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Athers...recently the subject of some not so witty banter |
This week the reputation of sport has once again been
publicly dragged through the muddy puddles that represent the summer of 2012. Anton Ferdinand and John Terry legally
slugged it out in court 1 of the newly constructed and shiny Westminster
Magistrates Court which sits just "this side" of the flyover on the
Edgware Road. Magistrates and Crown Courts are no strangers to lawyers with
double barelled names swearing when describing affrays or confrontations
between the courts usual clientele, and the Old Bill. Police witnesses giving
evidence of will be often be asked what a villain said to them, or someone they
were confronting, and reply with a phrase, "fuck you, you c***", or
something similar.
But not many court hearings have heard exchanges with
such relentless and vitriolic language. Frankly it shamed football and sport in
general. But do we face the same problem in cricket? One of the first articles
on this site was about the age old subject of sledging. Personally I never
really enjoyed sledging, and my only reaction when on the receiving end, was to laugh at it. As Michael Atherton, recently labelled "a fucking prick"
himself, says in last Saturday's Times "cricket is often cited as an example of
sporting language that is witty and erudite." But is it really? Again in
the sledging article Dan, cited a noticeable step change from an amusing
comment such as "Don't use up all the hot water in the showers mate" to straight abuse such
as "Fuck off, you're shit".
Cricket has some well known expletive filled outbursts, such as that aimed at DR Jardine on the infamous body line tour "Which one
you bastards, called this bastard and bastard?", John Embureys description
of his injured back "the fucking, fuckers, fucking, fucked" through
to Flintoff's recent anti Atherton tirade. If on field language traded during a
county or international cricket match was subject to the scrutiny of this weeks
trial, would it be any less embarrassing for cricket than it has been for the
countries' other national sport?
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Ernie...no stranger to industrial language |
Cricket is under more scrutiny than ever with more
televised games, more intrusive cameras and microphones and more public and
media interest. As a fast bowler tears in and
drops on short watches the opening batsman hop around and follows up
with a verbal volley, we should remember a nation of kids is watching. In court, Ray "Butch" Wilkins described it in a footballing concept, as verbal
grief. My concern is not the grown men exchanging abuse but the influence this
has on the young cricketers of the nation, which are a large part of the
audience cricket seeks to cultivate. As with football, the kids mimic the
actions of their heroes and behaviour spreads quickly. In the late 90s I was
shocked (alright surprised) by the language tossed about in Division One of the
Herts League. My analysis after a few years was that the major perpetrators and
catalysts was the large number of overseas players from Australia, South Africa
and New Zealand that far outnumbered those in divisions Two and Three where I had
previously played my cricket. But it spread quickly as youngsters at those
clubs who hero worshipped the overseas player who had played pro cricket at
home, shot from the lip.
Unlike Tulisa, Thorpster isn't scrutinised by differing camera angles |
Those of you who know me will be aware, as a lad bought up
in North London and having followed Arsenal home and away for 25 years, I have
used, and been on the receiving end of
plenty of bad language over the years. As a travelling Gooner I spent
many a day in the North being told to, "fuck off you Cockney Wanker"
and that was usually from the local constabulary along with the favourite
"fooking shut it till you get into the ground cockneys". As an
opening batsman having played a decent level for 20 years I also got on the end
of a few verbals as well as half volleys! But I am not a role model being
watched by millions with cameras zooming in for close ups from all sorts of
angles, and replayed over and over, unlike Tulisa!
Obviously bad language is not a problem in the same way
as match fixing or corruption in general, but in an age where cricket competes
for audiences with many other sports both live at the venue and on TV, and also
competes with play stations and other computer based activities, I asked the
middle stumps followers is such industrial language, when traded in the
professional game, acceptable or abhorrent?
A friend used to coach a junior football team that drew many of its players from a rough/underprivileged area of Manchester. Weekly he was summonsed to the league disciplinary committee to account for his players' offensive language. The defence he developed was, 'if this is the language they hear all their waking hours, how can I stop them talking like that for an hour and a half each Sunday?'
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, can we expect cricket to be different to the curse-filled world around it? My personal dislike is the aggressive address of umpires/referees, which I would like to see challenged at all levels.
For a more esoteric discussion of cricket language, have a look at http://wp.me/p1OY5E-1T on my blog Declaration Game.
Thanks for the comment. Bad language is everywhere I am from a law enforcement background so industrial language is part of every day life. But we shouldnt encourage kids to get involved at such an early stage. I try not to swear in front of my son who is 6 but hear people effing and blinding around their kids every day. I agree with you that agression towards referees and umpires in sport is abhorrent particularly at club level when they do it for basically nothing. Just before I left London and stopped playing I got stuck into a kid who was going at an umpire. I am pleased to say that kid now seems a lot more reserved. I was no angel and had some spats with umpires but if I felt I overstepped the mark I apologised afterwards. I think club cricket was a lot more fun even at the top level back in the 90s, before the mass invasion of overseas players and imported culture of agression. My problem was I wasn't competitive enough as to me winning wasn't and isn't everything. Fun, having a a laugh and enjoying the company of team mates, opposition and umpires to me as more important.
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