lamhil september 2012 - E-Pao!

LAMHIL SEPTEMBER 2012 OPINION
22
how to work together, to become not only
good winners, but also good losers.
Thirdly, the statement that the
battle of Waterloo was won on the
playfields of Eton , implying that playing
games and the spirit of sportsmanship help
to inculcate lasting values, which make for
good soldiers, good fighters and good
discipline, apart from promoting 100 per
cent physical fitness. In British schools and
colleges, the fullest importance is given to
sports, especially cricket and football.
The result has been the creation
of a healthy, well-developed, disciplined
and efficient society in which people know
the right proportions in life, put everything
in the right perspective, and seldom
conduct themselves in an unsporting,
ungentlemanly and unbecoming manner.
Playing the game on the playground
naturally instructs people to play the game
of life in the right spirit, which is what
matters most, not victory or defeat.
According to sociologists,
society gains in many ways when the
government encourages sports and games
everywhere, provides playgrounds, the
necessary equipment and other facilities,
and rewards outstanding sportsmen, so as
to encourage others also to play games.
The crime graph dips, which means that
the incidence of general crimes decreases
because the right spirit and the right
approach to things is developed on the
playground.
Sport, it has been said, is not only
a manifestation of animal energy of
surplus strength to develop more strength;
it is, in addition, a safe and wholesome
outlet for the aggressive spirit in human
beings.
Those who violate the rules, play foul
or exceed the permissible limits, or indulge
in tactics that are unfair, are promptly pulled
up by the referee or the umpire. Anyone who
refuses to mend his ways or to repeatedly
violate the rules is ordered to quit the field
and is replaced by another player. This helps
to inculcate the habit of respecting the judge
and of observing the rules.
Some observers have contended
that there is a close link between sports and
a country!s industrial development and the
general progress of society. That is why it is
contended, most of the gold medals at the
Olympics are bagged by advanced countries
such as the U.S.A., Russia and Germany, and
Britain too manages to bag a few of them.
Of the eastern countries, China and Japan
plunder most of the gold and silver medals.
Is there a link also between
performance in sport and a country!s military
might? Militarily, China is the most powerful
country in the East, but Japan, which matches
the U.S.A. in industrial, especially electronic
ad-vancement, does well in sports despite
its small size. India is a large country of
continental size, and given the proper
incentives and the necessary facili-ties, this
country!s sportsmen should do well on the
sports field, but whether it is the climatic
factor, the lack of adequate nutrition and of
incentives, our sportsmen do not compare
favourably with those of the USA, Russia,
Ger-many and Australia.
In any case, the relatively poor show
of our athletes in international competitions
does not weaken the case for encouraging
sports which help to lay the foundations of
a healthy, sound society. The cost is returned
several- fold.
(Source: - www.preservearticles.com)