Wheels with
wheels, as the saying goes. We are now
at the point when France may
want to expel the UK
from the EU. Our cyclists have done
better than theirs and they don’t like it up them. Dark allegations have been made about the
technology of the wheels used by British riders; alas they seem to have been
sourced from France .
During the
televising of the cycle racing by the BBC in the Velodrome fleeting glimpses
were caught of John Major, Prime Minister between 1992 and 1997. No reference was made to him as he has become
almost the forgotten man of the last three decades.
But it was
on his watch in 1994 that the Manchester Velodrome was constructed and became
the home to the National Cycling Centre whose work has been central to the rise
of British Cyclists. Give the man some
credit for having done at least one thing right. What if nothing had been done then?
Also, not
mentioned on the BBC coverage is that BSkyB have been sponsors of British cycling
since 2008 and the formation of Team Sky in 2009 to become one of the leading
teams in world cycling has had its impact on the development of some of our
champions. Difficult one that, but it
should be mentioned.
Also
difficult are the brutal realities.
There are now calls for much more spending on sport for all and
everyone. That a good many youngsters
seem to be shy of the time, effort, expense and the rest involved in relentless
sport is understandable as there are now many other things to do.
Inevitably,
some potential winners may be lost, but how many are lost in any case because
whilst being potentially good at a sport involves such commitment that it may
be too much for either them or their families?
One option
is to remove them from their homes and families and drill them hard, as some
states do, but I doubt that this is possible in the UK .
But when
the head of the National Cycling Centre was interviewed on TV, he was asked by
the interviewer if their overall work had to be “ruthless”. He denied this interpretation saying that it
had to be honest, even if some people thought that harsh.
The upshot
of this is that the work of the NCC is highly selective and has to be to
deliver the prizes. In the UK and
notably in politics and the media this kind of notion is not welcome and rarely
enters the discussions about how best to do some things.
We are
happy to watch the races and cheer the winners but not happy about the idea of
concentrating resources on them. We have
become too used to scattering state money and favours around without too much
regard to whether it really pays or not.
This involves difficult choices and an honesty of purpose which almost
all our politicians prefer to avoid at all costs.
Another
intriguing aspect is that cycling coverage was rare in the mainstream media for
a very long while. It was regarded as
something the “peasants” did to amuse themselves. Meanwhile on BBC there were often wall to
wall equestrian events which the lower classes were instructed to admire.
It was not
until the early 1980’s that the newly established Channel Four began to run
regular items on cycling such as the Tour de France. For most people cycling on TV was restricted
to occasional advertisements. The most
famous was the 1971 Tetley Tea Bags commercial lasting thirty seconds, see below:
Watching
the advertisement and considering the new attraction of cycling both David
Cameron and Boris Johnson have used cycles in their efforts for popular self
promotion. It would save a lot of
politicking if they did a best of three 1500 metres race for the Premiership.
The idea
could be extended if we really did want to promote almost compulsory sport for
everyone, government office would be available only to these meeting high time
or performance targets in their chosen sports.
Given that all of them seem to be missing every possible other target it
might be more effective.
Although
one thing should be clear. It would be
no use whatsoever for Cameron and Clegg to team up for a tandem race.
"how many are lost in any case because whilst being potentially good at a sport involves such commitment that it may be too much for either them or their families?"
ReplyDeleteAnd have we taken it too far anyway? Sport as recreation seems to have no place in the sporting global mega-business.