British+sports+traditions

toc = = ** In what way can one say that the Britons’ addiction to sports is connecting the people? ** Britain is one of the leading countries in the world when it comes to sport. Whether it’s football, rugby, cricket or tennis, they’re always there and thereabouts during the final stages of most competitions. Most Brits take pride from their country’s achievements, and there is a huge focus on the sports being played and the best players involved. The media doesn’t let you rest for a moment if you’re an elite player, so you’ve got basically [|no personal life.] However, you’ve got to wonder how it is possible for a game to mean so much to so many people? The answer is simple really. Because, in Britain, these games are more than just a sport! It’s a lifestyle.
 * Sports Traditions **

What is Britons relation to sports? British culture includes a variation of sports. For the high class you’ve got [|polo], and for the lower class you’ve got [|rugby]. That doesn’t mean you can’t like rugby if you work in the government, it’s just that the sport belongs more to the lower class hard workers than the high class politicians. You’re more likely to hear talk about a rugby game in a pub rather than a fancy restaurant. Besides, some sports are more elegant than others. Still, this is the funny thing about sports. You can’t exactly expect wealthy men wearing expensive Armani suits to go to a rugby game, where the majority of the fans scream their head of telling the opposition to get lost or yell out some filthy banter involving the personal life of their rival players, right? No, you are more likely to believe that those wealthy people go to polo matches, where men ride horses trying to get across a pitch while striking a small ball in to a hole. However, the great thing about this is that it doesn’t really work this way! These wealthy men actually go to rugby games. They scream their head off, cheering for their team and mocking their rivals. During these games, rich and poor people are together. They share a common interest and behaviour. They’ve got the same friends, foes and difficulties, which doesn’t occur on many occasions. How often are you likely to see two strangers, two people from entirely different social classes, to share a conversation in a random place, sharing a pint and a laugh? It doesn’t happen too often, but when you share the same interest or like the same team there is no reason for it not to happen. Sports bring people together, even people from different social classes unite to the cause of their team.

While the interest of rugby and polo is a little divided, you’ve got some sports that everybody is interested in. These sports are football and cricket. The feelings towards football are best described by the Scottish announcer in the intro to the [|FIFA 06] game.

=// “Game after game after game. I realize now what is most important in my life- Football! Show me something more thrilling than a perfect volley. Tell me you’ve never dreamed of the immaculate strike, then patter that moment when an entire nation holds its breath. Tell me that football is not our one common language, when the whole planet stops for ninety minutes to witness the one thing we all understand. Yeah! You could tell me I’m wrong. Some may say it’s just a game. But this is about heroes and tribes, loyalty and devotion, it’s our commitment and our passion, our battle and our belief, this is our faith. Now, hear the fever of the crowd, hear the roar of the faithful. This is the beautiful game. This... is your moment! ” //= Again, just like rugby [|football] unites a whole nation. Poor people, rich people, young people, old people, white and black, everybody gathers to watch a game! In the northern parts of England, in the Newcastle area, football is not a sport. It’s a religion. You breathe, you bleed, you live for your club. No ifs, buts or maybes. When [|Kevin Keegan] returned as manager for Newcastle United in 2008, they named him Messiah! They did the same with Alan Shearer in 2009, even though he only managed to get them relegated at the end of the season. You take pride from winning games, you can go to work or to school with you head held high. When derby day arrives, the whole city is focused on that particular game. If your team loses, you may not go to work the next day. Even friends get emotional during these games, if you speak badly of one man’s club you may become foes in an instant. Football is sacred there, so you’ve got to be careful with what you say.

In Scotland as well, football is more than just a game. The Glasgow derby between Rangers and Celtic surrounds just as much controvercy because of politics and religion as it does about football rivalry. This derby is called the [|Old Firm], because the first recorded fights between football hooligans were between these two clubs’ firms. This game maintains the rivalry between Ireland and Great Britain, with Rangers being the British team, playing in blue, white and red, and Celtic playing in green and white, the colours of Ireland. The Irish against Britons' conflict is the main source of this derby, the protestants versus the catholics. The mangers and the players don't necessarily talk about politics, but the history of this derby involves past and current conflicts. These games get very emotional, and kids are rarely allowed to enter because it may get dangerous. The temper is high and the rivalry is tense, so you enter at your own risk. Even within football politics is a huge matter and this makes a lot of people involve themselves to the cause of a club.

Manchester United have serious [|debt issues]. As of March 2010, the club is £500 million in debt because of the Glazer family, their American owners. To save the club from bankruptcy, they have raised the amount of money you have to pay to get a ticket, kits, souvenirs, scarves, hats etc.etc. The financiers of the club travelled around the world to get new sponsors who could help them raise funds to save the club. This kind of worked, with the £500 million being erased. However, this won’t work in the long term. If the team stops winning trophies and runs out of sponsors, they will have to sell players. If they are in deficit they won’t have money to buy replacements for the players they sell, and eventually they will end up without players capable of winning titles, players with a big enough price tag and in the end they may even get relegated or bankrupt. However, because United are such a big club worldwide, fans around the globe have now decided to make a change. Local financiers, wealthy people working within economics, have now formed a group called Red Knights. This is a group of local Manchester United fans trying to raise enough money to take over the club. More and more people join their march against the Glazers, with the hope of a takeover happening as soon as possible. If the Red Knights manage to buy the club, they will cooperate with the fans. Each fan will be able to buy their own share, donating money to the club and make it wealthier. The more the merrier! What we see here are people, some who barely have enough money to pay their rent, giving money to a football club. Millions of people give what they have of money to save the club they care about, in the hope of it becoming a family again. This creates a bond between everybody caring about the club, connecting everybody between the richest and the poorest man in the land.

What do the best [|Cricket] nations have in common? Cricket is another major sport in Britain, with most social groups following the game. England is always a contender for the Championship when the tournaments get going. Their biggest rivals are Australia, South Africa and India. Now, all of these teams have one thing in common. That is that they’ve all got British colonies. This just shows how big an effect a sport can have on the world. A sport originated in England has transferred with the British colonies around the globe to create a massive sports rivalry between them. This sport connects people all around the globe, and with England having a good cricket team they take pride from it, and don’t dear to lose against their colonized countries.

The Britons’ addictions the sport connects the people in many ways. Whether it’s just a talk in a pub or on the street, religious and political fights, economical rights or even globalization, they are all ways people can relate to each other. Wealthy and poor people forget about their differences and hit it off, because they like the same team or are interested in different aspects of the game. Football becomes like a religion in various parts of the country, with political issues being dealt with on the pitch between rival fans. Supporters stand together in the attempt to save their club, donating money some of them don’t even have. These are just a couple of the ways sport connects people, making strangers unite to become a family.

Written by Edvard Ramstad 1STE

**//[|Subtopic text]//**
Sources: My own experience/friends Mr. Christian Lund Never Die Wondering – Eddie Sullivan [] [] [] [] [] [] [|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X6YH04vj8I]