Sports which are just too posh, rich and over-represented at the Olympics

First topic message reminder :

Swimming/Gymnatics - have too many medals on offer
Equestrian/Yachting/Shooting etc. require loads of dosh to just get on the first step (and I'll include the Pole vault in that)
And filthy rich sports like football, tennis, golf, rugby and basketball should never even have a sniff of Olympic participation - well, not the multimillionaires anyway. If the Olympics ain't the pinnacle of the sport, then they shouldn't be in.

You dont have to crimey- But i do. Its that simple

"Education of Team GB is a hot issue - at the beginning of August British Olympic Association chair Lord Moynihan said
it was "wholly unacceptable" that half of Team GB's gold medallists in
Beijing four years ago were privately educated. It's at an early stage
but the odds appear to have improved: so far 32% of Team GB's medals are
from privately educated athletes."

so we are kinda going the right way on this- but still clearly we have issues

thanks hero for the link.

However, some sports are more likely to be the product of a private
school education than others - so far that includes rowing, equestrian
and shooting. By contrast, all the athletics medals are state educated
so far.

so far 32% of Team GB's medals are from privately educated athletes.

Its so unfair eh Myst. Clearly our private schools require more funding to get them up to national standard

Personally I thought we could've sacrificed one of our 3 rugby pitches for an athletics stadium.

I think you have missinterpreted the data GSC

only 7% of kids go to private schools.

Clearly we should get more into private schools then. Forget spending all this money on facilities for every sport at every school, lets just send kids to private school.

Well i went to private and my kids will be going. However i still feel passionately about state eduction and the role sport plays, because unlike many on here certain sports instill a sense of pride, ethics and respect within the person that plays the sport. Football on the other hand really doesnt!

If we pay to get all our kids into Private Education, doesn't that make it State Education?

GSC is clearly just talking bs with that one. If we all had to pay for private education then all that would happen is that you would have the cheap basic level of schooling but still more expensive ones that offer more

ChequeredJersey wrote:If we pay to get all our kids into Private Education, doesn't that make it State Education?

Then everybody goes to state education!

In fact why not abolish all schools, spend the cash on sports facilities and make them go there everyday

I just don't see why it matters.

The reason more privately educated people do things like rowing is because it's more attractive to "posh" culture, while poorer people prefer football. It's simply their preference.

As SR has pointed out, it's possible for most people to take part in rowing, for example, it's just they don't want to.

What about we scrap sport and just get them working in mines from 12 years old

I like it Myst, your dream of equal opportunities comes true.

By 'eck its getting heated on here.

I think it would be great if more money was invested in Sport in state schools and get the majority trying different sports. Remember children are more likely to be reactive than proactive as they look up to adults to guide them.

My school was flipping terrible, only those good at football were given opportunities in other sports. That alienated about 80% of the pupils at my school, we never really got an opportunity to try anything else.

VTR

The thing is that rich people can afford to do more stuff in general.
Sport is good for people. So is reading, art etc.
In NZ rugby is for everyman - fees are low and clubs are everywhere. But you still need to buy boots and even have a car to take them to the games.

VTR wrote:By 'eck its getting heated on here.

I think it would be great if more money was invested in Sport in state schools and get the majority trying different sports. Remember children are more likely to be reactive than proactive as they look up to adults to guide them.

My school was flipping terrible, only those good at football were given opportunities in other sports. That alienated about 80% of the pupils at my school, we never really got an opportunity to try anything else.

Where did you go to school VTR and how recently, can I ask?

Tophat its immaterial where he went - that is a typical story of many schools.

You can spout to the world that there is no class divide and everything is done perfectly as it is and the schools that don't do more don't have the funding all you want. But the reality is tophat- you must live in some vitual world pal- because that isnt what is going on.

Why don't we create sports for the poor people to do. Instead of hammer throwing they can throw a beer bottle. Instead of the steeplechase they can get chased by someone with a knife, or instead of rugby they can pass a stolen laptop from one person to the other up and down the high street, scoring points by chucking it through shop windows.

Would that be better for you Oakey?

mystiroakey wrote:Tophat its immaterial where he went - that is a typical story of many schools.

But it's NOT though!! Stop using a few examples you've got to castigate the entire state education system!

Every school in North Hertfordshire does the full array of sports I mentioned yesterday. One pikey pocket of south London doesn't act as a barometer for the thousands and thousands of schools across the rest of the country.

Don't mind answering the question; Midlands, younger siblings left the school within last 10 years. Also nephews now going into the same County system and it is no better. In fact, my school had huge playing fields that have now been built on.

Thanks for the VTR. It's totally different in Herts and most of the other home counties judging from people I've spoken to, that's why I was curious.

Yeah I'm sure it varies. I think of the area I'm from and it appears a statistical anomaly as very few top-class athletes have ever come from there. But knowing how bad the system is, its not an anomaly really.

