Sporting Heroes Should Behave In A Manner Worthy Of The Title
The Sunday Age
Sunday February 3, 2008
Along with glory and riches comes a certain degree of responsibility
WHY do we care about the antics of Wayne Carey or Ben Cousins? Why are we interested in the on- and off-field behaviour of Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh? Why not just print the match report, the results - the heroics? Indeed, why not. It is an attractive idea: we could turn the clock back to when the only thing expected of sporting stars was to excel at sport. But the problem is this: Carey is a role model not because he could boot a ball like few others and take a speccie. He's a role model to our many children - and adults - because by excelling in sport, he transcends it.Let's take the example of a teenage boy from a broken home. His dad has shot through. Many of his mates are in a similar situation: what used to be known as "latch-key" kids. They spend their time on the net and watching TV. Where does such a boy discover what it is to be an honourable, respectful man, how to act towards women, how to carve a way in the world?Obviously, sport is one place he and his friends would look, even unwittingly, for clues on how to behave, not just in the heat of the sporting battle but in the community. And it is entirely understandable that he'd look at the best - the Careys and the Cousins. How do we, as a society, stop young people from taking to heart the worst that our sporting stars show us, instead of the best? That's why we expose the truth about their lives, and in the process take some of sheen off these examples of false gods. That is why we today publish details from the dark side of Carey's life, and why the monkey business between the Indian and Australian cricket sides is important.Sport is not just sport. When young men and women strive to excel at their chosen sport, they take on a figurative contract with their fans - they become examples to their own and the next generations, whether they want to or not. They cannot take all the glamour, fame and wealth that sport offers and shy away from their responsibilities.Indeed, many sportsmen have made as outstanding a contribution in this way as they have in their chosen sport: James Hird, Adam Gilchrist, Michael Long, Nathan Buckley, Francis Bourke, Brett Lee, Grant Hackett, Scott Draper, Pat Rafter, Andrew Gaze to name a few - not to mention virtually all female stars who, with the rare exception, do not appear to have such anti-social urges.Of course there are many pressures on sportspeople, who become suddenly famous and wealthy at an often very young age - in some cases sooner than they are ready. Understandably, they want to go out and drink and party like other young men their age. Trouble is, they are not other young men their age.The fine Australians listed above show that it is possible to be a great sportsman and a great man - and what an important and valuable contribution they can make to the next generation of boys, who are looking to see what kind of men they will become.
© 2008 The Sunday Age
