THE GLOBAL impact of the recent football World Cup in Japan and South Korea is a forceful reminder of the place sport occupies in the lives of people everywhere.
The games people play in modern times have gone beyond leisurely recreation at the most basic level to the stratosphere of big business - and all that that entails.
Perhaps the most striking aspect of what sport means could be discerned from the intensity of nationalist feeling engendered by the World Cup, for example. In the first place, while the superstars are primarily identified with the clubs which pay them super salaries in the European leagues, nationality is what counts in the premier competition. Thus England pinned hopes on Beckham of Manchester United and Owen of Liverpool.
Japan and South Korea celebrated their heightened status as footballers to be reckoned with because of the unprecedented performances of their national teams. And Brazil was in ecstasy over regaining their world supremacy.
The World Cup had barely faded from memory when attention focused on tennis at Wimbledon and the exploits of the Williams sisters. Global television had enhanced the continuity of these sports as events commanding world attention.
That very continuity has given rise to concern about the proliferation of games and the price exacted on human endurance. The New Zealand cricket captain Stephen Flemming has called on the International Cricket Council which met this week in London to consider the matter of player burn-out. He argues that cricket fixtures are now so frequent that players do not have enough time between games to recover.
The issue emphasises the expansion of sport as a professional activity. The human effort, both physical and mental, must be an important consideration, alongside the commercial gains to be earned.
In playing host this week to more than 170 nationalities performing in track and field athletics we are privileged to watch junior performers aspiring to reach the highest levels of fame and fortune. We welcome and wish them well.
