I was one of the tens of thousands of us who stayed up late on Saturday night to watch Ricky Hatton do our country proud in Las Vegas, against the world's pound-for-pound best boxer, Floyd Mayweather.Hatton was the epitome of bravery and extraordinary good humour in the face of defeat. It may be a very British trait to lose at the top of the sporting league, but it is also very British to be gracious and inspirational in the face of that defeat.
Forget hours of dull theoretical lessons on the values of citizenship and Britishness, Hatton's display of hard work, discipline, courage and grace in the face of defeat is something we should be showing in citizenship lessons up and down the country.
5 comments:
All very true, but surely Calzaghe deserves a mention!
Unfortunately, we are so used to the brave efforts of runners up in Britain, yet in Australia with a far smaller population they are strong in a wide range of sports.
I don't doubt the commitment, desire and hard work of Hatton or Lewis Hamilton or the English rugby team or the Scottish football team but it would be nice to actually celebrate victory rather than "a good effort" a little more often.
Calzaghe senior and junior swept the board at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year - boxing is back!
All very true, Nick. But as Hatton said, he didn't need to move up a weight to take on, debatably, one of the all time greats. He could have basked in his multi-weight victories and left it at that.
Better to strive and to lose, than never to strive at all, don't you think?
I can't imagine Shane Warne saying "its better to strive and lose, than never to strive at all".
Why does Australia tend to produce winners and Britain tend to produce brave runners up?
There are of course some World Class Brits such as Calzaghe, Paula Radcliffe, Nicole Cooke, some of our track cyclists and some of our sailors, and rowers. Hopefully next years' Olympics will unveil a lot more.
Who'd want to win in England, as soon as anyone gets to the top the media do their best to knock them down again, look what happened when Paula Radcliffe's winning streak ended. Strange English phenomina we praise the loosers and critise the winners
It was a great bout, but I was mortified when the Brits whistled and jeered throughout the American national anthem.
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