friends favourite albums and pictures of them playing sport. New Podcasts have popped up, some good, some dreadful, some totally irrelevant to the organisation that they represent. They have been interesting times.
One thing that hopefully this period has made many people appreciate, is that when sport is produced and presented well it is great. When it isn’t…
During this period of isolation it has been interesting to view the reactions and answers to many of the sports that have requested people to name their best team, or best players.
What has shone through clearly is that some sports are truly global. Others can only aspire to that claim.
Football quite rightly claims it is the World Game.
In various polls during this time be it naming a top five players or the best team nearly every single response features players from across the globe.
Cricket is a game that is not played in as many countries as Football but it too has seen players named who hail from India, Australia, the West Indies, England, South Africa, New Zealand and Pakistan. This showed that in the countries where the sport is played the fans are knowledgeable, and respect talent no matter where it comes from.
In some other sports it has been sad to witness the parochialism that exists when the public are asked to name their best players. While this may be understandable to an extent, it reveals a great deal.
It shows that these sports do not have the coverage or reach that many believe that they do. That fans are clearly not as well educated on the sport as a whole as they are in their own region. More importantly it revealed just how much work needs to be done in this area for these sports to be accepted as being a truly global sport.
It is sad to see regions of the world selecting primarily from those in their own backyard, lacking the impartiality that is so evident amongst football and cricket fans alike.
Why is this so?
Is it a subconscious lashing out at the rest of the world? Is it born out of fear, that to promote a player from another region would be a sign of weakness? That it would be admitting that your region is inferior? Or does it more worryingly reveal an underlying global mistrust, and insecurity in relation to the other playing nations?
The sad truth is based on these innocent polls very few sports that can honestly claim to be global. Even a sport as popular as Basketball in a top five players only one player was likely to feature from outside the USA. How did your spot fair?
