England must stop settling for ‘Second Best’
What is it about being English that means that we hype up the ability and chances of our team and players until the expectation is much more than they are actually capable of, criticise them remorselessly when they achieve what they are able to achieve (nothing) and then happily sit back and accept second best?
It isn’t just football we do it in, it is almost every sport. We won the Rugby Union world cup a few years ago but now we are relieved and relatively pleased if we keep the All Blacks to below fifty points. We really aren’t very good at Cricket and a defeat to New Zealand or Sri Lanka is regarded as acceptable. In that sport, hardly anyone else plays it, but we still can’t be the best! In Athletics we rarely win gold and let’s not talk about Tennis.
So why do we not reach the heights that we all think we should or in some cases seem to believe that we have a divine right to achieve?
Maybe I have answered my own question in the first paragraph of this article. In the end we, as a nation, are all happy to settle for second best. We are thrilled to reach the quarter-finals of anything and anything further than that is regarded as a major triumph. Tennis player Tim Henman became a hero in England despite never getting past the semi-final of Wimbledon. What other country in the world would make a hero out of a man who was basically a confirmed loser?
I would imagine that the mood in Germany at the moment is one of upset, disappointment and frustration. They will be angry that they lost the final and will regard Euro 2008 as a failure. Unlike the English, the Germans regard second place as the first losers spot.
Contrast the disappointment in Germany with the scenes in England after World Cup 1990 and Euro 1996 when the England players were feted around the country and invited to meet the Prime Minister and Queen for losing in the semi-final!
In England we must accept that we are not very good and work hard to strive to become winners. There was a very damning statistic read out on the BBC during the Euro 2008 final. Commentator John Motson was retiring and in his years at the microphone he had covered eleven major finals involving the Germans and none involving England. This has to stop.
In Fabio Capello we have appointed a man who is a winner and who simply doesn’t accept anything other than victory. The problem he may have is in over coming a whole national culture that believes that it isn’t the winning that’s important but the taking part.
In our Premier League it is regarded as a success to finish fourth. Obviously I understand the financial benefits of Champions League qualification but surely it is wholly wrong to have teams striving to be the fourth best in the country?
At Wimbledon at the moment the whole country is going Andy Murray mad. He had a good win the other day but he won’t win the tournament. We are prepared to make another hero who doesn’t win and this one isn’t even English! The Scottish tennis player is adopted by us because when it suits us we are happy to say we are British. Why don’t we go the whole way and call ourselves European and then we can claim Spain to be ours as well!
Until losing is fully regarded as failure we will not have the success that we want. Look at our golfers for example. They earn millions of pounds and praise for being in the worlds top twenty. It is a great achievement but do they all need or strive to be the number one?
It is time for a cultural overhaul in England and for all defeat to be regarded as failure whether it is failure to qualify for a tournament, going out in the group stages or losing in the quarter or semi-finals. Defeat in the final is failure as well, but it is forty-two years since we have had a chance to enjoy that level of failure!
The fact is that English sportspeople are too comfortable with being quite good. They are rewarded with huge salaries and all the trimmings of a fantastic lifestyle without having to get to be the very best. We love hard luck stories and always prefer a gallant loser to a ruthless winner.
Come on England, less gallantry and more ruthlessness, please!
Graham Fisher writes at Soccerlens and Soccer News.
Henman was a guy who in a way overachieved. To reach as many Wimbledon semi finals as he did with his limited ability was remarkable. His attitude was flawless, and he gave everything he had to give what the British publc desperately crave, a Wimbledon champion. So for the extraordinary effort he put in, and entertainment he provided for so many years, he deserves to be called a hero. Why should we only hail those who are gifted with the natural born talent to be the best?
“English sportspeople are too comfortable with being quite good.”
I don’t think that’s true in F1: Hawthorn, Surtees, Graham & Damon Hill, Hunt and Mansell have all been champions and England nearly had another one last year. And stacks of constructors’ trophies for McLaren, Williams, Lotus and the rest.
England nearly had another one last year
That’s the attitude that Graham’s talking about. That and the self-loathing that engulfed the British press during Euro 08, when everyone was happy to beat up the English team. Overcompensating for accepting mediocrity in the first place, methinks.
Something should change. Not just the manager and players. Something deep down.
Absolutely agree with you Graham. I couldn’t have put it any better myself! We need a zero-tolerance policy with regard to failure, doesn’t matter which sport it is. Like you say. this meek national acceptance of mediocrity MUST STOP NOW!!!
another problem is that when they do win the press say they did not win well enough or it was a scrappy performance.Time to lay into the press?.
spot on mr. fisher!
Graham,
I agree with some points but there were thousands of Germans who greeted them off the plane after Euro 2008. I know if you look at the Australian philosophy and attitude towards sport it is vastly different. Completely agree that English sport ought to do much better though.
About tennis….yeah….
Another great post from Mr. Fisher
with the first 2 posts showing exactly that.
England needs more winners and less good examples.
The problem he may have is in over coming a whole national culture that believes that it isn’t the winning that’s important but the taking part.
In Italy I have never heard that saying whereas in England I hear it regularly. It is true that we celebrate complacency and mediocrity in England but you need to realize that there are 195 countries in the whole world, 30 of which are more populated than us so for us to say we have to be #1 is a bit excessive, to me. I think we don’t need to win something to see it as a success. In the Rugby World Cup a year ago we lost in the final when we weren’t expected to reach the Quarter-finals, I consider it to be a success. I think it’s not important to participate, it’s important to do your best. When you think about it, 32 countries play in the world cup, 190 if you consider qualifications, it would be ridiculous if only one considered the world cup a success. South Korea didn’t win in ‘02 but they considered it a success, so why shouldn’t England be happy when we reach the last 8 or are top 20 in the world? Germany probably don’t consider Euro 2008 a failure. They lost to the better team.
Great post and a funny one too
Totally agree with you Graham. Spot on.
To Dean, in your thoughts on Tim Henman, you have just epitomised the whole mentality failure of our footballers: if you have flawless attitude and give everything on the pitch, you deserve to be a hero??
This is something you say to school kids, not professional footballers who are being paid millions of pound a year.
england teams dominate the european club competitions, crash out of the european team competitions. Wonder why?
No, you’re deliberately missing my point. England has had loads of champions in F1 and could well have another one soon (and Britain has had more than any other country). You can’t seriously accuse Lewis Hamilton of settling for second best: in the last three years he placed 1st, 1st and 2nd in the championships he raced in, and missed out on the F1 title by one point in his rookie season last year. At the moment he’s leading the championship again. Calling that ’settling for second best’ is myopic.