The Sports Psychology Blog
This Sports Psychology blog follows Matt Dawson's comments about England's style of rugby.
Rugby: Matt Dawson - Who Cares?
''For the next four years, if England do win this competition, people won't care. In the future people won't care. It's all about winning."
The comments of former England player Matt Dawson, in advance of the World Cup Final. But is it all about winning? Is that it?
What about the game itself? The way it is played. Whether people are lifted off their seats. Inspired to take up the game. Moved to forget their troubles. Not just in England, but all across the world.
The winning is everything mantra is normal for players and coaches. Failure is rewarded with the P45. Graham Henry will tell you winning is everything. So will Gareth Jenkins.
But a World Cup is the world-wide advert for the game. The spirit of the game must not become buried beneath a win at all costs attitude. To do so would be to negate the very purpose of sport. Winning is an aspect of sport. But it is not the essence of it.
The essence of sport is in the calibre and quality of experience it provides for the witness. Can it lift them above the confines of everyday life? Touch them in a way that life in the office can't?
Or does the game simply mirror the life experience that most people tolerate on a daily basis? Where fear of failure inhibits freedom of expression. Where adventure is penalised. Daring is discouraged.
Sport at its best, shows how the human spirit can overcome the greatest odds. Those are the sporting moments that live in our hearts and souls. That is what we care about. Take that spirit out of the game, then see who will care?
