England's loss to Australia on Saturday October 3rd in Rugby's World Cup was a huge disappointment for the home team, as Australia's new coach galvanised his players to victory with technique and skill over England's young and talented athletes who have yet to come together with the necessary maturity and playing experience. It was an exciting and entertaining match; good by international standards, with a fair amount of action and little foul play, the latter generally not welcomed among the proper sport of rugby. And it offered plenty to engage the viewer's critical input, i.e. shouting at the television set. The players on both sides were riveting to watch, toned towers of muscle and strength wrestling and scrimmaging with speed and fearlessness.
And yet Sunday emerged as a day of national sporting mourning, the English media underscoring the tragic fact that, as Tony Allen-Mills described it in the Sunday Times, its team was "the first host country in the history of rugby World Cup to fail to survive the preliminary stages."
Evening news on ITV following the match harped on about the diminishment of a sport, of an English way of thinking, of the country's future prospects, and about the overall pointlessness of building new playing fields for schools. A ten-year-old in his rugby kit was filmed asking why he should play and train hard when something as bad as this happens, his lips downwardly cast in emoji sadness. Some speculated that billions of pounds could be wiped off the stock market as a result.
It is predicted that many advertisers will pull out now that viewers will be less interested in watching the rest of the tournament, and its sponsoring channel, ITV, will lose millions. The head coach, Stuart Lancaster, should resign. The captain, Chris Robshaw, tearfully proclaimed that they had let down England. I presume the razor blades will come free. His pain was a tad too real and agonising for a parent whose duty it is to remind their young about the virtues of 'perspective', when their notion of "the bigger picture" means an iPhone 6+ over an iPhone 5.
The only words of wisdom and experience came from Jonny Wilkinson, former England and all-round coolest player alive, commentating on ITV's post match wrap-up. It takes time to build a team, he pointed out, with an eloquence of truth that we wish for in any daughter's potential partner; not just practicing and playing together, but also losing and learning together will define a stronger and successful team in years to come. "You can't cheat time", he added, as we were reminded that 24 out of the 31 members of the England squad had never played in a Rugby World Cup before. We nodded in approval, man-crushes included.
How many times have we read about the strengthening effects of failure in business, bestseller novels and start-ups? Clearly, failure is fine until it happens -- then it becomes a source of shame and loss of hope, condemning the guilty to a future as losers in perpetuity.
Recent articles have reported the alarming statistics of students in schools suffering significant and growing rates of depression, anorexia and self-harming. The competitive stakes are too high, too expensive and too frightening, and now, if unmet, unforgiving on a national scale.
Two articles appeared not only in the same newspaper but on the same page, a sort of bizarre relationship between reporting on the worrying societal trends of today, while condoning an element of the very attitude that feeds these concerns. Like publishing an article on Thailand's child prostitutes next to an advertisement of a pre-pubescent-looking model in skimpy panties promoting lingerie.
Not sure what the swarms of newly appointed therapists in schools will be explaining to students with anxiety when they fail an exam, not make the team, lose a debate, hate their bodies, lack Twitter followers, and see their photos languish un-liked on their Instagram accounts.
No amount of anxiety can change the future, yet fear of failure can alter a lifetime. It seems that failure is fine so long as it remains abstract, invisible and happens to others. The English team played well; each one of them a superb player in their own right, but what a dismal disappointment they all turned out to be. Better not pick up that rugby ball after all, no point in failing.