Who do you support?

Following England’s magnificent ICC Champions Trophy victory over South Africa in Centuwiwon last night, they find themselves in the semi-finals while the hosts find themselves dumped out of the competition. And I find myself with a bucketload of upset Saffas all over my England-supporting back.
Which is actually a bit unfair.

I will (and do) support South Africa at any sporting occasion unless they are playing England. And I feel that that is a more than reasonable way of going about things. The argument that “if you’re going to live here, you must support South Africa full stop” just doesn’t cut it.
After all, if you were going overseas, would you suddenly stop supporting the Boks?  Of course not.

And I have to take the rough with the smooth. And there’s been a lot of rough since I moved over here. The 2007 Rugby World Cup would be one notable bit of rough. But while I was unhappy that England lost, I was at least magnanimous in defeat. Mostly, anyway.


Flying the flag on my car this morning

My only gripe about SA sport and SA supporters is the hint of arrogance that has crept in since their recent successes in cricket and rugby. It’s not pleasant to see and it’s unfortunate. The Boks “Justice 4” campaign, when they tried to suggest that they were bigger than the game, is a good example. It detracts from achievements on the field and they were lucky to get away as lightly as they did.

The arrogance comes when teams and fans get used to winning. You see it in sport, you see it in politics, you see it in business.
It makes losing harder to take. But that’s still no excuse.  
Last night, the world’s number one ODI team was wholly outplayed by a spirited England side. Beaten fair and square. Anyone claiming otherwise is nothing more than a sore loser.

28 thoughts on “Who do you support?

  1. First, the Justice 4 campaign surely is justified? I mean, should we not be governed by exactly the same rules and laws as all the other teams? Why then do our players get much heavier penalties than other team’s players? C’mon!

    Call me a sore loser if you will, but if Strauss allowed the runner and they beat us, I’d bow down. Many players cramp after long spells. Smith was on song and could very well have made a deciding difference if it was allowed.

    AAAARGH! I just hate losing 🙁 Isn’t sport supposed to “bring us all together” and a bunch of other nice things?
    .-= Stii´s last blog ..Since I joined Peta I only eat vegetables =-.

  2. Stii > No. The Justice 4 campaign was anything but justified. There is no excuse for a public demonstration of insubordination like that.
    If you (ie SARU/Boks?individual players) have a problem with a decision, then there are official channels to take that through. Not ignoring the rule book and acting like a bunch of spoilt brats.

    And Strauss/Smith – I doubt it would have made a difference, but Strauss took advice from the Umpires and they weren’t happy with it. Meh – fat people get tired when they do lots of physical activity. Maybe he should have been a bit fitter, being a professional sportsman and all? Who knows? It was an amazing innings, but he was badly let down by his team, not by Strauss.

    Sport can’t even unite SA, let alone the world. Positivity, optimism – all well and good, but let’s be realistic too.

  3. I will be supporting SA sport forever more, wherever I may end up living. Why wouldn’t I? Why wouldn’t you support England? Ignore the daft people.
    .-= po´s last blog ..Dear Universe =-.

  4. Hold on there, Mr 6000. No one is more insufferable in victory as the Poms. No one. Glory this. Gloating that. No team manages to go from hopeless to world beaters in the eyes of the press quite so quickly as the British cricket, rugby and soccer teams.

  5. Po > They are ignored. Except when they comment and then I respond. It’s only fair.

    Hank > I dispute much of what you say. No – hang on – I dispute all of it.
    For a start – we (the English) haven’t been successful enough for you to have thoroughly researched your hypothesis of insufferability in victory.
    And Englands’s national sides only go from top to bottom to top again as much as South Africa’s.

    See Proteas No.1 ODI team last month/Smith let down by bowlers etc this; see Bafana after Confed Cup vs Bafana now.

    And anyway, that’s down to the Press in those countries, not the teams or the fans. Who can legislate for the Press?

  6. Stii > heh heh! I’ve had much worse. Got death threats over a post I did on an air crash at Heathrow.
    Some people just… lose it. Sad.

  7. Argh I hate sore losers. They are embarrassing. Every South African who criticises England for being sore losers is one themselves, and everyone who criticises an Englishperson for supporting England in SA would support no team other than SA if they lived in England.
    .-= po´s last blog ..Mad house =-.

  8. Gosh – I guess someone is mighty peeved that the Proteas (that just sounds *so* wrong – it should be Bokke, dammit) lost.

    I’m with you on the “who I support” thing… if England are not playing Norway/Denmark in the footie, I’ll support England. If England are not playing SA in rugby/cricket, I’ll support England.

    Crumbs, I’m not even South African, but I still like watching them win! 🙂
    .-= Helga Hansen´s last blog ..Deep Thought and The Ultimate Question =-.

  9. An old one for this Afternoon… 😉

    Shane Warne’s Villa

    (To the tune of Tony Christie’s ‘Amarillo’)

    Show me the way to Shane Warne’s Villa
    He’s got his diet pills under his pilla
    A dodgy bookie from Manila
    Nursey’s on her mobile phone

    Repeat x3

    La-la lar la-la la-la lar, Fat Git!
    La-la lar la-la la-la lar, Take a bung
    La-la lar la-la la-la lar,
    Warney where’s your mobile phone?

