The British Concept Of Failure

After Andy Murray's first round defeat to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga last Monday, certain sections of the media were once again calling him an underachiever, and dubbing him the "New Tim Henman". It was widely acknowledged that Tsonga was one of the toughest opponents that Murray could have faced in the first round, although no-one expected him to reach the final, after his stunning victory over Rafael Nadal on Thursday. So if the media knew this would be such a difficult match, why question Murray's ability as a tennis player? The answer is that in Britain we see success as absolute victory, rather than progress. Some people should realise that Murray is still young, and has plenty of time to put in a challenge for a Grand Slam.

The case of overreaction to a defeat has been enhanced further following Federer's exit from the Australian Open at the hands of Novak Djokovic this morning. Articles such as this have started to appear on the BBC's 606 messageboard. While it is not a particularly damming article, it does jump to a lot of conclusions after one result. No-one expected Tsonga's rise this tournament, but he has gone from being a player that Andy Murray in the first round on Day One to a player that John Lloyd declared on the BBC's coverage of the Australian Open that could win many Grand Slams, further evidence of the sometimes fickle nature of the media. Tsonga has received support from the French tennis bodies, despite being a bit older than some of the other top tennis players such as Gael Montflis and Richard Gasquet. The media has not criticised him for his lack of success and with the absence of pressure has managed to reach the summit of a Grand Slam. Andy Murray has had to contend with negative press and accusations since the moment he broke onto the scene in 2005 and if this is the way we treat our elite sports personalities, perhaps we don't deserve any at all. Sport is a competition which means there will inevitably be winners and losers and no nation can be the best in all.

This article on MSN by Tom Reed appeared on the 11th December, shortly after the 2007 Sports Personality of the year. This absurdly written article uses ludicrous examples and is a perfect example of the sporting culture of Britain and it's cynical nature. He uses the examples of the 2007 England Rugby World Cup side, who exceeded all expectations to reach the final, Lewis Hamilton who was a whisker away from the Formula 1 title and Ricky Hatton, who took on the best pound-for-pound boxer in the sport. He calls them all losers, and says he does not understand how the British public celebrate their achievements. All three examples he used made progress, and managed to compete with the best of the world, but ultimately lost. France did not reach the final, Alonso did not come as close to the Formula 1 title as Hamilton and Hatton lost to the best in the business. He says that France would not have sympathised or celebrated their football team for losing to Scotland and the Australians would not "wax lyrical" about their 2005 Ashes winning side. Of course they wouldn't. Scotland and England were the underdogs in both examples and it is a genuine failure to lose. Both France and Australia were among the best teams in their respective sports and to lose to Scotland and England is a sign of going backwards, not that of progress. This is in stark contract to the England rugby team, who were not expected to get anywhere near the final, and Lewis Hamilton who was in his rookie season. If these achievements, not failures as the article would have you believe, cannot be celebrated, then Britain does not deserve to have any sporting stars.

This attitude is what some blame for the failure of grass-roots football to produce English players, as parents and coaches think that ten year olds should be convinced that victory is the only goal rather than developing their skills. Of course it is not wrong to have a winning mentality, but unless ambition is relative to skill, further disappointments will inevitably occur. The media failed to recognise Tim Henman's achievements, anyone who reaches No.4 in the world, six Grand Slam semi-finals, two of which were on surfaces that were not his preferred grass and two of which were to one of the greatest players the game has seen. Despite this, Henman is still referred to as "the nearly-man". We must hope that Murray does not suffer the same treatment.

A British Sporting Renaissance?

Last year the sheer mediocrity of British sport was highlighted by the BBC Sport Personality of the Year programme. What should usually be a celebration and reflection of the year's sporting achievements was an unwelcome reminder of the lack of achievement in 2006. But one year on, we are on the eve of perhaps the greatest British sporting year for some time.

Indeed, perhaps it was apt that Zara Phillips won the accolade and follow in the footsteps of her mother to win the award. 2006 had been a relatively good year for certain sports; Beth Tweddle's world title springs to mind as well as Nicole Cooke's achievements in cycling. But with no disrespect to any of the other nominees, in a year in which the World Cup was held, to have a cricketer who had played a handful of games for England in a relatively unsuccesful side and a Formula One driver, who's talent is undoubted, who won his first race in his seventh F1 campaign as nominees for the award spoke volumes about the poor year for British sport.

Ten months on from the ceremony, England are on the brink of winning a second consecutive Rugby World Cup and Lewis Hamilton is on the verge of becoming the first rookie ever to win the Formula One world championship. This is in addition to Scotland beating some of the finest sides in Europe en route to qualification to the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland next summer. England's qualification campaign is back on track and Northern Ireland were stunning some of the bigger nations in European football in theirs.

Is Britain experiencing a sporting renaissance or is this just typical British exaggeration? It is a bit of both to be honest. Next weekend will determine whether or not it has been a successful year. The Brazillain Grand Prix on Sunday and the World Cup final on Saturday will determine the final destinations of both the F1 Drivers World Campionship and the Rugby World Cup respectively. If both are achieved it will have been a vintage year, if one is achieved it will have been successful and if none, it was still better than 2006. Indeed, the British isles could also have two representives at a major football championship since 2002 if Scotland manage to negotiate the "Group of Death" after beating France home and away as well as World Cup quarter-finalists Ukraine, although one could argue that they are in a better position than England at the moment.

However one must remember that England were seen as no-hopers before their sensational victory over Australia last Saturday and Hamilton the supposed understudy to double World Champion in the McLaren this season. While England's triumph is to be celebrated, Wales and Ireland failed to get past the group stage of the Rugby World Cup and the Republic of Ireland and Wales never got their qualifying campaigns going for Euro 2008. We must remember that nothing has been achieved yet and that next weekend will be an unbelievable double-header of world class sport. One thing's for sure, whether Lewis Hamilton, Jonny Wilkinson or James McFadden (The scottish choice probably) win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2007, it will have been deserved