The Spirit of the game

12 Aug 2007

The Spirit of the game

Current mood:betrayed

 'Cricket civilises people and creates good gentlemen. I want everyone to play cricket in Zimbabwe; I want ours to be a nation of gentlemen.' - Robert Mugabe

 I have to declare I love sports.  It amazes me that the government  don't do more to promote sport, given the feelgood factor that sporting success brings to our nation.  Harold Wilson milked the 1966 world cup win making the players play in red and calling the election that year, even though the last election was only 2 years previous.  Given how well paid sports men are I think it should be treated more seriously in schools, and a schools sporting record should be given as much prominence as its academic record.  Sports are an area where people who aren't academically gifted can excell, as Brian Clough once said 'Academically I'm thick, but a footballer needs to have his brains in his feet'.  Teachers should be paid extra to stay after hours in schools to give extra training, and teachers should be made to teach cricket in state schools  not just rounders or some such easy option idiocy.  In Australia cricket is the main sport in there schools so its not suprising that they keep beating us.  The BBC should be privatised so it can compete with  Sky TV in bidding for sporting events.  the FA shouldn't have allowed the formation of the premiership, the real purpose of the premiership was to allow the top division in English football to keep all the money it raised from TV reciepts to itself, instead of sharing the cash with the lower leagues as used to be the case when the F.A. controlled the league.  Since the formation of the premiership the top clubs have grown much richer and used there extra revenue to buy foriegn players, as a result we now have some teams like Arsenal who regually field no English players, and as a result the national team has suffered with the failure to qualify for this summers European Championship a prime example of that.  Since the formation of the premier league only 4 teams have won it, only 3 teams that have won it more than once, and only 2 teams have won it ore than twice.  Ticket prices and footballers salaries have rocketed, but precious little of the billions of pounds the premier league raises goes back into grass roots football. 

 The Government should stop selling off school playing fields and allow ball games to be played in school playgrounds.  And why not design vandal proof tennis courts with an unbreabable perspex net and erect them in inner city areas.  Snooker, Darts and 20/20 cricket should be made olympic sports to help with our medal tally.  Sports are one of Britains greatest gifts to the world, If anyone asks, 'what has Britain given the world' you can reply, Football, Rugby, golf, tennis, cricket etc. and the spirit of fair play, freedom and chivalry that allowed such games to develop.    The following demonstrates the British attitude to sport, where the spirit of the game, and not just the result is the most important factor.

THE PREAMBLE – THE SPIRIT OF CRICKET

Cricket is a game that owes much of its unique appeal to the fact that

it should be played not only within its Laws but also within the Spirit

of the Game. Any action which is seen to abuse this spirit causes

injury to the game itself. The major responsibility for ensuring the spirit

of fair play rests with the captains.

1.

conduct firmly on the captain.
Responsibility of captains

The captains are responsible at all times for ensuring that play is

conducted within the Spirit of the Game as well as within the

Laws.
Player's conduct

In the event of a player failing to comply with instructions by an

umpire, or criticising by word or action the decisions of an

umpire, or showing dissent, or generally behaving in a manner

which might bring the game into disrepute, the umpire concerned

shall in the first place report the matter to the other umpire and to

the player's captain, and instruct the latter to take action.
2. Fair and unfair play

According to the Laws the umpires are the sole judges of fair and

unfair play.

The umpires may intervene at any time and it is the responsibility

of the captain to take action where required.
3. The umpires are authorised to intervene in cases of:

¦ Time wasting

¦ Damaging the pitch

¦ Dangerous or unfair bowling

¦ Tampering with the ball

¦ Any other action that they consider to be unfair

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4. The Spirit of the Game involves RESPECT for:
¦ Your opponents

¦ Your own captain and team

¦ The role of the umpires

¦ The game's traditional values
5. It is against the Spirit of the Game:

¦ To dispute an umpire's decision by word, action or gesture

¦ To direct abusive language towards an opponent or umpire

¦ To indulge in cheating or any sharp practice, for instance:

(a) to appeal knowing that the batsman is not out

(b) to advance towards an umpire in an aggressive manner when

appealing

(c) to seek to distract an opponent either verbally or by

harassment with persistent clapping or unnecessary noise

under the guise of enthusiasm and motivation of one's own

side
6. Violence

There is no place for any act of violence on the field of play.

7. Players
Captains and umpires together set the tone for the conduct of a

cricket match. Every player is expected to make an important

contribution to this.

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The players, umpires and scorers in a game of cricket may be of

either gender and the Laws apply equally to both. The use, throughout

the text, of pronouns indicating the male gender is purely for brevity.

Except where specifically stated otherwise, every provision of the

Laws is to be read as applying to women and girls equally as to men

and boys.
postscript
 
Premier League chairman Sir David Richards says the England team is being hampered by overseas players.
Richards gave a damning verdict on the league's impact on the England team when he spoke at a conference in Dubai at the end of May.
"Does the Premier League hurt the national side? I think the answer has to be yes," Richards said.

"We created a system of academies and every club spends about £3m a year developing young players. But it hasn't worked, because the availability for us to go out and buy the best stars is an easy thing.
"In fact, I would probably go as far as to say the Premier League has probably cost him (Steve Mclaren) his job. Because what we've done, we've actually bought all these foreign players in."

Research by BBC Sport last month found that the number of England-qualified players in the Premier League hit an all-time low last season.
Only 170 of the 498 players who started matches in the top flight in 2007-08 were English - just 34.1% of the total.
It marked a big slide from 2006-07, when 191 (38%) of the starters were English.

There are two Laws which place the responsibility for the team's

THE LAWS OF CRICKET