Sorry if this is the wrong section, please move if necessary.....

I need to rant about a subject that really get's my goat, and rears it's ugly head everytime the Olympics is on and I'm at work surround by mis-informed idiots who no nothing about sport.

It's the classic "Britain are rubbish at sport" comment!

People that think that because we havnt won the World Cup in football for fourty years, Tim Henman never won Wimbledon, we didn’t retain the Ashes last time we tried, and because we got beaten in the final of the Rugby World Cup last year means Great Britain is rubbish at ALL sport.

And Athletics, but I have to agree there...

People slang individuals as being rubbish "Tim Henman was a rubbish tennis player - he never won Wimbledon" Firstly, Tim Henman was ranked inside the world top 10 for the better part of 8 years, and secondly, while he never won a Grand Slam he's widely complimented by anyone who knows anything about tennis as a brilliant tennis player.

Our cricket team are still one of the top 6 contries in the world.

We've reached two consecutive Rugby World Cup finals, and were only just beaten in the last.

It get's me so riled.  Just because in the sports that occupy all the collum inches in the papers, and fill the weekend tele we're very good, but not dominating doesn’t mean we are rubbish at sport!!   

People don’t seem to realise that there are other sports out there that we completely dominate such as Sailing, equestrian, cycling to name a few.  And other sports where we're considered very productive such as - motorsport, rowing and snooker.

It's just the small mindedness of people who just think that Britain means we have rubbish sportsmen/women, and the negativity we pour on these people that I cant stand.

On the one hand, people are saying we're rubbish at sport.  On the other, theres the very British thing of "it's the taking part that counts" That's rubbish, whats the point of taking part unless your going to try and improve yourself?  It's a competition, not a carnival!!!! 

Maybe if the british public were supportive, less negative, more hopeful people would be more motivated to take up sport?   Maybe if the government insisted on PE for more than 1 hour a week, more people would take up sport?

I'm not suggesting the Chinese/Russian theory of taking people who excell at a sport out of school and turning them into a sporting superstar is the way to do it, but a halfway house might be a good idea.

Take a look at British Cycling.  Complete pap in the 90's and now we're the world superpower at track cycling.  (We even dominate in downhill MTB with 3 world champions at the moment - not that you'll hear that on the news, or read about it in a national newspaper) It's all about spending Lottery funding wisely, cutting out the people who won't make it or arent dedicated enough, and giving the people who are determined and who do have the talent, the means to unleash it with the help of trainers, funding, nutritionists, and facilities.

We're a brilliant sporting country, but could be as successful as China, Russia, the USA and Australia if money is spent wisely, and people were more positive!!

Thoughts?! 

true... however we haven't reached a world cup final since 1966... and everyone knows that British people only follow football!! i thought you would have known that being English yourself!!

Yes.

No.

Dunno.

I didn't read it. Essay much?

I despise Football!

I was thinking about Rootes point the other day China, USA, Russia etc are absolutly massive countries!!! This means that they have so much more of a chance to have an outstanding sports man that GB or any other small country.

Smanderson

Yeh, I didn't see Australia when I read it first, but it is still true compared to the other countries.

The other main problem we face at the moment is the nature of our society...competition in schools is getting to the point where it's looking like it might cease to exist soon...you know, you wouldn't want one kid getting upset because he/she's not as good as another kid...parents might complain 

This is a major problem! I know a lot of primary schools are considering stopping sports days, that can't be good when you consider that in most sports its widely accepted that if you're not spotted by the end of primary school you have no chance of being competitive!!

These things HAVE to start young, and at the moment they really don't.

Rootes

I agree with these points Rootes.  Considering these constraints, it's damm impressive that we are one of the top sporting nations.

Sport in Schools is a joke, and the facilities we offer in the majority of sports is pap compared to the "big four" countries.  Yet the public still feel they have a right to moan.

We really need to take a leaf out of British Cyclings approach to track cycling....

Schools and Parents need to encourage children to take up sport.

And we need to be more supportive of our sporting people.

Sports which may have a smaller interested audience need more acknowledgement from the media - maybe stories such as Gee and Rachels latest accomplishments can inspire "ordinary" people?

Sports in school sucks.

Go do it yourself them comeback and piss and moan.

Until then go away and die, horribly and painfully.

Parents not schools.

'I'm not going to help my kid; thats for the SCHOOL to do.' NO IT'S NOT

British attitude sucks.

I agree totally. PE was rubbish! If you are going to play basketball, football, cricket, or whatever then everyone that is playing has to want to play, otherwise nobody will enjoy it. I hated being told i had to do it for my health. This was a point in my life where i was easily doing 100miles or more a week on my bike. I also didn't like being made to play sports I didn't want to play. Football was the main one.

Anyway back on the original topic. I think people say we are rubbish 'cos they see us just missing out in a final or whatever and think we are not as good. The fact that we are in the final in the first place doesn't seem to come into it.

Just my thoughts on the 'British' Premiership. Look what happens when all the foreign players cant play and it becomes the England team. Granted we aren't rubbish but we certainly aint as good as it would seem. Football isn't a game/sport anymore anyway (or not at the top level), its just a money making thing.

Pip