Sports: Passion or Proffession?

When I was growing up, winning was everything. However, it never came at the cost of losing relationships, belittling the opposition or even speaking badly of them. What happened on the field stayed on the field and after the final whistle everyone was friends again, if you wanted to be.

With the rise of professionalism, sport has taken on a new meaning in the world. What were once considered hobbies, are now seen as professions; what was once done happily for the love of it, is now done happily, for money, whether you love it or not. Money was the game-changer, and rightly so. After all, if someone is good at something, shouldn’t they be paid to do it? I believe so.

Big money comes with strings attached. Sport is driven by sponsors, sponsors have products they want sold and the success of the horse they are backing determines, to a large extent, the success of the we-are-helping-you-to-help-us scenario. Big money demands big results, but at what cost?

For many of us sport is synonymous with professionalism, but it wasn’t always like that. In the past it was about pride, friendship, team-spirit, personal endurance, seeing new places and making new friends. Some would argue that nothing has changed, but I beg to differ. As I look around at the plethora of professional sport around us, professionalism has created a monster and many monsters. Sportsmen and women would happily bad-mouth a team member if it meant gaining more publicity, they’d happily cheat if it means winning; they would do nearly anything to achieve their so-called ‘dream’.

Sportsmanship is a rarity. What was once the back-bone of every amateur sport, camaraderie and friendship; has evolved into a dog-eat-dog world, no different from any corporate, boardroom setting. I am not condemning money in sports, I am merely wondering if it has done more bad than good. The world-trend is always more; but at what cost? People are the most important part of life. If we step on them in order to achieve our dreams, due to our inflated egos, I think we have missed the point, I think it will be very lonely at the top, wherever that is.

“And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” – Mark 8:36-37 (NLT)

Some stories that made me think of this: Tiger Woods (Golf), Kevin Peterson (Cricket), Marion Jones (Athletics), Lance Armstrong (Cycling) and the list goes on.