Tough game to overcome

Brave New World (The Star)
29 April 2010

It is very hard to win when officials appear to make decisions that favour one side over the other.

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LAST weekend was terribly depressing for me. I was a distant witness to a battle whose outcome seemed inevitable, al­­though one did hope that it would have been different.
On the one side you had a group which has been dominant for so long that they felt it was their god-given right to always be at the top. Any challenge to them is met by petulant fury from their leader. On the other side is a weaker group which has struggled over the years to have some sort of impact on the status quo.
However, over the last two years, they have grown from strength to strength, and after a string of stirring and unexpected victories, they looked set to overcome the odds and beat their all-powerful foe.
But perhaps their recent good form was misleading, and to win this time was a bridge too far.
It did not help of course that officials almost always seem to favour the mighty enemy. Their leader in particular seems to have an unseemly amount of influence on the very people who are tasked with ensuring that any contest is clean and fair.
It is very hard to win when officials appear to make decisions which favour one side over the other. And to make matters worse, the supporters of this powerful group are arrogant and smug creatures who are unaware of the ideals behind the competition that their team is participating in.
I watched from afar, unable to do anything more than give moral support.
It was so frustrating being unable to actually be down there on the field of battle to do something more tangible.
But alas, this is the way of the world and most times high hopes and fervent prayer just don’t do the trick.
Still, it was a close call. And for a little while at least, it looked like the underdog might have been able to pull off a small miracle of sorts.
At one point, I was certain that they would win. Unfortunately, in the last lap of the race, they fell behind and victory went to the powerful.
It was not surprising, although painfully disappointing. But one must not give up hope, there are battles yet to be fought and they hover in the future.
The little guys must pull together and focus their attention on what they can do well. They have to fight on intelligently, building on their many strengths and shoring up their weaknesses.
A culling period may be called for where the ineffective and the counter-productive are trimmed away from their ranks, leaving a strong core that can bravely and honestly face the challenges that lie ahead.
I am, of course, speaking about the defeat of Tottenham Hotspurs to Manchester United at Old Trafford. What did you think I was talking about?
■ Brave New World will be taking a leave of absence and will return in June.