Floodlights and Touchlines: A History of Spectator Sport by Rob Steen

Author:Rob Steen
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781408181379
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2014-06-25T22:00:00+00:00

7

The Us Syndrome:

Sport and Internationalism

Economy up, magic weather, Lions win, and now for Andy

Sunday Times front-page lead headline, 7 July 2013

On the first weekend of July 2013 Britain was drunk on sporting success, collectively and lustily cheering the Lions to a series-clinching hammering of Australia’s finest (bar a few infirm stars) and then Andy Murray to that oh-so-elusive Wimbledon singles crown. According to early estimates, around a third of the population tuned into the latter. The Lions had last completed a victorious tour in 1997; the last time a Briton had lifted the men’s trophy named, to give it its full title, The All England Lawn Tennis Club Single Handed Champion of the World, a swastika was flown on Centre Court, the average house price was £550, a pint of beer was 14p, university graduates had two votes in general elections and Fred Perry’s triumph over Baron Gottfried von Cramm could only be witnessed if you were within those ivy walls. No Briton under the age of 77 could remember back that far.

But what did those rousing athletic tales signify? A good time for all – or something more? Would the revellers feel inspired? Would they go about their work the following week with greater urgency, efficiency and ambition, even boldness? Thus far at least, possessing considerably more sporting champions per capita than China, India, the US or Russia appears to have done little if anything for Jamaica’s economic and social struggles – but then why should it?

What is the true value of art or sport in straitened times? Is the so-called “feelgood factor” reality or illusion? A debate by the Centre for Cultural Policy Studies at the University of Warwick in 2013 sought to tackle these ticklish questions. David Wright quoted the Caribbean-American writer Audre Lorde, the self-styled “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet”, who asserted that “poetry is not a luxury” but, rather, supplies the “light” that enables us to examine ourselves. “If, in its broadest sense, culture is the symbolic representation of social life,” said Wright, “then the ‘need’ for art/culture – including popular culture – as a forum in which a society can reflect on its broader values is arguably keener at times of crisis.”

“The problem,” acknowledged Chris Bilton, “is that it’s very difficult to articulate ‘cultural value’ – anybody who went to the Olympic Park last summer, or saw Cheek by Jowl at our own Warwick Arts Centre last month, may have experienced feelings of community, excitement, emotion or uplift. But researchers struggle to convert these sensations into robust evidence. So whilst many people working in the arts remain convinced that the arts are essential to social cohesion and spiritual development, academics are prone to ask awkward questions like ‘whose community?’ and ‘who benefits?’ Consequently cultural policy continues to fall back onto the familiar economic arguments – especially in tough economic times.”1

The impact of sport on society has long been the subject of dissenting views, dating back on these shores, at the very least, to the 1970 General Election.

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