Such ridiculous disappointment!
This will only be relevant to those of you in England so my apologies in advance to the rest of you!
I can’t describe how fed up I am with all the media reports describing England’s “heartbreaking” (or similar) sporting weekend. My favourite sports are rugby union and formula 1 so I have as much of an interest as anyone, but I’m not disappointed. I don’t subscribe to the “first loser” school of thought, although I’d be the first to admit that I like to win, but let’s just have a reality check here. England’s rugby union team from 2004 until about 4 weeks ago was really very poor. Reigning world champions they may have been, but they seemed to have lost the desire to play. Slow, ponderous, dim-witted and unimaginative in the forwards and, frankly, the backs may as well not have been there at all.
Ok, maybe that’s a little harsh, but not much. However, following the 36-0 drubbing by South Africa in the pool stage of RWC2007, they discovered their collective heart and their performances from then on were overflowing with passion, spirit and fire. They still lacked some basic skills and the back line had no idea what to do with the ball in attack, but they made up for this with some clever 10-man strategies and an astonishing “attacking defence”. That they made it to the final to defend their crown was quite miraculous.
I have likened their achievement in the quarter- and semi-finals to climbing Everest twice in two weeks. Maybe they could have done it three weeks in a row but, ultimately, they came up against a team who on the day had superior skills and a better strategy. Nevertheless, England played their hearts out and we should be very, very proud of what they achieved.
Lewis Hamilton is a young man in his first season in Formula 1. He’s a bit special in many ways, not least of which is the way he has been supported for the last 10-odd years. But he’s proved, at every stage, that he was worth the support and as a result has experienced a meteoric rise to the pinnacle of motorsport.
In his first season in F1 he has won four GPs and come second in the World Championship, and that by a mere point! Never has a rookie achieved so much. Unlike the media, he and his father have the right attitude (demonstrating, again, why/how he has done so well) in being delighted at his success and reminding us that he will be there next year for another shot at the title and, failing that, the year after and so on. We knew he was a remarkable talent but who, honestly, really believed at the start of the season that he would do so well? Let’s not forget that he beat the reigning world champion in an identical car (for all their faults I am absolutely certain that McLaren treat their drivers equally).
So, again, let’s just be proud of this young man and enjoy his success.
