From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – September 27

THERE was a time when it mattered not whether you won or lost, but how you played the game. Has that changed?

Like all football enthusiasts I watched both AFL games on the weekend, and they were fantastic – except for the booing. It set me to wondering when it became an acceptable element of the game. It is now endemic, and tells us much about societal transformation and disappearance orthodox mores. In times past it was branded anti-social behaviour and denounced by everyone. In the occasional breach, offenders were castigated and ordered to leave the arena.

These days it is considered acceptable – ‘the norm’ – and not only in Australia. The booing of Serena Williams is a prime example. Incidentally, Ms. Williams implored the crowd to stop their booing of the umpire and not her opponent as was incorrectly reported in some Australia media. It is what President Trump calls ‘fake news’. Clearly, the booing of the opponent was seen as a more sensational narrative; or perhaps the outraged scribes actually had not watched the entire game from go-to-woe.

I am a Western Australian, and I was embarrassed, and dismayed, at the level and persistency of the booing directed at the Demons while playing the Eagles in Perth. I am not one of those demonstrative people who shout, and jump up-and-down in excitement. I wish I were. My excitement is internalised. Such was the booing, I turnedoff the sound and watched the television in silence. I am not suggesting it was spiteful – in the majority of cases it was not. I am only guessing, but I suspect it is viewed as being an important part of the ritual; allowing the spectators to take an active rather than passive a role in the battle for victory; part of the tribal mentality – wanting and needing to belong; and providing the supporter with the vicarious opportunity to live their imagined, ‘could’ve been a champion’ sporting life through the endeavours of their team. I was equally appalled to hear a commentator refer to the roar, and the crowd, as ‘hostile’. Perhaps the choice of adjective reflects only a lack of thought; however, one would hope the roar was one of competitiveness, and not hostility. Let us not forget we are all Australians, and Western Australia is not another country – even though many from the Eastern seaboard have never visited!

Good sportsmanship seems to have faded from the sporting pantheon and is, I hesitantly suggest and without any evidence, possibly deemed to be rather old fashioned. In my youth I played a lot of tennis and wenton to become an under-15 W.A. champion. I recall, at a competition in Gwalia, where I grew-up, my late mother, Beria, said to me on the morning of the finals, which were being played on the anthill, red clay courts at the State Hotel: “Why don’t you let Michael Weston win the spoon? You know you can beat him, and he doesn’t have very much.” So I agreed. I hit balls into the net, and wide into the tramlines. He did not suspect, and I did not tell him. It was worth losing to see how happy he was at winning.

Whoever will forget how the former Governor of Victoria and Olympic runner, John Landy, stopped to help his fallen teammate, Ron Clarke, who crashed to the ground when another competitor clipped his heel? Landy stopped, doubled-back, and helped Clarke, the then-junior mile world record holder, who had been leading the race. Clarke got back onto to his feet and started running again; Landy followed. Incredibly, in the final two laps Landy made-up the lost time and went on to win the race. The incident is considered one of the greatest moments in Australian and international sporting history – both from the point of sportsmanship and competitiveness.

Children learn by example. If booing at sporting events is all they have ever known then it can only get worse. That would be truly regrettable.

Remember: If you win through bad sportsmanship, that is no victory!

Roland can be heard each MONDAY morning on 3BA at 10.30. Contact [email protected].