There have been many calculations of the lost productivity arising from the Football World Cup from tiredness due to late night games and time spent on the internet chasing match reports.
Aside from the drama of the games, I believe the educational and cultural insights to be gained from the Event far outweigh the potential downturn in personal and collective productivity.
Take, for example, the editorial in a French newspaper on the ignominy faced by their national team. The sheer prose: “To have the worst soccer team at the World Cup was almost unbearable. To also have the most stupid is intolerable.”
This is Churchillian stuff.
Politics and sport must mix. How otherwise could we gauge the depths of misery being plumbed in France.
After the team’s boycott of practice, and only hours before their game with South Africa, the French Sports Minister, acting on the instruction of her President, rebuked the players and told them: “The government has to intervene as the reputation of France is at stake in this case”.
There are lessons here for Murray McCully and John Key, that should have been applied to Andy Haden.
But there is more. While Phil Goff assesses Chris Carter’s sincerity as he presses ahead with a letterbox drop in his constituency of Te Atatu, the French opposition, are laying responsibility for the players’ behaviour at the feet of President Sarkozy, whom they call the president of Bling Bling for his flashy style.
“It’s all about individualism, egotism, everyone for themselves, and the only way to judge human success is the cheque you get at the end of the month.”
Only sport and war deliver such passion. Let’s enjoy the rest of the World Cup. And go the All Whites.
