I want my money back

[shirepro]

Having watched the athletics over the weekend I hung my head in shame. Guys relegated to compete with a host of countries Bob Geldoff would find hard work, and the girls manage to edge aside Belarus. This follows a poor Olympics and world champsionships. We did OK in the Commonwealth because we only invited people we had achance of beating, and then only just about did it (except Australia of course who have a massive population to chose from compared to us).

The commentator was blaming the poor UK weather, saying they have nowhere to practice. Please! Perhaps they can share winter facilities with the Swedes and Poles who beat their sorry arses.

Enough is enough, I want my 35p lottery money back and they can all go back to working for the council recreation dept. or working as Army PTI's until they can get it right.

[Ahonen]

shirepro said:

(except Australia of course who have a massive population to chose from compared to us).

I thought there were only 20 million Aussies, compared to 60m of us lot?

[mybrainhurts]

Stop splitting hairs.....

[old fogey]

it's in the australian culture to be tall, blonde, athletic .. and that's just the men

sadly we brits tend to be massively overweight, lazy, more interested in Eastenders than pride in our country and unwilling to train at 4am in the freezing cold.

no wonder we're the laughing stock.

Eastenders has a LOT to answer for

[Size Nine Elm]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

And way, way more than that. Aussies DO SPORT. Most of them. All different sorts.

I just don't see the youth in the UK doing sport. They'd rather be cool, fat and lazy, in front of the Xbox.

[r988]

You guys have no idea, we are just as fat and lazy as you poms. We do have a culture of sport though, probably the only culture we have since thats the only achievement that seems to be recognised in Australia. Good at science or maths? won a nobel prize, well done have a pat on the back but dont stand in front of the tv we are trying to watch the cricket. Which means all the smart people head overseas to were smart and skilled people are appreciated. Hence the reason there seem to be Australians everywhere. Want to get ahead in Australia, be good at sport, good at anything else, we dont care. If your not good at sport then you better be good at watching sport and drinking lots of beer.

[Twincam16]

I think part of the problem is that, whilst some Aussie culture may centre on barbecues, cricket and four-X, there is an athletic tradition. I mean, why is it that they keep beating us at the cricket they love to watch (Bangladesh aside!)?

Simple - they've got more of a health culture than we have.

For a start, if you're on an Australian beach, the lifeguards come around recommending that you wear sun cream, cover yourself up, limit your time in the sun and so on. Here, we have a culture of cooking ourselves. You can always spot the British tourists as they're the ones that look like poached lobsters.

Secondly, Australian schools spend ages on sports and their facilities are first-rate. Over here, we probably have 45 minutes sports, and only if they haven't sold off the facilities, or got past all the safety regulations.

Statistics (can't remember where I read them but never mind) show that they eat more healthily down under too - more fruit and vegetables in the average diet, and less processed meat, probably because they trust their own and don't buy it in all processed.

Even so, I am sure that we are discouraging success of all kinds in this country, and I don't think that happens in Australia.

[bga]

Twincam16 said:

I think part of the problem is that, whilst some Aussie culture may centre on barbecues, cricket and four-X, there is an athletic tradition. I mean, why is it that they keep beating us at the cricket they love to watch (Bangladesh aside!)? Simple - they've got more of a health culture than we have. For a start, if you're on an Australian beach, the lifeguards come around recommending that you wear sun cream, cover yourself up, limit your time in the sun and so on. Here, we have a culture of cooking ourselves. You can always spot the British tourists as they're the ones that look like poached lobsters. Secondly, Australian schools spend ages on sports and their facilities are first-rate. Over here, we probably have 45 minutes sports, and only if they haven't sold off the facilities, or got past all the safety regulations. Statistics (can't remember where I read them but never mind) show that they eat more healthily down under too - more fruit and vegetables in the average diet, and less processed meat, probably because they trust their own and don't buy it in all processed. Even so, I am sure that we are discouraging success of all kinds in this country, and I don't think that happens in Australia.

Same in NZ - they manage to do OK with mixed weather etc. Only a small nation but produce a reasonable number of athletes in the sports that interest them.

