Come on England!
Is England an elite sporting nation, or is it a well-funded, bloated professional sporting environment, unable to produce consistent excellence in major sporting events?
Are we becoming a nation of sports-observers with ‘world-class’ facilities and hospitality, as opposed to enjoying a hard-earned reputation as ‘world-class’ performers?
Recently England lost an Ashes Test Series in Australia 5-0 (2006-7), and an ODI Series at home to Australia 6-1 (2009). England’s footballers failed to qualify for the last European Championships, and the England Rugby team has lurched from one ordinary performance to worst, since losing to South Africa in the last Rugby World Cup Final in 2007.
Our golfers have struggled to sustain challenges in the Golfing Majors, despite favorable final round placings. Meanwhile, Ireland has blazed a trail by producing two different winners of Major Championships recently in Padraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell, while fellow-countryman Rory McIllroy looks a serial Major Winner-in-waiting.
What do cricketer Eoin Morgan and his Irish sporting compatriots have that English people seem to lack? Is it greater passion? One thing is for sure, their eyes burn fiercely and have a stillness which suggests a clear mind, and a sharp focus.
For the firstr time in history, no English male has qualified for The Championships at Wimbledon. British Tennis’ Davis Cup Tennis ranking is a very poor (but accurate) reflection on the ability and strength of the game in UK, while the consistently abysmal individual showing at the Tennis Majors by our English players (especially since the admirable Tim Henman retired) should be an embarrassment for those who have presided over the debacle.
As our footballers faced near humiliation until a last-ditch group win against Slovenia to qualify for the knockout stages of The FIFA World Cup in South Africa, our English Tennis players were humiliated by their blanket first round exit at the Wimbledon Championships.
How can British Tennis be so poor when it is so well-funded, and has access to a proportion of nearly 62 million people? Contrast this to some of the smaller nations who out-perform Great Britain on a significantly small percentage of the overall British Tennis budget.
Thankfully, in terms of flying the flag for England sporting success, Andy Flower’s England Cricket Team has enjoyed a transformational 18 months which has included several peaks, not least an Ashes home victory and ICC Twenty20 World Cup success. Flower’s England team are now a force to be reckoned with, and play with a high level of mental courage, and a ‘joie de vivre’, unseen by previous England teams. The true test of their skill and temperament will be defending the Ashes in Australia this coming winter, but for now, they have plenty of reasons for cheer under Flower’s astute and humble leadership.
Martin Johnson’s travails as England Rugby Manager have brought him into new territory as he can no longer play his part on the field of play, where he once led with distinction in the back row. With no previous experience as a Coach, Johnson is having to learn ‘on the job’. Last Saturday’s 21-20 win in Sydney against Australia, showed that the team is beginning to adopt some of the tenacity, and courage, which characterized Johnson’s own iconic playing career for Leicester Tigers, England and the British & Irish Lions. A 1-1 series draw in Australia is an encouraging result for Johnson’s England, and signs that the team is improving, becoming more competitive, and showing more self-belief. Whether they can find the creativity and variety of styles to defeat different opponents over time will be revealed in due course.
On Sunday, our nation’s sporting hopes will be diverted from England’s One Day International Series against the touring Australian cricketers at Old Trafford for ninety minutes, and be focused on our footballers beating Germany to progress into the quarter finals of the World Cup.
The FIFA World Cup Finals is the sternest examination of any professional footballer’s career. Some great players like George Best never had the opportunity to play in one, and therefore confirm their credentials as a truly world-class talent. Pele, Maradona and Beckenbauer and Cruyff, were able to perform, and therefore enhance their reputations, by helping their nations succeed. Others, such as our own Gary Lineker, experienced lasting, global fame, as a result of scoring World Cup goals and coming to prominence in front of huge worldwide television audiences.
Performing on the biggest stage, with the highest stakes on offer, and having to reproduce one’s best form over a period of one month, is a challenging experience which define the careers of the best players. Peaking in a Final is a quality reserved for the best teams and the world’s best coaches. Managing the group’s energy wisely is the key to ensure peak performance is possible in the final stages of tournament play.
For a sporting team, a World Cup event is the sternest test of temperament, and spirit, as well as their technical and tactical intelligence. Peaking is critical to success. The Brazil team of 1982 are regarded as the best team never to have won the World Cup because they were unable to peak at the critical moment in time, thus allowing Italy to emerge victorious in Spain ’82.
England v Germany is the iconic match for England football supporters. In FIFA World Cups England has reached the Final once while Germany has achieved this feat on seven occasions, winning it three times.
Can ‘Capello’s England’ follow the inspirational lead of ‘Flower’s England’, by turning a chaotic group of under-performing individuals into a unified body of battle-hardened players who have the courage to attack, and play without fear in their hearts?
Can the players and the management handle the level of expectation and use it positively to ignite the passion within the team? Or will the expectation prove a burden, and dis-empower the players from producing their optimum levels of performance?
Will the team’s fantasy of a peak performance, coupled with a victory, match the reality?
Holders Italy and last time’s Runners-Up France, have made an early exit from this tournament due to poor selction and poor management. If France had an individual with the wisdom and calmness of Andy Flower in charge, would they have experienced the kind of dis-harmony within their group which undermined their World Cup?
Leadership is key, and I believe we will learn a great deal about Fabio Capello’s style, and qualities, oveer the next few days. If England can reverse the trend of European teams under-performing in the current tournament, it will be a triumph for Capello if his team can go on to challenge the South American nations who remain favorites for sport’s biggest prize.
A weekend offering us a chance to see our footballers and cricketers taking on their arch-enemies is a mouth-watering prospect. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see England destroy Australia at Old Trafford and take an unassailable lead in the NatWest ODI Series, and England beat Germany in the World Cup Finals? Can Lee Westwood win the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews next month, and place his name alongside the golfing greats? What a few weeks of mouth-watering sport we have on tap!
Will Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button push ahead in the F1 Drivers Championship and enhance their prospects by winning the British Grand Prix at Silverstone? Will our current athletes follow the inspired lead of Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Matthew Pinsent, Lord Coe, Daley Thompson, Kelly Holmes and other legendary Olympians, by preparing themselves impeccably for Olympic Gold Medal success, in readiness for London 2012?
Can England become renown for producing Champions? Maybe. Leadership within each sport is critical to long-term sustained success. However, the performance of any player is down to themselves as an individual, and the leadership of ‘self’ will always be the determining factor when it comes to developing oneself as a prospective champion.
What is needed right now in English sport, is a succession of top performances by our best players to inspire greater public, corporate and governmental support, and be the catalyst to inspiring the next generation to take up the challenge of the pursuit of mastery, whatever their sport.
Come on England!!
