Let the spectacle of sport prevail
Ravi Dhaliwal

IN sport, passion and competitiveness are not anybody’s copyright. They cannot be, for it would be totally unnatural if the outcome of a game did not arouse passion. The fervour and enthusiasm are not only shown for impromptu roadside cricket matches, but are also witnessed at international sports events. This passion which, doubles up as pressure, is an essential part of the competition. Without it, there can be no desire to win, or even play the game.

In fact, a sport is a diversion rather than a distraction from the daily drudgery of life. Winning accolades in the form of medals is merely the icing on the cake. Watching any high profile sports event on the tube and then seeing the watchers criticise the game wildly, makes us realise that we have forgotten to enjoy a game the way it should be. We limit ourselves to the end results, to the plain basics when the fact is that the real excitement in sport does not lie in the end result. Rather, it lies in appreciating the techniques and tactics involved in an intense combat.

However, both the fun, frolic and the thrill associated with winning and the fine tragedy of losing have been lost on us. The result may be important — for each one of us have our own favourites and we all want our favourites to win — but it should be understood that both winning and losing are purely incidental. For any just appreciation, the canvas must be much larger.

As the Soccer World Cup showed, football, like any other sport, is all about winning, all about getting that goal and all about doing the so-called `right things’ on the field. The art and beauty of the sport often take a beating when the emphasis is on doing the `right things’. But, then, did Van Gogh worry about winning a painting competition when he painted the sunflowers? Did Mozart think about winning at a music festival when he composed those great works?

Indeed, they did not. And for many, it would have been irrelevant whether Brazil lost or won so long as they got to see those genuine strokes of the football genius on the field. And sometimes, when the show is on, when football makes that giant leap from being a mere sport to a rare art form, the result itself seems insignificant. Sport is all about ordinary men with extraordinary gifts. Sadly we have developed an unhealthy habit of turning the spotlight on whatever blemishes sportspersons might have. We dwell too much on their ability to be perfect, yet we forget how imperfect we are.

Goals, points, and centuries should not be given undue importance. Instead, we should set our gaze on the inherent charms and beauty of any game. In every sport, there are sportspersons who have the ability to turn the mundane into the breathtakingly celestial. Remember Nadia — the ballerina of the bars and the beams — who made the audience go into raptures over her sheer aesthetic appeal?

For a sportsperson, the journey to the top is never an easy one. It is too tough for ordinary mortals to even dream off. The genre of sportspersons who have made it to the top have nerves of steel. That is why they are at the top. Physical genius and mental resilience are inbuilt traits of their character. Yet we talk so loosely about speed and skill, power and concentration, which certain men have and others don’t. We say India is doomed when Tendulkar is out for a duck. We go mad seeing the crafty Dhanraj Pillay slamming the ball into the goalkeeper’s pads. But we are blind. We remember Tendulkar’s duck but we forget his genius; how he has repeatedly defined and redefined the impossible. We remember, in a moment of raw aggression, Pillay banging the ball into the goaltender’s pads, yet we forget the wizardry in his wrists with which he weaves a deadly web around a dazed defence.

Yes, the thrill does not lie in the outcome. On the contrary, it lies in savouring and enjoying the mode and methods employed in achieving the end result.

Sport is the most unifying influence in today’s war-ridden world. The next time we sit in front of the telly, let us try to remain detached from the obvious— the result. Let the winning and the losing take a backseat. Let the spectacle of sport prevail.