I think my school suffered from lack of funding for coaching as much as anything else. There was only one full-time PE teacher, and we'd end up with bizzarre things like the Geography teacher doing the cricket (which was all of about 2 lessons per year), his main qualification being he was from Yorkshire!

VTR wrote:In fact, my school had huge playing fields that have now been built on.

Same happened to my old school, altough in their defence the fields were too big and not utilised correctly. With the smaller fields they have built new and better facilities and, as far as I am aware, still teach all sports. Same as when I was there.

I think that you are way off the mark Mysti with the majority of schools play football only. I know you visit 2000 a day, are you sure they're not football academies?

I think the lack of pitches is a convenient excuse for laziness personally. I'd expect to see schools focus on other sports in that event, or make better use of the pitches they have.

Like I said SR the field was huge. Something like 15 football pitches 3 rugby and loads of spare. Now they have athletics facilities and a stand, brand new astro-turf area, something like 5 football pitches and 2 rugby with enough space for various other games. Plenty for a school. As you say if people truely want to play a sport it's not hard or expensive to start out.

TopHat24/7 wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:Tophat its immaterial where he went - that is a typical story of many schools.

But it's NOT though!! Stop using a few examples you've got to castigate the entire state education system!

Every school in North Hertfordshire does the full array of sports I mentioned yesterday. One pikey pocket of south London doesn't act as a barometer for the thousands and thousands of schools across the rest of the country.

Don't forget the Rugby team not being a bunch of illiterate chavs.

At the end of the day, the moral of the story is even if your school doesn't offer it, pull your finger out and there are opportunities.

Actually, we had quite a few 'chavs' in our team (you can only expect so much from a state school in Stevenage) and other teams in the county were full of them......

Our star winger was actually a Centre-back in the same Watford team as Ashley Young.

We had about 10 lads who all liked rugby and played for local clubs, the rest we generally had to borrow from the football team or convince them rugby was like legalised scrapping in order to get them interested

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/etons-boys-empowered-by-olympics-rowing-success-2012080837501

GSC wrote:

TopHat24/7 wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:Tophat its immaterial where he went - that is a typical story of many schools.

But it's NOT though!! Stop using a few examples you've got to castigate the entire state education system!

Every school in North Hertfordshire does the full array of sports I mentioned yesterday. One pikey pocket of south London doesn't act as a barometer for the thousands and thousands of schools across the rest of the country.

Don't forget the Rugby team not being a bunch of illiterate chavs.

At the end of the day, the moral of the story is even if your school doesn't offer it, pull your finger out and there are opportunities.

One pikey pocket of south london- do you even have a clue about what you are talking about!!

Chavs,pikeys- I have clearly explained to you that its a multicultural area - highly represented with ethnic minorities- The pikey or chav pockets are from suburban council estates - much furthar out.. What a crazy opinion you have. Your opinion in fact is part of the problem we have in this country
If you think I am castigated an entire eductaion system you are clearly not on the same page here, Your points are becoming more and more ludicrous- And you clearly do not have a scooby

GSC- Your point about illeterate chavs is only proving my point.. Football is played on the whole by one social spectrum, Rugby another..We have a class divide within our sporting structure.

Galted wrote:http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/etons-boys-empowered-by-olympics-rowing-success-2012080837501

aww poor neglegted Etonians

Right back at you Mysti.

You have a misguided view based on one pocket of S London, unrepresentative of any other part of the UK I know of and you are using it as a benchmark to judge the entire system by.

So your area sucks for sport in school, fingers crossed they do something about it, but that doesn't mean the rest of the country is as rotten.

mystiroakey wrote:

GSC wrote:

TopHat24/7 wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:Tophat its immaterial where he went - that is a typical story of many schools.

But it's NOT though!! Stop using a few examples you've got to castigate the entire state education system!

Every school in North Hertfordshire does the full array of sports I mentioned yesterday. One pikey pocket of south London doesn't act as a barometer for the thousands and thousands of schools across the rest of the country.

Don't forget the Rugby team not being a bunch of illiterate chavs.

At the end of the day, the moral of the story is even if your school doesn't offer it, pull your finger out and there are opportunities.

One pikey pocket of south london- do you even have a clue about what you are talking about!!

Chavs,pikeys- I have clearly explained to you that its a multicultural area - highly represented with ethnic minorities- The pikey or chav pockets are from suburban council estates - much furthar out.. What a crazy opinion you have. Your opinion in fact is part of the problem we have in this country
If you think I am castigated an entire eductaion system you are clearly not on the same page here, Your points are becoming more and more ludicrous- And you clearly do not have a scooby

GSC- Your point about illeterate chavs is only proving my point.. Football is played on the whole by one social spectrum, Rugby another..We have a class divide within our sporting structure.

