Marcus Agnew: Bitter track opponents can learn a thing or two from sports

Marcus Agnew

With the debate continuing around the track, with Te Mata Peak's cultural significance central to the discussion, it is a humbling and powerful feeling roaming the sidelines of our weekend community sport, where we see so many diverse people competing, yet getting along sailing on the same waka.

One of the greatest and most powerful things about sport is its ability to bring people together from all walks of life. Sport can break down many barriers - cultural, religious, ethnic, gender, socio-economic, you name it.

Competing in sport is a great way of getting to know the "real" person. Off the field, people can pretend to be anything, but on the field the real human qualities come to the fore.

Sport can be a great leveller, it doesn't matter what background or beliefs we have off the field, when we are in the sporting arena, it all counts for nothing. It often leads to gaining respect for someone, whom you may not otherwise have given the time of day.

In sport, respect can be gained before you even know what that person's beliefs really are – we see that in the extreme with international sports stars, who are idolised and followed religiously, without followers really knowing the person at all.

But once that respect is developed, people tend to be more inclined to take the time to listen, and empathise with someone else's views. Views that might be radically different to yours, views that you might otherwise dismiss - views that are coming from someone you respect, will mean you take the time to think, and respect their views too.

Be it through sport or other activities, we need to ensure we all mix and integrate in meaningful ways. If we just remain stuck in our silos, we are going to have a pretty narrow view of the world.

So at the same time as enjoying the community spirit that sport provides, it is pretty sad hearing all the debate around the track. Hopefully we do get to an end point whereby we have all learned, grown, and become stronger going forward – we all want a positive future for our kids.

Sport can help us respect and recognise our individual differences, be it cultural or otherwise, and celebrate our uniqueness. The various countries and ethnic groups all around the world, can be proud of the different sports and competitive attributes they excel at.

Sport, perhaps on a bigger scale than any other social activity, has the ability to break down silos and galvanise a diverse community.

Maybe we get all the track debaters into the same rugby team, and they can head off around the country for a game or two, and a beer or two, and pretty soon, all would be worked out.

So if we want to make the world a better place, let's get more good old-fashioned community sport going . . . or music, or dance, or art, or chess (chess is a sport).

• Marcus Agnew is the health and sport development manager at Hawke's Bay Community Fitness Centre Trust and is also a lecturer in sports science at EIT.