THOSE who love their sport may not exactly be fans of the celebrated novelist Jane Austen while it is fairly safe to say that Jane Austen would not have concerned herself particularly with sporting matters. Yet just as sport reflects real life so too can the world of literature speak into the current school of sport.
One of Jane Austen’s main characters was the title character of her novel ‘Emma’. Emma came from a privileged society where for the young ladies of the time the only thing that mattered was winning the right man as a husband, to secure her future hopes. It was a contest that required considerable training, guile, patience and perseverance. It was not a game; it was serious. Emma though was slightly different. While being attractive personally to many potential suitors, she played her own game and was more concerned in arranging marriages for others. She perhaps was the unlikely forerunner of those who have been found to be guilty of match fixing in our modern sporting world!
Match fixing has become a big thing today, being connected too with the world of betting. There is a desire to fix events in a match or indeed the whole event in order for others to benefit; it is about ensuring certain things will happen that will be to our own particular ends. So, perhaps most famously, we need look no further than Hansie Cronje, the former captain of the South African cricket side, who was found guilty of agreeing to arrange certain events for personal gain, for himself as well as for those who would bet on such incidents occurring. However, he is not the only one who has fallen victim of the trap of match fixing, directly or indirectly.
Match fixing is variously described as “playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result” and also as “dishonest activity to make sure that one team or individual wins a particular sports match” or when “the outcome of a match in organised sports has been manipulated” or arranged in advance. Some examples people would give are when a player is asked to intentionally miss a shot, when a referee is required to call more fouls against one team, when a coach substitutes a player. It is generally but not exclusively linked to betting.
It may surprise us, therefore, even shock us, if we now claim that sadly match fixing is part of our school sport. There is no doubt that informal betting happens at the side of fields between fathers, sometimes even with the knowledge of the children, who now have the added pressure of coping with having to win so their father does not lose money. There is no evidence to date, however, that the result is fixed by the betting. So how can we claim that school sport has match fixing?
If we take the line that match fixing includes “dishonest activity to make sure that one team or individual wins a particular sports match” then the underhand offering of scholarships to talented pupils registered and playing at other schools to come and play for the other school, in order for that school to ensure it wins, could be seen to meet that criteria.
Buying better players in is purely for the benefit of the school’s reputation (often not the child) as well as the coaches’ or parents’ reputation; it is influencing the result of the next match. Why are such sporting scholarships being paid out if it is not to influence the result of the upcoming fixtures? Matches are therefore being fixed.
If we take the line that match fixing includes the definition that “the outcome of a match in organised sports has been manipulated”, then parents on the side-lines, or indeed coaches, constantly shouting, complaining and putting pressure on the referee to make certain decisions, is indirectly a manipulation of the referee’s duties. It is trying to influence them make decisions to their advantage in future – in other words, fixing it for their gain.
Jane Austen may not have been talking about match fixing in school sport when she wrote ‘Emma’ but the titles of her other novels also have a bearing on match fixing and school sport – ‘Pride and Prejudice’ is one, ‘Persuasion’ is another. We should rather aim for the title of another of her novels, ‘Sense and Sensibility’, and ensure that good sense and sound sensibility to education remove all match fixing in school sport. The point of fixtures is not to fix them; there is nothing novel about that.
Tim Middleton is a former international hockey player and headmaster, currently serving as the Executive Director of the Association of Trust Schools Email: ceo@atschisz.co.zw