A number of the guys I played rugby with and/or against were off council estates and are now on benefits or in prison (and many have also achieved success with their lives). Sound posh?

Its not my area..

I have never once said the country is rotten. I just want a few more sports represented at school level- and a much better approach to it.

Since i mentioned all of this we have had MP's talking in the news about a different approach to sport in school and I am 100% with them..

"A number of the guys I played rugby with and/or against were off council
estates and are now on benefits or in prison (and many have also
achieved success with their lives). Sound posh?"

good on them- why arnt these lads getting through the systems and playing at club or international level though. Btw there is no need to concentrate on words like chavs or posh- It doesnt help the debate

Oakey, have you got access to everyone who has ever played Rugby's school report so you know they all went to private school.

You are making a bit of an idiot of yourself on this subject if I may say so.

Even if as you say your local schools had Rugby or Fencing in them, do you think people would be interested?

Hogwash SR..

Offcourse people will be intersted if you allow them the opportunites.

We are clearly wasting way to much money on football. Which in fairness does not need to even be represented at school level as it is so popular anyway!

Oakey, if they had rowing, fencing, or dressage at my school I doubt I'd be interested.

THey had Rugby and Cricket at my school too, but I wasn't interested in them either.

yeah well I was allowed to go to my local golf club for my sports period. So i didnt even get invloved in the shools sporting set up anyway! but we are not the majority!

Myst

Interesting comment about football not requiring promotion through the school sports system. Not sure I agree entirely, as I think a good quality games teacher at both middle and high schools can help kids learn good technique before or in parallel with any coaching they get from their out of school sides (then again our school football teacher had been a minor pro player before taking to teaching, so may have been better than many).

However, I do agree with the wider point that schools should be able to offer the opportunities to try a range of sports. To be fair, my (state) high school did a fairly good job in this regard across the 2.5 hours per week games / PE timetabled plus after-school sessions for those interested in playing competetively. We had teams in football, rugby (league*) and cricket, and also managed to include basketball, badminton and swimming in the curriculum. We even had a new indoor sports hall built during my time there which was good enough quality to be rented out in evenings to local clubs (and this was only a mile from the town centre sports centre).

*In a stroke of irony, for a school in Eddie Waring's home town, we were coached RL by a Welshman whose main job was to be a music teacher.

Should also have included athletics in the list of sports that my school offered. As with many schools, we had a cinder track for the 100m and a grass track marked out every summer for longer running events. We also managed to put out an athletics team once a year for the town games

In terms of football i would knock out actual games during PE(they can play games at lunch) and only concentrate on skill sets!!

Yes that could create a problem that many cant be bothered to get involved- But i reakon it will make football more accesable- The lumps and the cool kids will still play football in there own time, but the shyer types may get into the skillset better..

I went to a private school. And as much as people wanna say what a waste you cant even spell. What I was taught was to fend for myself, I didnt even have to do homework. I could ask to go and play golf in PE. I had no specific structure. I wasnt forced into doing certain subjects at GCSE level. But know I run my own business and I have allways been a part of the private sector sporting systems. It was allways about being given the chance to do anything I wanted, but do it yourself!

However this clearly isnt an approach we can take at state school. I had class sizes of 12 pupils!! not 40. We had more faclilites than they have in a whole town- The school I went to is on a 90 acre plot- ok most of it is woods!

If any kid had asked to play rugby. The teachers would have simply said- Get a group of you that is interested and we will sort it out for you. It really was in the pupils hands

There is a structure to state schooling and in fairness it has to be there. They cant just allow kids to do what they want because we dont have the resources to fully take an overview of each individual which they did at my school!

So make things available within the structure- we have to do a certain amount of pushing..

Why don't we concentrate less on football in schools, let's be honest the UK on the whole are absolute gash at it, considering the facilities and money that are poured into it the returns are appalling.


I went to school in St.ANdrews, and of all places you would think that would be one place you might get to do something different in PE, i.e Golf, but no, it was all Rugby, FOotball and Athletics. Didn't do me any harm though.

I don't think it should be a school's job to make people enjoy sport. If anybody wants to play a certain sport there will almost always be a club they can join.

Blaming it on the school system not providing the sport you want is just lazy.

Agreed Crimey, lots of people think it's schools that ought to teach morals and manners too.

What happened to parental influence. Those were the people who ran sports clubs and coaching when I was growing up.

there is nothing lazy about it crimey.. We just need to utilse the money we spend better.. Some/many kids need that push. We do spend money and loads of it on sport. But it clearly isnt going according to plan, Our footballers cant even pass the ball- yet we spend more on that sport than any other. Someone isnt right

super_realist wrote:Agreed Crimey, lots of people think it's schools that ought to teach morals and manners too.

What happened to parental influence. Those were the people who ran sports clubs and coaching when I was growing up.

Do you not think its a problem. How do we help the kids that have rubbish parents?