The gracelessness and the in-your-face aggressiveness of many spectators at New Zealand sports grounds is becoming an increasing embarrassment, writes David Howard, of Auckland.
Sport New Zealand, our governing sports body, is taking well-earned satisfaction from our positive results at the Olympics.
One of Sport NZ's major aims is to put more Kiwi winners on the world stage, and we have done that with a laudable contribution to both Olympic festivals in London.
As a small nation we have always punched above our weight and as a physically isolated nation, international sporting contacts continue to be important to us. But there is a downside to sport in New Zealand and that is crowd behaviour, especially at team games.
Inappropriate touchline behaviour, mainly verbal but sometimes physical, is a disincentive to match attendance and is damaging our international reputation. Regrettably it is going unchallenged. New Zealand inherited the British concept of fair play central to which were ideals not only of respect for the rules of the game but of respect for opponents and referees.
With our increasing cultural diversity and social dislocation, conflicting attitudes have grown up as to what sportsmanship actually is. This impacts negatively on team sports in particular.
By and large, when it comes to team games in New Zealand, a high level of sportsmanship is observed by the players and our teams win with dignity and lose with grace. The same cannot be said for increasing numbers in the crowd. The gracelessness, the in-your-face aggressiveness of many spectators, is becoming an increasing embarrassment.
The younger generation believes it was always like this, that it is normal behaviour. They are wrong. Take the conversion of goals in rugby, for example. In our grandfathers' time, it was unthinkable to boo an opposing goalkicker.
Booing as part of crowd interference is clearly a cultural issue. As long as rugby was essentially middle-class and British, respect for one's sporting opponents was a given.
During the '70s and '80s, this code of self-restraint began to change.
Increasing cultural diversity and social dislocation became factors in the confusion surrounding concepts of sportsmanship. Dunedin's new stadium has seen some ugly behaviour. It spoils the atmosphere for those of us who subscribe to conventional sportsmanship. It also makes New Zealand look bad internationally. I dread the South Africa-All Blacks game this weekend.
Apologists will shrug and say it is simply a reaction by "up-front passion people". So is any form of violence. I have asked "booers" why they do it and they reply - indignantly - that "It's only a bit of fun". That, of course, is the claim made by all bullies. They are impervious to reasoned argument and do not have a clue about respect for one's opponents. For them, it is about winning at all costs.
I have searched Sport New Zealand's website and can find no guidelines which promote values of sportsmanship. SportNZ claims its ambition is to "ensure sport continues to enrich the lives of Kiwis everywhere, every day" and plan to do this by encouraging children and adults to feel confident in participating. SportNZ has also undertaken to provide clear guidelines to parents, teachers, coaches and volunteers "to help lift the quality of the sport and recreation experience". These are admirable goals but nowhere can I find any mention of sportsmanship. I have gone to websites for rugby union and rugby league in New Zealand and, again, no mention of a code of values applying to spectators.
We can learn from the Rugby Football Union of England. As in New Zealand, rugby's popularity has spread across class and ethnic boundaries. Two years ago the England RFU produced its First Code of Rugby and formally identified the game's core values: teamwork, respect, enjoyment, discipline, and sportsmanship. It was made clear that everybody involved in rugby in England, from players to parents to spectators, is expected to uphold these values.
This code is regularly distributed in the rugby fraternity. At some games spectator cards are distributed which reiterate the core values of sportsmanship, central to which is the enhancement of enjoyment by showing respect to one's team and to their opposite numbers.
Sports administrators in New Zealand would do well to investigate the English initiative.
Recently, I attended a rugby league game and sat with a mixed group of supporters and opponents. In our small corner, the old values reasserted themselves. Most of us applauded good play from both teams and commiserated when either side made costly errors. It was a hugely pleasurable experience to cheer for the game itself. Sadly, it is not usually like this.
Principal Youth Court Judge, Andrew Becroft, speaking at the New Zealand School Trustees Association's annual conference last month, stated that some values in society are non-negotiable, such values as integrity, kindness, honesty and respect. The sporting public needs to take these words on board.
Sport revels in skill rather than brute force, responds to intelligence rather than ignorance, enhances discipline rather than violence and should produce pleasure rather than pain.
New Zealand is ready for a much-needed boost in sportsmanship but the situation will not improve without help. For violence and bad manners to succeed, it requires only that good men and women do nothing.
The barbarians are at the gates; some would say that they have already breached the walls: what will our leaders do?
