Sunday, January 16, 2011

sport belongs to the corporates....so what are you going to do about it?

Once again we have another whinge about corporate sponsors taking the best seats at sporting events at the expense of joe public, this time at the Australian Open tennis tournament that begins on Monday read here . But what is anyone really going to do about it?.....absolutely nothing, that's what! I've been going on for years with my disgust at the corporate world taking over sport, where it got to the point that I "retired" from watching (or caring) about competitive sport in the mid 90s.
But how many people actually have the courage to do what I did and abandon their beloved product when the administrators caved in once too often to corporate interests? None, that's how many....you all care way too much about your precious football team to ever give away the joy of seeing your team win. You'll sit on the sidelines and bitch and moan on talk back radio about how expensive it's become, and you can't get good seats anymore etc etc, but in the end you'll bend over and sing "moon river".
I personally have never felt so liberated as when I actually stopped caring about whether the team in the blue, or the red top actually won or lost the designated match. There's just way too many things to enjoy in life without worrying about the result of a manufactured game.
Organised sport really is a silly concept when you think about it, a concept essentially appealing to the raw human emotion of identifying with a particular tribe, which is superior to the neighbouring one. How absurd it is that soccer fans usually have to be separated at stadiums along their "tribal" colours, because human nature being what it is, they may kill each other if their paths cross. Yet these same human beings can chat about their differing team views over a beer at the pub the next night?
When I think about the silliness of organised sport, I immediately think about the Nika riots of Constantinople in 532. These riots almost brought down the greatest civilization the world has ever known - and over what? - rivalry between the blues and the greens chariot racing factions.
But getting back to the original point, if you're so enraged about corporate interests taking over your sport, then in the true corporate spirit, take your money and your interest elsewhere. If only a small percentage of people did that, the administrators would quickly be made to heel. Even a small blip on the chart can mean millions, so in the end, it's really up to you!

3 comments:

  1. Or Unionise!!!

    Savvas Tzionis

    ReplyDelete
  2. I remember Silvio Berlusconi stating in the early 1990's that international football was going to be superseded by club football as the pinnacle.

    And now they are trying it with Cricket!!!

    http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/cricket-is-the-antidote-to-a-fast-world--shortening-it-doesnt-help-20110119-19wf5.html

    I hate these marketing types so much!!!

    They have no sense of culture/history/identity... just money!!!!!

    Its quite ironic that the less 'Australian' I feel (blame Howard), I am also more and more interested in international sport.

    I cannot see why anyone would be besotted with a club?

    I heard the other day a grown man of 65 years, Greek Australian, who paid $3000 to go and watch Liverpool in a final of the European championships!!!

    There are so many things wrong with that.

    Savvas Tzionis

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think people need to realise that organised sport is not about "them", it's about the MONEY, and who's getting what slice of it? At least Australian football is still "membership based", and in theory, the profits go back into the game (after every interested party has taken out their slice of the cake of course). But in most of the world now, sports teams are private franchises whose it is to make MONEY.

    ReplyDelete