sport games in malaysia

TITLE: The Olympic Games Are Heading To London In 2012, But Will They Totally Live Up To The Hype Or Will The Bad Side Of Sport Ruin The Party

I’ve loved watching sport since childhood, having been given a crash course in football by my friend when I was about eight years old. John was lucky enough to get a ticket for the F.A. Cup Final one season, and I, with childish innocence, made a point of following the match on a television screen hoping that I would be able to find him in the crowd. Obviously, I didn’t see him, but I had got enthusiastic about the spectacle of the big match. During my teens I became an addicted football fan, with the scores round-up at five o’clock|5pm|tea-time on a Saturday afternoon dictating my wellbeing for the rest of the weekend. Fortunately for my parents, I followed a club who won more regularly than they lost!

In time, I began to watch many other sports on television. test cricket became a favourite after an attack of glandular fever left me holed up at home during a series in the West Indies, snooker had been pulled from the pubs and clubs of the British Isles and transformed into primetime viewing via some creative marketing and the realisation that here was a game that was comparatively cheap and simple to broadcast. And then there was the Olympic Games, a stunning sporting spectacle which came around every four years and in which every country in the world took part on the same terms. Or so we were led to believe.

As my earliest memory of anything to do with the Olympics was the dreadful events which happened in Munich in 1972, it’s maybe strange that I loved the whole concept of the event so completely. But the same games also delivered Mark Spitz’s incredible tally of seven gold medals in the swimming pool – an achievement only bettered in 2008 by Michael Phelps. Days and days of watching Eastern Bloc athletes effortlessly outdoing everyone else thanks to performance enhancing drugs which went undetected didn’t dent my enthusiasm either, and I have enthusiastically watched as much television footage as I could over the years – until now. (Is it any great shock that I now have to wear glasses to see properly and am saving up for Laser eye surgery? Too many days spent watching sport on the TV!)

And no matter how hard I try, I’m finding it impossible to get any enthusiasm for the London Games. Even relations who usually don’t have any interest in sport think that they’d probably like to go and see a couple of events, as it may be the only opportunity that they have in their lifetime, yet I, who claim to be such a keen sports fan, and can travel to the main Olympic site in less than an hour from home, have little interest in trying to buy tickets.

I believe that there are a few reasons for this. Firstly, I am bored of the number of scandals and less than savoury events that are starting to tarnish many sports – violent footballers, bribed cricketers, drug taking athletes, jockeys taking backhanders, and in the background, the dubious types who do a lot of the damage and who create such havoc simply for personal financial advantage.

Secondly, big business has forced its way into on so many events now. everything has corporate branding, events are planned to suit television executives wishes ahead of the fans, sportsmen and women are told what clothes they can wear and which products they must endorse, including diet supplements and Laser eye treatments – aren’t these effectively ‘legal’ cheating? But the end result for the public is paying crazy prices to watch a tournament in order to fill the corporate pockets of the businessmen who are running the sport, and without always being convinced if teams or competitors are actually playing against each other on equal terms. The golfer who sings the praises of Laser eye surgery - doesn’t the treatment give him an unfair advantage? The football team whose directors have employed some obscure type of therapist – is everything he encourages the team to do totally legitimate?

Finally, I don’t notice the wealth of personalities in sport any more. There are a handful of characters who would be described as entertaining, but because of the money now involved, many sportspeople don’t believe that they can let loose every now and then because anything they do or say may impact on their contract. I find myself hoping for another Kriss Akabusi, Jackie Stewart, Tony Currie, Alan Minter or John McEnroe (though I can imagine that he’d probably be promoting Laser eye treatment if he was still playing at his peak now – though for the tennis officials instead of himself!)
2011 Arafura Games Sepaktakraw - Sports Authority of Thailand v Terengganu (Malaysia)(1of2)

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