One of my pet hates for soccer is the sportsmanship. Constant arguing with the ref, the crowd disagrees with every decision, and dives occur as a matter of course. An attacker cops a stray shoelace to the calf and hits the ground like a soldier copping a bullet wound in battle, yet more often than not the defender will pick him up. That's the only sign of sportsmanship I see in the game.
I've been brought up in a family that character is measured on your effort, fairness to the refs/umpires, and ability to pick yourself up when you're down and put in regardless of what you're up against. Getting flogged with 5 mins to go? Get those tries, you've still got 5 mins. Ball taken off you in open space? Run the man down and don't stop until you win it back. Knocked over in a tackle? Stand up and get possession. Bad decision? Get in position, play your own game. Penalty against you and you're near the ball? Pick it up and give it to the opposition.
I consider these to be standard sport ethics. It shouldn't matter which sport you're playing, just put in and enjoy the game. Forget about the ref and beat the opposition on your own merits.
I played 'premier league' hockey last year and had to give it up due to the time away from my family. I play 1sts locally now. I've been injured for a few weeks and yesterday morning I got a call from a second grade bloke asking if I could play (they only had 9). Of course I was keen.
Well, the opposition were furious. They wouldn't stop carrying on. Constant mumblings of "star recruit" and "premier skill" all game. Trash talk straight to my face like "big fall from grace huh mate" and "if he going to place this grade, put the hits on him". I couldn't believe it. In fairness, I was offloading the ball constantly and didn't hit top pace, and only scored 1 goal which wasn't exactly a skills run across the length of the field. I was there for the run around, and we were still 1 player short. The result was 3-2 our way, but with the talk on the field you'd think we were up by 10. Later in the game a bloke copped a stoke because the ball went into his body when it was CLEARLY going in the goals, and he went on about it not being a stroke for maybe 10 mins, then carried on about as we were shaking hands then after the game. Then started going on about me again.
Why do people even play sport? I'm sick of playing with and against teams who can't just go out there and have a good time. One decision sets them off and they don't stop arguing. I not go out there to fight with everyone, but to get fit, run around and enjoy an afternoon of team sports. Plus, it was 2nd grade - no sheep stations were in sight. Doesn't mean you don't have a crack, but really... not worth obsessing yourself over a decision (which everyone knew was right) and ruining the game for yourself and others around you.
Come on Australia, we're better than that.
