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as if to warAngela Mitropoulos

I N ONE SENSE - a conspicuoussense - the paradox of sportsrhetoric is this: it is perfectlyacceptable to applaudsports people in terms such as'elite athletes' while , a t thesame time, designating thosewho do no t applaud as 'elitists'.Of course, there are slightlydifferent (though no t unrelated)meanings for {elite' here: thefirst indicates Ithe best atsomething' ; the second suggests"'a"ristocratic' or 'exclusive'. Butwhat the association of th e two_makes .possible are the self-denials which link sport topopulism, where h i e r a ~ ~ h i c a loutcomes, whether as sportingvic tories or as soc ia l power , a rehabitually accounted for as theresult of something rathermystical called 'merit'. In bothcases, the theory of 'the levelplaying f ie ld ' - that there isindeed such a thing - becomesthe condition of applauding theranking: .

What therefore seems at firstglance to be a paradox is insteadthe means to admit hierarchywhile prOViding explanations fori t tha t place it beyond reproach,or beyond the realm of socialrelationships and thereforebeyond change. In sport, moneyis no t classified as a performance-enhancing substance. It isas if the money which goes tofinancing coaChes, training,

92 overland.lbb.2002

proper nutrition, the AustralianInstitute of Sports, and so on isirrelevant to results , careers, thefate of particular Sports, or evenwhether or no t a particularactivity is considered to be aproper sport by being includedin-the schedules of the Olympics. No matter how muchobvious effort is put intoobtaining money - as well asthe disbursement of money bycorporate sponsors - the denialof i ts role remains central to thepresentation of spor ts and thecharacter of the applause. Merit,in sports, is supposed to inherein the body, 'drug-free' and aunaturel. At times, there arereferences to inheritance, in theform o.f parental decisions and/or an imputed predestination.But such things are a t bes toccasional remarks se t tounderscore narratives of lifelongcommitment. In an y case,populists , far from subscribingto an egalitarian vision of theworld, believe any existent'social hierarchy is merely thedistilled essence - the creme dela creme - of Ithe people', whichis in turn construed as a b io logi cal entity, a family. HaVing lostany meaningful basis as acritique of the aristocracy,populism becomes restatedprinc ipal ly as a doctrine ofidentity and belonging, wherethe mechanisms of exclusionand inclusion which constitute' the people' are deemed to benatural, or rather bodily.

I t is no coinc idence , then,

tha t when sport meets politicson Austral ia Day, i t is by way ofre-asserting these relationshipsbetween hierarchy, biology and'the people'. In a more emphaticsense, i t is about reinsertingactual bodies within fictionalterrain of ' the nat iona l body' - Iwi ll come back to thi s. Indeed,what could be more politicallypressing than to re-assemblethese connections as a benign,indeed sporty affair at a timewhen not only is there anincreasing recognition of asimple bu t embarrassing historical fact (that this event celebrates the day the EnglishCrown declared its ownershipof this continent), bu t whenthere are hunger str ikes in theinternment camps? No coincidence either that the journalisticcliches run to the familial andtherefore biological: UPat Rafteris everyone's favourite son",uthe quintessential Australianboy".' Debate around namingPatrick Rafter as Australian ofthe Year turned, no t at allsurprisingly, around whether orno t someone who did no t live inAustralia could be granted theaward, w h e t ~ e r or no t heshould be married to have achild, and whether or no t hestill called Australia home. Whatwas pu t into question here wasless the question of Rafter's taxarrangements, than of theextent and propriety of hisnational and familial (anddistinctly biological) commitments.

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What does this mean for no t::-----"onlyhowwe-conceive of ou r

bodies, bu t also what we areprepared to do to them in!espect _of t ~ a t fictional body of'the-natio'n? Sport has a veryparticular set of codes aboutproper and improper violence.Moreover, violence in sport,when it is deemed to beimproper is dealt with byvarious tribunals rather than thecouns - much like the military.But sport, unlike soldiering itmight be objected, is done forenjoyment, or play.

Nevertheless, someone mightplay sport, but sport is rarelyplay. The increasing importanceand exten t o f sport does no tindicate any increase in play. Onthe contrary, it points to theincreasing significance of leisurein the context of a shift in thesense and intensity of work.Leisure recalls play, to be sure;bu t leisure unlike play remainscoupled to work. Thi srelationship'to work can beimmediate, as it is for those Wl:lOwork in the sports industry. Forprofessional athletes, the extentof managerial control over theirlives outside of their actualwork time is without parallel,bar one: soldiers. On the otherhand l as it is for most of us, it isentertainment, leisure. Forwhatever else sport does for mewhen I watch tennis or soccer, itis principally as rest andrelaxation. T? pu t it morebluntly: it is, like all leisure, theconsumption of a more or less

p a c k a g e ~ enjoyment as a tradeoff to laborious or joyless work.

However, what interests meabove all is the nature o f thisenjoyment, which still recallsthe classical relationship ofsport to war, and thereby of the

complex relations betweensport, leisure, work and war.One could easily point to the sometimes anything bu tsymbolic - exuberant warringbetween national fans. As forsport itself, the t erms can bequite explicit. As McKay notes,"During the 1996 AustralianOpen journalists constantlyreferred to him [MarkPhilippousis] in militaristic ways(e.g., 'firepower', 'majorweapon', 'sinking his target','blown away')."2

But, right along with anidiom that transforms sport intowar and sportspeople intowar. machinery comes the warlike and often distinctly passionate injunction to perform one'snational duty. What transforms'the Scud' into 'the Poo' otherthan the implication thatPhilippousis is feigning injury soas to shi rk working/warring forthe nation i n the Davi s Cup?What transforms CathyFreeman from an exceptionalrunner into an icon for'reconciliation' other than thesuggestion, made with priderather than embarrassment bysome commentators, that sheproved to 'us' that no t allAborigines are 'lazy'. For bothFreeman and Philippousis, it isno t simply that they are accusedof being l azy or that anyone issurprised that they are not .Rather, it is that at the e d g ~ ofbelonging, the point at whichproof is required, what becomesexplicit is that the stereoty'pes inplay are related no t to sport perse, but to work. Here, work isno longer just work, howeverenjoyable or tedious. It is workas a nat iona l du ty; work for thegood of something called 'thenational economy'. And so, the

narrative that sport delivers topopulism is that by 'workinghard' you might belong, youmight even ge t rich. Merit canbe rewarded. This is why i t hasbecome common for populiststo defend-actual social elitesagainst criticism by accusing thecritics of being 'elitist'. To be'elitist' in this sense is to refutethe notion of merit as anexplanation for social powerand wealth, to d is tu rb thefantasy that one just might , ifone 'works hard', becomepowerful and wealthy also. Youwon't necessarily, bu t you justmight . . '. In the meantime, doyour nat iona l du ty. Go to workas if to war.ENDNOTES1. Weekend Australian, 26-27January 2002.2. J. McKay, 'Men, the media and

sporting heroes', XY: men, sex.poliocs, 6(2), Winter 1996.Angela Mitropoulos is nonetheless prep-ping for the soccer match ot Woomera2002.

London LetterKatherine Gallagher

T HE POETRY of sport .Whenever Australia hitsthe news here, there's an 80 percent chance it's something to dowith sport. Cricket, tennis,rugby, swimming, athletics,darts. Most ly as played by theguys. Well the re was CathyFreeman. And the Australianhockey girls and swimmers get afair bi t of notice. But sport as afeminist issue?

The main Aussie news2002.1oo.overland