Stereotypes :: Wessex Scene Online

Stereotypes

25th January 2008
Simon Webb

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Sport is plagued by stereotypes. Some are reinforced day to day, others could not be further from the truth…

Tennis
On these fine shores, the typical Tennis player is expected to be pretty well off, white and very much the most self confident person you could encounter. Certainly this is reinforced on the international stage, Andrew Murray and Martina Hingis for example do typically reinforce this. However, the Williams sisters and many of the Russian players contradict these views. The Williams sisters both defeat the common stereotype, for they are both extremely talented tennis players, who are black and from incredibly deprived backgrounds.

Ice Hockey
Ice Hockey, a sport for deranged mentalists from North America, Finland and Russia? Or in actual fact a sport for high flying academics? Oxbridge’s oldest varsity match is indeed an Ice Hockey match starting in 1895!

Football
Most members of the Athletic Union will confidently describe the football club as a bunch of Kevballers. Premiership stars are looked upon as thick, wet, spoilt little brats who aren’t manly enough to stay on their feet. At university level, a number of the football club in fact come from public school backgrounds and achieve excellent degree classifications. On a national scale, the likes of David James and Sol Campbell are both highly respected for their writing and eloquence. Both display an artistic streak and are applauded for doing so.

Hockey
Picture for me if you will, your stereotypical hockey player. I expect you would go one of two ways: the big muscle bound he-she with grazed knees or a St Trinians bubble chewing school girl. Certainly your average international hockey player is a fairly sturdy individual, but you need only look to the Dutch ladies team for confirmation that muscley can be beautiful as their squad boast a pop star and three mens’ mag cover models.

Basketball
Not all Basketballers are big, tall black men from the hood. No siree! Back in the early 90s the Boston Celtics fielded one of the most recognisable names in basketball in the NBA, which hails from China!

Rugby
The impression that many get of Rugby is based entirely on their exposure to it on television. Rugby has a strong grass roots basis of public and private school, and indeed, the majority of internationals from the past few decades are alumni from such institutions. However, if you were to look at the mens lower leagues you would be alarmed at the level of violence and injuries that take place. However, the womens game can and does challenge the common stereotype. Most would expect them to be lager ladettes, one look at the top level and indeed even the grass roots level would suggest otherwise. Perhaps due to the fact that again, the public schools are the ones pushing the sport.

Badminton
You could be forgiven for thinking that the only people half decent at this sport hail from the land of the rising sun. To some extent perhaps you are correct. The fact the game takes place on a small court is well suited to countries like China where space is at a premimum. However, the likes of Gail Emms who have run out with numerous titles does give some hope that other continents can threaten the sport’s high flyers.