True Supporters

Up until now, i have resisted writing too much about the Cricket World Cup. Partially because of the controversies, and partially because i've just been caught up in Australia's sensational performance. But the other day something caught my eye (or rather my ear) and i just had to comment.

In England's last chance to make the semi-finals, the match with South Africa, they put up a performance which could best be described as woeful. After being bundled out for a mere 154 (from 48 overs, with a tops score of 46 by Strauss) the English bowlers conceded the same amount of runs in less than 20 overs, taking just the one wicket. Clearly this was the end of England's chances in the World Cup, which left their fans disappointed (although you'd think they'd be used to it - after all, they follow England;)

English supporters, being who they are, decided to express their emotions by booing the captain at the on-field post-match presentation/interview. I've never understood the concept of booing one's own team. By definition, that's not the behaviour of a supporter. If you wanna be a supporter - then support. If you wanna boo you're own team - you're not a supporter - you're a critic. Don't call yourself a supporter - you give the rest of us a bad name.

Terminology aside, the underlying issue is that if you decide to be a supporter of a team, it's unconditional. For good, for bad, come what may. Otherwise, you may as well cheer for whichever team is leading on the scoreboard. And that doesn't make sense. Aside from anything else, can you imagine a close match - you might have to switch jumpers up to 20 times ;)