# THE DETAIL

#TogetherUnited

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Bringing all sides of the story - from us in the stands and watching on TV to the people behind the scenes keeping all forms of sport alive, to our idols the heroes and the people on the field of play. It's time to hear them and to educate ourselves on the affect racism, abuse, and discrimination has on all.

 

Sport, our Utopia? 

 

How incredible sport is. It brings people TOGETHER, creates friendships and bonds. It brings opinion, emotion, passion and understanding. It educates us and is our beacon of light. 

 

We work hard 5, 6, 7 days a week. We put in the hours just to keep a roof over our head, to keep food on the table and to support our family. Sport, whether football, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, or any other sport is our little bit of release and is our detach from our everyday reality. We share this with so many others, we want to share this with our children, our family, we want them to feel that passion - the pride of the team or the individual that carries our colours, that wears our crest with pride. The noise and the electricity that they bring to our arena!

 

With all this passion, with all this pride, our hopes our dreams carried by our idols our heroes that wear our colours, we are going to win the lot, everything! This is our season, our year! We are unstoppable!

 

Opening game, match, test, we are down, underperforming struggling to find our rhythm, that’s it! Who do they think they are? This isn’t the plan, this isn’t right! We paid good well-earned money for this....... wait for it, minutes pass, wait for it, still no change, wait for it, wait for it, BOOM! That’s it! Time to let fly the abuse, time for the hatred, time to lose our head! How can we make these players hurt? (wow wait, they were idols, were heroes only this morning). Not any more. How can I let them know how upset I am? Can I hurt them like they hurt me? Racism? Homophobia? Abuse? Discrimination? Let's let them have it!

 

Wow! Just Wow! Take a step back, have a think, you're back in the office or back on site, In what walk of life is this acceptable? 

 

THE STANDS (The truth of the matter)

 

The truth of the matter is the lady behind you is a nurse and has been for 40 years, you where clapping her on your doorstep only a short time ago, she looks after and cares for countless amounts of patients and she has been supporting YOUR team since before you where out of nappies (why does her opinion not matter?), the gentleman to the right of you is watching the game he loves with his husband, he is a mechanic and keeps so many vehicles on the road every day so people can get to work and put that food on the table and that roof over our head (can he not have a voice?).

 

The lady to the left of you is black and is watching the game with her husband who is white and her two children, she is an accountant, helping business owners run a lean and successful business which keeps all their employees in a job and earning (have they not got the right to enjoy the game too?). Get this and this is crazy, hold tight! They are just like you! Their heart beats, blood flows through their veins, they feel, they progress, they support, they are you, they are us! What has skin colour, sexual orientation or if they're male or female got to do with anything?

 

But wait, take a step back, Racism, Homophobia, Abuse, Discrimination, you brought the family with you, you look down as they are looking up, they are taking in, absorbing every word, every action, the only person at this point that can do right, can educate, can nip this in the bud and to set the example is you. Decision time……..

 

THE FIELD (The truth of the matter)

 

The truth of the matter is that idol of yours, that hero on the field, has a family at home or in the stands. They have thousands, millions, billions of people in the stands and around the world hanging on their every kick, tackle, catch or drive. Yes, its true they have a talent and yes its true they have this hunger to be the best of the best, but so do you so does everyone regardless of what sector, logistics, marketing, charity, armed forces, emergency services, accountancy, public sector, but as you will be fully aware talent only gets you so far, sacrifice is required. You have to give a large part of yourself over to the cause and once you have reached that point, the top, you have to give the other half to stay there!

 

Now, this is not for the faint hearted and you didn’t get it right all the time on your way to that point, and you won’t get it right every time as you look to stay there, but it's not the mistakes, the errors, that define us it is how we learn from them and push forward that does!

 

Now, criticism is expected, criticism is acceptable, and criticism drives us forward but abuse in any form, in any walk of life, is not and there is a fine line between them both. Remember, like us, these idols of ours will get it wrong sometimes and it is OK to be critical but take a step back, and step back into your life, it is time to hear their voice as well as ours…