Ask an average Kiwi (or Aussie for that matter) what sports they are interested in & they will give you a list of 3 or 4 main ones

[Donut]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

CRICKET

[iansull]

shirepro said:

Having watched the athletics over the weekend I hung my head in shame. Guys relegated to compete with a host of countries Bob Geldoff would find hard work, and the girls manage to edge aside Belarus. This follows a poor Olympics and world champsionships. We did OK in the Commonwealth because we only invited people we had achance of beating, and then only just about did it (except Australia of course who have a massive population to chose from compared to us). The commentator was blaming the poor UK weather, saying they have nowhere to practice. Please! Perhaps they can share winter facilities with the Swedes and Poles who beat their sorry arses. Enough is enough, I want my 35p lottery money back and they can all go back to working for the council recreation dept. or working as Army PTI's until they can get it right.

The trouble with a lot of sports in this country is that they are run by morons who have no idea how to find talent and then nurture it.

You only need to look at Athletics,Tennis even Football(kids being rejected cause they're too small!!!)to see that you can throw as much money at the problems as possible, but without the proper organisation and people in place,you might as well burn the money.

Many other countries have these people and systems in place where Britain has largely relied on exceptional individuals to paper over the cracks in British sport.

The world moved forward while Britain didn't until after Atlanta which is why we're playing catch up in many sports and until we get the right people in place, i don't see what will change.

[r988]

Twincam16 said:

I think part of the problem is that, whilst some Aussie culture may centre on barbecues, cricket and four-X, there is an athletic tradition. I mean, why is it that they keep beating us at the cricket they love to watch (Bangladesh aside!)?

Maybe more time to practice since it isnt raining, more time spent on nuturing talent, we have special talent scouts and the Aust Institute of Sport which gets govt funding since they figure doing well in sport is a public morale boost (rightly so i guess). Look at how England of gets oh so close then fails so often, people like Tim Henman, that girl in the Olympics who gave up, the World Cup soccer where you seem to do ok then get blasted in the semi finals. There is definately something wrong with the state of UK sport, probably a psychological thing. No wonder your all depressed pessimists.

Twincam16 said:

For a start, if you're on an Australian beach, the lifeguards come around recommending that you wear sun cream, cover yourself up, limit your time in the sun and so on. Here, we have a culture of cooking ourselves. You can always spot the British tourists as they're the ones that look like poached lobsters. Secondly, Australian schools spend ages on sports and their facilities are first-rate. Over here, we probably have 45 minutes sports, and only if they haven't sold off the facilities, or got past all the safety regulations. Statistics (can't remember where I read them but never mind) show that they eat more healthily down under too - more fruit and vegetables in the average diet, and less processed meat, probably because they trust their own and don't buy it in all processed.

We have the hole in the ozone layer practically over our heads, we have had to deal with sunburn and skin cancer for a while, you are just catching up in the realisation (or else just stupid). We probably eat more fresh food and meat because it isnt as expensive as it is here(in the UK) and we have a lot of strict controls on quarantine to keep nasty diseases and pests away from our food. We also produce a lot of food and especially meat so that would help.

We have about 90mins of sport (double lesson) in high school, i've trained in various martial arts, played rugby, football, sprint, relay and middle distance running competatively and thats just off the top of my head. I am generally considered a fairly unsporting person. Then again none of my younger brothers play much sport, (actually none they are too busy on the computer or xbox) but they are lazy, like most kids these days I guess. We also have more types of sport competing with each other with AFL, 2 types of Rugby, Cricket, Soccer (proper football) etc probably being the main ones. Though basketball, Tennis, cycling golf, athletics, swimming and pretty much everything else, are always competing for TV space as well. Hence my loathing of sport since its often on every TV channel.

I have to say though, here in London at least, that people are absolutely mad for marathon running and things of that ilk. Every second person seems to be a runner or bike rider and obsessed with eating healthily. A lot are also smokers and heavy drinkers which seems faintly mad to me, but there you go, mayeb they think one thing cancels out the other.

Twincam16 said:

Even so, I am sure that we are discouraging success of all kinds in this country, and I don't think that happens in Australia.

You are a miserable lot who seem to love banning anything even remotely fun, I'll give you that. You also complain alot but then do nothing much about it except grumble some more, probably why there has never been a revolution here in Britain, god knows you could do with one.

[shirepro]

Ahonen said:

shirepro said: (except Australia of course who have a massive population to chose from compared to us). I thought there were only 20 million Aussies, compared to 60m of us lot?

I was being saracastic!