"The Sporting Spirit" is an essay by George Orwell published in the magazine Tribune on 14 December 1945, and later in Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays, a collection of Orwell's essays published in 1950.[1][2] The essay was written on the heels of the 1945 tour of Great Britain by the Soviet football team FC Dynamo Moscow. The essay became famous for Orwell's description of international sporting competitions as "war minus the shooting", a phrase that has since been used as a metaphor for sports when referred to in popular media and for actions evoking hyper-nationalism and national pride.[1][3]
essay on sports spirit
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Orwell wrote "The Sporting Spirit" in 1945 close on the heels of the publication of Animal Farm the same year. While Orwell was not known to have written extensively about sport earlier, the essay was considered to be in recognition of the political symbolism that sport represented as a tool that could invoke feelings of hyper-nationalism. The essay represented some of Orwell's own hostile attitude towards the Stalin regime in the Soviet Union, as drawn out by his response to the 1945 tour of Great Britain by the Soviet football team FC Dynamo Moscow.[1] The tour itself was considered groundbreaking and came after the combined Allied victory in World War II. While the tour was seen as an opportunity for the English to see the sport behind the Iron Curtain, on the Soviet side there was a meeting that the team members had with Stalin along with Lavrentiy Beria, chief of the Soviet secret police and patron of the football club where the need for victory over the capitalist opponents was emphasized.[5][6]
Orwell starts the essay with a critical view on the then just concluded Great Britain tour by the Moscow-based football club, Dynamo Moscow, and makes the assertion that the events during the tour eroded whatever little goodwill existed between the Soviets and the British. He specifically notes the incidents during the game between the visiting side and the Arsenal team where two of the players came into blows on the pitch, and a later game with Rangers that was a "free for all" before the visiting team ended the tour refusing to play an all-England team. He summarizes his view of the tour as an exercise that only created fresh animosity between the sides and viewpoints that varied based on the position on the political spectrum a person was on.
He uses cricket as an example and goes on to say that a game as graceful and as well mannered as it is on the outside is prone to hyper-competitive events like the Bodyline series, or the behaviour of the visiting Australian cricket team in England in 1921. He calls sports like football and boxing as being significantly worse, specifically calling out boxing games between the whites and the "coloured" boxers in front of cheering mixed crowds as being amongst the most horrible sights. He further goes on to emphasize the role of competitive sport in younger nations where the notion of nationalism as well as competing in games at a national level is relatively new. He uses the examples of Burma, India, and Spain to talk about riots and violence that break out in football games that often require riot police to temper. He does not spare the audiences either and accuses them of being charged with jingoism as they cheer their own and attempt to rattle out the opposition. It is here that Orwell makes an assertion that sport does not have much to do with fair play and it encourages a perverse pleasure in watching violence and calls it as "war minus the shooting".
Orwell returns to the tour of Dynamo Moscow, and makes the case that Britain should very much send a team to the Soviet Union, but, it should be a "second rate" team which would stand no chance of winning. He ends the essay by saying that there are sufficient troubles in the world already and Britain should not add to them by "encouraging young men to kick each other on the shins amid the roars of infuriated spectators."
The sporting spirit is another name of sportsmanship. It means the fair, honest, earnest and generous way in which a game is played. The best players all over the world play the game with the sporting spirit. They keep that as their ideals and never lose sight of it.
In the playfield, sportsmanship is needed most. The laws of the game require that we should play in a fair manner. We must not take undue advantage of our opponents; nor should we try to deceive them. The play must be neatly carried on. Even if our party is being defeated, we must not get impatient and run into a passion. The true sporting spirit wants even a losing game to be played honestly and in conformity with the rules.
The sporting spirit requires that the players must obey the referee or the umpire. Whatever decision is given by him, the players must not grumble not murmur. If he makes an error of judgement, we must respect his announcement and not ridicule his error.
If a game is being played between two unequal sides the sporting spirit is best needed there. The stronger side must play with zest in order that the spectators should enjoy the game and that the weaker side must be able to do its best. If the stronger side trifles the weaker party by playing in a half-hearted manner, the play will suffer.
Sportsmanships is rightly estimated at the time when a party is defeated. It is then that we have to see how a player takes his defeat. If he grows sulky and sad and begins to quarrel and fight with his opponents, he is not a true player. He is said to possess no sporting spirit. The worst traits, that is, jealousy, meanness, quarrelsomeness are not worthy of a sportsman. He must take success and failure with the same equanimity. A true sportsman does not hesitate to praise the superior game of his opponents and rejoices even at their victory.
The sporting spirit is not merely confined to the playfield. It must also be carried into the other walks of life. In everyday life we need it. There are so many mishaps, worries and troubles in the world that a man needs sportsmanship at every step. A man gifted with the sporting spirit has an optimistic view of life. He considers the world a big playfield and plays his part without grumbling. He is satisfied in doing his duty best. It is not his job to think of consequences. He leaves them to God. He takes pleasure in what he does and remains cheerful under all circumstances.
He will play a losing game with pluck and patience. An un sportsman-like player will often get into a temper when he is being defeated, and throw the game away in a pet, like a spoilt child. But the true sportsman keeps in a good humour even when he is losing, and shows the greater pluck the more the odds are against him.
The final test of a real sportsman is whether he can take a defeat well. If, when defeated, he can sincerely congratulate his triumphant opponent, and shows no signs of humiliation or vexation, then he has indeed the true sporting spirit.
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What he meant was that the qualities of sportsmanship learnt by the English soldiers in their schools, stood them in good stead when they came to face such a terrible enemy as Napoleon on the battle-field of Waterloo. The fact is that a true sportsman observes all those rules in life which he has been taught to observe in games.In short, an ideal sportsman is noted for his high sense of discipline impartiality, honesty, far-play, broad mindedness, frankness and fellow feeling. He does not regard games and sports as merely a means of advertisement or publicity, prizes or medals. He plays them for pleasure and amusement. He looks upon games and sports as a means of moulding character.if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined')ez_ad_units.push([[580,400],'englishsummary_com-box-4','ezslot_4',656,'0','0']);__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-englishsummary_com-box-4-0');
Since I was little, running has always been a big part of my life. From elementary on I have been competing in some kind of running competition. I remember in P.E. my favorite game was square tag because you got to race the other team and try to tag them. Little Olympics was a big deal in elementary and I thought I was so cool for being in all three running events. I was involved in the Little Olympics for three consecutive years. I believe this was the beginning of my competitive drive to run and be successful. Once junior high started I was involved in cross country and track every year, and continued to run both sports throughout my high school years. Running has a positive effect on my life and I have learned many life lessons from doing so.
It takes hard work to do so many sports and running sports are ones that require a lot of hard work and intense training. In high school, the year starts off with two a days for cross country, which were some very strenuous workouts twice a day for two weeks. I have grown up on a farm and have had to help work on it in the summer months. I started very young having to get up in the morning early and go out in the fields to help chop. This work involved walking in soft dirt, having to be out in the heat and dealing with sweat and gnats biting you when it was very dry. This part of my life definitely helped me deal with the hot and sometimes gruesome workouts of two-a-days. Yet I loved the competitive part of running and continued to run cross country all four years in high school.
Another way for coaches to cultivate team work is to involve the team when setting goals and ensure that they are realistic. They must understand that all team members enjoy being challenged and trusted to do their job. By involving all team members, this will encourage team spirit and help the team to develop trust in you, as their coach. 2ff7e9595c
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