There’s a major sporting occasion that has been getting underway this week and climaxes at the weekend. It’s in Europe this year, and it features teams of individuals who normally spend much of their time competing against one another in an individual capacity.
I’m very excited about it.
Yes, it’s the UCI Cycling Road Championships in Innsbruck.
What? You didn’t think I was talking about the Ryder Cup did you? Because somehow, the Ryder Cup is the major sports competition that leaves me coldest of all sports competitions.
I can’t really easily rationalise my antipathy. It’s no use saying that it’s a competition played by millionaires, because so is top-flight football. Or tennis. And it’s not just because I’m not really interested in golf. The sport in itself is harmless even if I’m not a fan.
In many respects it should be a go-to competition for me. It’s Europe v the US, and that’s an interesting match-up. Unlike some people in this country, I do feel European.
I suspect part of my problem is the corporatisation of the competition (I realise that I’ve just made up a word). The high end sponsors; the ludicrous clothing (that applies to all golf clothing incidentally); the sheer number of chefs v cooks (more anon); the interminable selection criteria discussions; and the bonhomie which I just find a bit false. (I agree that many of these are also applicable to every British and Irish Lions Tour).
Re the cooks v chefs points. Can we just all agree that it’s ridiculous that a team of twelve should require both a captain, and no fewer than five further vice-captains? These all for players each of who already have trusted lieutenants in their caddies. As far as I can see, it just means we can see pictures of the various captains swanning around on their golf carts.
I think my overall disdain comes from this being a sport that in the main is not a team game. These players compete week in and week out against one another regardless of nationality. Then the Ryder Cup comes around every couple of years and everyone gets excited.
But my disdain is also for golf in general. I can’t get excited for a sport that’s done its level best to remove itself from free-to-air television screens while at the same time, suffering a precipitous fall in participation. It has taken a money-at-all-cost approach to developing the sport, meaning that fewer people play. (See also cricket.) Only today, Sky announced an extension in the UK of its coverage of the European Tour including the Ryder Cup. In the meantime, there is precisely zero live golf on free-to-air television with the sole exception of the final two days of The Masters on the BBC.
It’s not just the Ryder Cup. I have similar issues with the Davis Cup in tennis. It’s hard to explain, but I find the attendant jingoism unsavoury – at the same time generally enjoying other international team sports like football or rugby.
It’s not as though I like every sport in the world. I’m indifferent to most fighting sports, and despite once enjoying it a bit, now find F1 tedious in the extreme. Many Olympic sports, I’ll only spend time with at the Olympics. But for many other sports, I can at least enjoy them if presented with them, despite not actively seeking them out. Yet somehow the Ryder Cup jars with me. I will actively avoid watching it.
In the meantime over on the BBC and Eurosport, I shall be eagerly watching to see who becomes the Cycling World Champion in the men’s and women’s races on a hilly Innsbruck course. That’s my weekend sorted!