So I always a most embarrassed about my country around the time when some hugely publicised sporting event comes up that Australian teams are participating in. Don’t get me wrong, I admire athletes and their trainers, and how they can achieve so much, however I am embarrassed about how the average Aussie deals with winning or losing such events. If we win, as is the case in the soccer recently against Uruguay, Aussies are gloating, some are even saying “oh the poor losers, it’s not like they have anything else to do” (yet another silly demonstration by a few individuals who are uneducated in the world), and generally not being in my opinion good winners. We tend to like rubbing it in to our competitors and I find such behaviour dishonorable and pathetic. Anyway, when we lose such events, we find every excuse under the sun rather than concede that the other side may simply be superior for that event at that time. There is rarely a graciousness to Australian participation in sports, and it’d be great if we could be competitive _and_ somewhat humble, or at least gracious in our participation.
Come on Aussies, lets take a little more joy in the participation of sport (and life), and a little less at other peoples expense. Lets try to match our competitive sporting attitudes with a positive and gracious attitude of participation.
