Did not qualify. Last. Sixth. Did not qualify. Did not qualify. Last. Fifteenth. If you saw the look on the faces of the SBS presenters including Jane Flemming and Les Murray during the closing ceremony of the Athletics Championships in Osaka you would know what I was talking about. It looked like something had dropped on them from a great height and it wasn’t gold.
The Australian athletics team delivered what is probably one of the worst performances at an international meet in recent memory and we are now only eight months out from the Beijing Olympics.
The Australian Sports Commission, the Federal Government’s agency responsible for implementing the national sports policy released figures that showed that the Australian taxpayer spent $6.3 million on athletics in the last financial year.
More than $580,000 was spent specifically for the lead up to the Osaka meet which was to allow “medal potential athletes and their coaches to spend more time in Europe for valuable training and competition in the all-important European Grand Prix circuit events”.
It’s no wonder that the SBS Commentary team was totally lost for words.
It appears that many other commentators are also lost for words. Andrew Bolt, Tim Blair and Piers Akerman who are always quick to condemn failures in the arts sector have been deathly silent about the abysmal failure of the athletics squad.
As recently as June, Tim Blair led a scathing attack on arts funding in NSW by suggesting that if the health sector is in such a bad shape, maybe they should apply for arts funding grants. “Health department needs a big slice of this action. It should be easy enough; application forms are available online and Arts NSW has lots of cash to throw around,” he said in The Daily Telegraph.
Blair has also made consistent attacks on performing arts groups, such as Circus Monoxide, a troupe that travels around regional NSW entertaining kids and families referring to the performers as ‘creatively unemployable’.
Bolt has similarly condemned publicly funded arts programs, most notably the Melbourne International Arts Festival and Piers Akerman consistently takes aim at the ABC.
Central to all of their arguments is that ‘your’ dollar is being wasted and that any failure by artists or arts organizations is wasteful. This is surely remarkable double standards by commentators such as Blair, Bolt and Akerman.
Imagine the contempt they would have for Opera Australia, the Sydney Theatre Company or any other arts organization if performers gave the same excuses as the athletes did in Osaka
Australia’s best sprinter, Josh Ross was reported to have been afflicted by homesickness, depression and was too fragile to compete at his best and ended up coming home early without any success.
Other athletes used similar excuses of not having done enough preparation or hadn’t done the right preparation. If an opera singer in any major Opera Australia production had been in a similar predicament and suddenly sung off key due to a ‘lack of preparation’ abuse would be hurled at them from audiences, it would be critically slammed by the mainstream media and commentators would be quick to draw blood.
The Australian public expects a lot of our professional sports men and women and many of us share the highs and lows without a hint of antagonism towards the public sponsorship which aims for excellence on the world stage.
Attacks by commentators on artists or arts organizations if placed on agencies such as the Australian Institute of Sport would see them quickly face the wrath of the Australian public. Somehow, abusing artists is an easier point scoring tactic but is just as less justified.
Image credit: Jupiter images
Wednesday, 5 September 2007
How embarrassing
Posted by Nicholas Pickard at 1:00 am
Labels: Arts Funding, Arts Journalism, Circus, Film, General Comment, Sport, Sydney Theatre Company, Television, Theatre, Theatre Critics
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7 comments:
Well said! I have been totally amazed by how appallingly our track and field athletes did in Osaka. And as you rightly point out, pitiful excuses. If even I turned up to work and passed of my total inability to perform to any kind of acceptable standard, I'd be out of business in a week.
Maybe they should have to pay back to the Tax Payer what they took from us. Like HECS (Higher Education Contribution Scheme), it could be SECS (Sporting Education Contribution Scheme). Payback SECS if you will.
I was embarrassed for them.
Hey, Nick, thanks for writing this. If for nothing but my entertainment. I'm largely alone, I'm most aware, but I've never pretended that I care for those physical pursuits that garner more plethoric national patronage (ie: sport). Believe me, I've tried. So, heh. You brought a tiny twitch to my otherwise rather downturned lips.
Good thing you check your facts. This was the first time Australia has won two gold medals in athletics at either a world championship or olympics for about three decades.
The arts communities strategy to constantly bag the hand that feeds you has also been shown to be a really successful strategy!!
If the arts community focussed less on stupid 'they get more funding than us' rants and actually focused on their product, their audience and their marketing... then maybe people might actually care.
"This was the first time Australia has won two gold medals in athletics at either a world championship or olympics for about three decades."
Well what the bloody hell are we doing continuing to pay for them at all then?!!
Imagine the brahouhaha if The Australian Ballet were performing in Tokyo (or anywhere on the world stage for that matter) and corpsed mid way through Act One of "Swan Lake" coz they'd had a difficult preparation ... or were homesick!!!
Trade the losers in I say. We need winners in this country. WINNERS! Who cares where we get them from. Kenya possibly? They seem to be able to run fast ... and they'd probably love to move here. Let's face it, they've probably tried to.
Thanks for your comments Anonymous No 1. I think the point you raise that arts communities "constantly bag the hand that feeds" is a big furphy that the aforementioned commentators wheel out when left with very little to say.
I think if you realistically look at the content of what is actually put out by arts organisations on all levels, you would find that very little 'bagging' actually occurs.
Just look at the reaction that occurred with the latest Blake religious art prize awards. The media grabbed hold of a couple of 'sensational' articles while totally ignoring who the actually winner was.
It's all so easy to mock the arts isn't it?
And the next point you raise is another furphy - "If the arts community focussed less on stupid 'they get more funding than us' rants and actually focused on their product, their audience and their marketing... then maybe people might actually care."
As with all publicly funded sectors - be it health, sport, aged care, universities, defence - there is always a cry for more. And on all levels it is a cry for more so that 'we can do more'. Simple really.
Which is exactly my point with this article - commentators whinge about arts funding and you never hear a bleep from them about sports funding. I have no problem at all with sports funding. In fact - I love sport. But what's good for the goose is what's good for the gander - no?
And, by the way, I think that you would find that arts organisations spend an enormous amount of time and money on researching who their audiences are (i believe its called audience development isn't it?) and act accordingly. Look at subscriber seasons at theatres.
And I can't even begin to tell you how much arts organisations spend on marketing and marketing development...
At the end of the day Anonymous No 1, whether you are a high-jumper or an actor, there needs to be publicly funded development. Otherwise it doesn't happen. Unless of course you would like to help out that aspiring athlete yourself.
Yes, yes ... but it doesn't change a thing. They're over-subsidised losers and that's the fact of the matter. It's got nothing to do with whether the arts get more or less. Who really cares? The simple fact is that these pointless athletes get paid to perform ... and don't. In any other sector or, god forbid, industry -this would be a breach of contract.
They did not deliver. End of story. Give the money back! If anyone's entitles to a friggin holiday in Europe and Japan with my money, it's me.
Enough of the free-loaders. Gold, silver or bronze or pay it all back. Simple.
Yeah anonymous! It works for athletes in the USA. Who came where on the medal haul board? Oh yes. FIRST!
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