“Sport has risen to the level of a world power, an authority that tends to obscure, overhang and infuse all activities in a society ravaged by the disarray of mutilated  individuals, without any collective project.  Sport has established itself  as the spearhead of an army in battle order, which crushes anyone who is stupified by it.  The steamroller of  decadent modernity, sport flattens everything as it passes and becomes the sole project of a society without projects”.  (Marc Perelman, French intellectual, in Barbaric Sport: a Global Plague. Italics are by Perelman).

We are talking about sport.  Games.  Recreation for young people. What has become of balance and common sense? That the Chairman of the International Olympic Committee can boss, cajole and command national governments shows how stupid the situation has become. Meanwhile,  last night we watched a young Korean fencer so distraught at losing  her Olympic bout that she just sat there sobbing her heart out and counldn’t be moved.  Whatever happened to sportsmanship and the gracious loser?  She had worked day in, day out for four solid years for the opportunity, apparently ( a professional, in other words).  The Olympics used to be amateur.

People with common sense have to protest and put the over-paid and-powerful organisers back in their box.  And reinforce to young people that they are taking part in a game, not something that, if temporarily lost, is the end of their lives.  But can we change all this from the paece of our gardens?