Ronald Allison: Join the great British sporting public (From Hampshire Chronicle)

Ronald Allison: Join the great British sporting public

3:42pm Wednesday 17th October 2007

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ARRIVING in Britain from a galaxy far, far away, an alien spent the first day finding out as much as he could about its inhabitants.

Being intelligent beyond our understanding and able to multi-task limitlessly, the alien watched television while listening to the radio, reading all the newspapers and surfing the web.

It concluded that uppermost in the interests of the entire population was sport.

With hundreds of hours of broadcasting and pages and pages of even the most serious' newspapers - including the Hampshire Chronicle - devoted to an incredible range of games, it had to be the case.

Sport was a national obsession and eavesdropping on conversations in offices and pubs simply confirmed this view.

Except - the alien was wrong.

Despite the truth of what it saw, read and heard there are millions of Britons who have no interest whatsoever in World Cups, Premier Leagues, County Championships, Open this and Open thats.

Some can't even name the England team that won the world Cup in 1966!

I happen not to be among them, but many of my family and friends are; indeed some of those I love the most dearly do not share my passions. "Your's is the loss," I tell them as I try to persuade them to watch 22 or 30 men doing amazing things with a lump of leather - well, not leather anymore - in the name of their clubs or countries. No luck...

Invitations to the Rose Bowl or St Mary's, or to "come round as you don't have Sky Sports," are all turned down. Perhaps I should try Fratton Park, but it wouldn't make any difference.

So why are so many totally indifferent to sport?

"A lack of understanding" would be an unappreciated answer so, in an attempt to help - and by that I mean converting those of you who simply don't get it - may I recommend The Meaning of Sport, a gem of a book by Simon Barnes?

Funny, wise, whimsical, provocative and perceptive it is above all, beautifully written.

Barnes will be known to some for his work on The Times where, daily, he produces essays I would be thrilled to manage once a year.

Here his chapters are concise and by only the second we are in the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe learning about deference from the elephants at the water hole.

Deference? Elephants? Sport?

You may well ask.

Dip into this wonderful book and find out.

You could yet join the great British sporting public.

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