[00:00.49]I am always amazed when I hear people saying that sport creates goodwill between the nations,
[00:07.09]and that if only the common peoples of the would could meet one another at football or cricket,
[00:13.76]they would have no inclination to meet on the hattlefield.
[00:18.01]Even if one didn't know from concrete examples
[00:22.05](the 1936 Olympic Games, for instance)
[00:25.70]that international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred, one could deduce it from general principles.
[00:35.05]Nearly all the sports practised nowadays are competitive.
[00:39.37]You play to win, and the game has little meaning unless you do your utmost to win.
[00:45.54]On the village green, where you pick up sides and no feeling of local patriotism is involved,
[00:52.20]it is possible to play simply for the fun and exercise:
[00:56.96]but as soon as the question of prestige arises,
[01:00.88]as soon as you feel that you and some larger unit will be disgraced if you lose,
[01:06.83]the most savage combative instincts are aroused.
[01:10.98]Anyone who has played even in a school football match knows this.
[01:15.62]At the international level, sport is frankly mimic warfare.
[01:20.85]But the significant thing is not the behaviour of the players but the attitude of the spectators:
[01:28.28]and, behind the spectators, of the nations who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests,
[01:36.51]and seriously believe -- at any rate for short periods -- that running, jumping and kicking a ball are tests of national virtue.
