The British [well the English!] claim to have invented many of the great sports played across the globe. Football, cricket, tennis, motor racing and golf to name but five. So the question has to be asked, why aren’t we any good at any of them?
Most of the iconic images of British sport are in the same vein as the one of Gazza on the left, and they all have one thing in common. Failure at the highest level.
Failure is so deeply ingrained in the mind of British sportsmen that it must come as second nature. But hey, never mind, being a loser at least gives you a chance of winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award! For example, Nigel Mansell won it after failing to win the 1986 Formula One World Championship, and Nigel doesn’t even have a personality! Andy Murray must surely be knocking on the door this year after once again choking in a Grand Slam. Goodbye “Henman Hill”, hello “Murray Mount” – the theatre of broken dreams!
Ironically, those British sportsmen who are successful, such as multiple champion jockey AP McCoy and darting genius Phil Taylor, go largely unrecognised. Maybe if McCoy had fallen off Don’t Push It on the run in of this years Grand National he could have been a genuine threat to Andy Murray in this years losers celebration in December?
