For the love of sport

In her latest blog Hayley Morris, Office Assistant at the Alliance, reveals her patriotic side and how the love of sport unites and connects players and fans alike. 

In 2004 my mum bought my brothers and I our first England football shirts. We put a flag on the antenna of our car, and I put a (retrospectively unfortunate) red streak in my hair. It was the European Championships and my parents were convinced, along with thousands of others, that England could win. After all, this was era when the England team had players like Beckham, Owen and Lampard! However, as we all know, England crashed out on penalties to Portugal.

In the last month the Rugby World Cup has kicked-off in the UK in a big way. My neighbours have hung a flag out of their window; double decker buses are now emblazoned with the red rose, and I’ve seen more than a few people in rugby shirts. It has also been the month that Jeremy Corbyn has been elected Labour leader and was almost immediately decried for not singing the national anthem.

As the media pontificates about what being a patriot means as a result of this, it occurred to me that as we enter the midst of another World Cup, I have never seen the country more patriotic, nor have I felt more patriotic, than when backing one of our national teams in competition.

When the Olympics arrived in London in 2012, the country came together as one. We all scrambled to try and get tickets for the events. We all bought at least one piece of memorabilia. The odds are we all did the ‘mobot’ at least once on Super Saturday. When Jessica Ennis took to the podium to receive her gold medal in front of a packed stadium singing God Save the Queen, it was hard not to feel at least a little bit proud (and smug; mostly smug).

Even the usually stoic Andy Murray wore the Union flag and sang a few lines of the national anthem when he won gold! Speaking of Andy Murray, when he became the first British man to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936, the nation again came together to toast this momentous feat. In fact, towards the end of the final, it was being mentioned 120,000 times a minute on Twitter.

Now it is the turn of the Rugby World Cup. In offices across the land, sweepstakes are being entered (come on Italy!), browser tabs with live updates are being left open, and thoughts over the best potential line-ups are providing water cooler chat opportunities.

While all sporting events bring out a level of patriotism in its spectators and athletes, rugby must have a special place for its lack of monetary incentives. World Rugby, the world governing body for the sport, does not award prize money to its winners for taking part; and while players in teams are paid by their home associations, there is no overall amount awarded to the country/team.

The Uruguay squad will only receive living expenses for competing. Alberto Román, of the Uruguay squad, works full time for an advertising agency and recently said ‘We play rugby because we love rugby. It is our passion. It has been 12 years since Uruguay have been to a World Cup and we want to make our mark’. For many of the teams, competing means more than money, it’s a source of pride.

The Rugby World Cup is a global event built on the power of pride and patriotism like no other cup on the same scale can claim. And as the UK hits the midway point in its ‘decade of sport’, long may the sports based patriotism reign.
 

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