I'm on the topic of the role of sport in society. The South African author Andre Brink commented once that sport can compare to the best stage drama in the world. And even out do it. I agree. Sport in an amazing thing. It gives people hope. I keeps young people of the streets. It is helpfull with maintaining a healthy active life. It gives opportunaties.
During and even before thís world cup in South Africa it was said that building those stadiums is a waste of time, and that it should have been used to spend on the poor. Of course there is merit in this. However if this world cup has encouraged young people to aim high, I think it would have been a good investment. To keep throwing money at the poor creates a culture where humans sit and wait for things to happen. That is a HUGE problem in South Africa.
But as with many things in this world, sports has it's dark side. If everything is about winning, it is not healthy, and sadly, with sports, this seems to be the status quo. Often everyting else has to take a backseat in sports. For many, the love of the game is gone, it's all about performance. In South Africa this is also very true. There is also lots of politics involved in South African sports. We have seen how the government has spend milions of taxpayer money on tickets. Ministers will often complain if national sides are not as representative of black South Africans as they would like to see or, to put it more directly, if the teams are 'too white'.
So how does one find a balance? How can you enjoy sports without taking the emphasis on winning and the politics seriously? And how do you explain to young people that they were not chosen because of their skin colour? You could ignore sports totaly, but that would mean that you deny all the good things about sport. I do not know the answers to this.
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