Murray Deaker: It's taken sporting defeat to end this pandering to mediocrity

By MURRAY DEAKER

The tide of public opinion has turned.

It is now almost acceptable again to be competitive. Even those bastions of egalitarianism like the Ministry of Education and the Hillary Commission are beginning to make noises that sound as if it might be politically and socially acceptable to win and lose again.

After almost three decades of blatant sound-engineering, which reached the ridiculous levels of highly skilled youngsters being discouraged from developing their abilities, even the most colourless politically correct Wellington bureaucrat has now to admit that the entire experiment has been a gigantic disaster.

Many of the phonies who were responsible for preaching this doctrine will argue with this assertion. Some of them were so hypocritical that they grovelled to get their own kids into schools like Auckland Grammar which stood apart from the trend.

It hasn't been the failure of the education system that has turned the tide of public opinion. No, that tragically would have gone unnoticed if our sports teams had continued to win. They haven't. Why not?

Initially it was convenient to look across the ditch and grizzle about the amount of money the Aussies were throwing into sport. That argument led to envy of their sporting institutes and the exclamations that no wonder they win everything with all those facilities.

It seemed logical to follow that up with the belief that if we spent the same sort of money we would have similar success.

Everyone went down that track but few stopped to ask why we didn't set up academies and institutes to promote excellence. It wasn't to do with money. It was all a question of philosophy.

We had bought into the doctrine that if you don't have success you can't have failures. All the emphasis was on participation, and competition had become a dirty word.

It still is in some quarters. Just last week, an Auckland primary school sent home its newsletter to parents advising them to speak to their sons about showing too much enthusiasm when their team won. Once again, a politically correct school principal was worried about how this would affect the losing team.

I am reminded of how far we have travelled down this wrong track when I think back to my first year of teaching, in 1970 at Auckland Grammar.

The late Sir Henry Cooper was the headmaster at that time and at every Monday assembly he would read the sports results in full. This particular day he announced that one of the school's hockey teams had won its match 15-0, adding: "I saw that game and I'm pleased to say they never gave up."

After the assembly I remarked to him that I was pleased he had given recognition to the losing team. He looked at me quizzically before explaining: "Mr Deaker, you're new here so I forgive you on this occasion. I wasn't referring to the losing team. I was talking about our team.

"It is not easy to maintain your standards when you're playing against an ill-disciplined rabble that has had no coaching and no interest taken in it. Remember that."

I have. I've tried to remember it as I've watched politicians pander to mediocrity, sports administrators putting money before principles, referees turning a blind eye to thuggery, parents dropping kids at sports grounds without ever watching them kick a ball, coaches giving excuses instead of reasons for defeat and precious players chucking it in when the going got tough.

In trying to make us all equal they have actually succeeded in making us bad sports. We no longer know how to win or lose graciously.

You doubt me? Cast your mind back to the public reactions at the loss of the Rugby World Cup and the victory at the America's Cup. On both occasions the reaction was completely out of proportion to what had happened.

They were the realisation of a generation of social engineering. We now have a substantial group who don't know how to behave when they win or lose.

But the tide is turning. A year of quite dreadful sports results may lead to wider social change. Let's hope so. You could do your bit by patting your kid on the back if he or she wins today. That way the waves of success may come to New Zealand sports a little quicker.