  10. Stii > Yes. England won that. I watched it at 0930 in the morning. 😉

    DW > Are you suggesting that some of the Proteas took bungs to lose the match? That would explain things. Smith’s “cramps”, eh???

  11. How’s does that old saying go? “I support South Africa and whoever is playing against England!”

    Speaking of “official channels to take that through”, keep in mind that one of the reasons that the Boks were so peeved is that “it wasn’t the match citing commissioner or the IRB that brought the charge against us it was in fact the IRB Chief Executive Mr Mike Millar. Apparently he was so incensed at the sight of pieces of white tape with writing on (that none of us sitting in the stands or the TV commentators could even read) that he personally laid the charge. By doing so he personally also insured an even bigger mockery on the judicial system would soon unfold. Mr Millers his actions were in direct contravention of the IRB laws and Regulations which state that the match citing commissioner is the only person who can make such charges and would have had to do so on the match day or within 12 hours. Mr Miller had in fact overstepped his authority by bringing the charges against the IRB Rugby World Champion Springboks and current IRB World Number 1 ranked team.
    The independent disciplinary committee found the actions of the IRB Chief Executive contrary to the IRB laws and had no option but to use the lesser charge or less serious charge of bringing the game into disrepute.
    In the end the IRB have made it abundantly clear to the world rugby playing nations that its judicial system is fatally flawed. The decision to allow a single citing commissioner full authority to decide on who and which incidents warrant citing has now come home to rest on the IRB’s shoulders.”

    I can’t find the article quoted, this is the bit that I emailed to somebody.

    Long comment, feel free to edit/delete if needed.
    .-= DelBoy´s last blog ..I’ll have iSnack 2.0 on toast please =-.

  12. Wiggy > It was. And it is.

    Del > Yes, yes, yes, but you’re missing the point – which I made very succinctly in the first reply on this comment thread.
    IT DOESN’T MATTER how unfair the ruling; it doesn’t matter how illegible the masking tape; you can’t just take matters into your own hands. Or your own arms. Or whatever. If there is a complaint, if Mr Miller did wrong, then go through the official channels.
    Otherwise, you deserve everything you get. Or, in this case, a whole lot more.

    Incidentally, the ICC have now back Strauss’ decision, HERE – with the subtext that a fitter Biff might have lasted a bit longer.

    Also, why has no-one mentioned this when calling Strauss a “bad sport”?

    Cue a Protea “JUSTICE 4” armband campaign?

    DW > I never say you never said that.

  13. I would be very suprised if you supported anyone but England (as long as England were playing). Why would you not support them?

    My parent’s are both Scottish, but have actually lived here longer than they lived there. They still support Scotland in most things unless South Africa is playing against them, then they support who ever is loosing – until the end and cheer as if they won.

    Yes, I know! Can’t take those Scot’s anywhere.
    .-= Pamela´s last blog ..Antenatal Classes =-.

  14. Hehehe, somehow I want to agree with Protea 4EVA LOL

    Nah, seriously, I do believe the boys were outplayed. Anderson certainly bowled to his best, and let’s not forget the awesome effort from Colingwood and that Shah character. But where the difference in class truly shined through, was with 60-odd from 30-odd balls by Morgan.

    And yes, you should not be allowed a runner for being slightly overweight, tired and unfit. (But I’m not saying that out loud).

    We also should not forget that 301 isn’t a bad reply – the game was that close. I think even with 10 runners we would not have made the score.
    .-= Emil´s last blog ..Broken =-.

  15. I was sure I’d find a fresh comment from Protea4EVA calling for the ejection of England from the tournament, following their suspiciously heavy defeat yesterday, which conveniently knocked SL out on run-rate… surely SA should now take their place? Come on, Protea4EVA, represent the insanity!
    .-= Jacques´s last blog ..Stupidity kills =-.

  16. Pamela > Oh – scottish people hate the English too. (I see a theme developing here)

    Emil > 301 was a good score. Just not good enough.

    Jacques > If England were to be removed from the competition, SL would take their place. Thus P4E would probably argue for the ejection of England and Sri Lanka.

    And why stop there?

  17. Yes, I know I’m a bit late on this but this is cricket being discussed. The particularly galling fact is that SA beat New Zealand, England beat SA and then *New Zealand* beats England. On the up side though it was good to support the Kiwis against the insufferable Australians. (Even though they lost after a few really gutsy bowling spells)
    .-= Andrew_40´s last blog ..Andrew_40: Fantastic picture explains what #siliconcape is !!! – http://moby.to/5x01r2 =-.

  18. Andrew_40 > Everyone beat everyone else. I think that two thinks were proved:
    1. ODI is a dead format &
    2. Like it or not, the Aussies are rather good at ODI’s.

    Fortunately, when reading number 2, one can take some solace from number 1.

    Leave a Reply