I feel that while the Malaysians need not feel happy for Singaporeans, they should at least maintain a certain level of dignity. They should accept that they were defeated fairly and move on, rather than harp on the loss. Does losing a football game warrant defacing the opponents national flag? I think that that behaviour shows a lack of maturity. I think that too many people place an overemphasis on sporting events. It is the norm to support your own country, but the problem lies in going too far in your support. By being a "sore loser" and refusing to accept defeat, one is only embarrassing one's own country.
I think that this incident also highlights the negative side of sports. Sport is supposed to bring countries closer together, strengthening international bonds, but sometimes the reverse occurs. A strong competitive spirit and a lack of sportsmanship cause incidents like this to occur. The losing side refuses the accept defeat, calling the winners cheats, and in the end, the atmosphere for both sides is ruined.
Sporting events should be kept clean, both sides should play fairly, and when the game is over, both sides should be able to say "good job" to the other.
2 comments:
Hi Kenneth,
I think your post is rather short but it is concise and descriptive enough. You stated that sports bring countries closer. Perhaps, you would like to go more in detail about that. I would first state my views on this matter. From this act by the Malaysians, it just shows that they do not have sportsmanship to admit their lost and congratulate the other team. They did juvenile acts that angered many Singaporeans. By drawing on the Singapore flag, they are insulting everyone. I think that they should apologise for such acts.
I do agree with you that sports do have negative impacts on the relationship between the countries. However, I think that Singapore handled the situation well enough. Instead of firing back rude comments to the Malaysians, we forgive them and let the matter rest. These helped to prevent the worsening of relations between the two countries. Other than that, there are examples that help improve relationship between countries. One example is Olympics. Just look at the number of participants there are. Everyone plays with friendship and respect. This greatly aids in the unity of the world as a whole. I hope to see better posts from you :).
Cheers,
Leonard
Dear Kenneth,
Violence resulting from sporting events have been common in the past years as we can see from the newspapers. However, this was not so in the past. In ancient Greece where the Olympic Games were first held, wars were temporarily stopped to welcome the Games. Athletes from from various cities and countries came together to celebrate this event that is held once every four years. However, since the Industrial Revolution, the countries have become more advanced in weaponry, and at the same time become more eager to take over more land from other countries. As a result, the Olympic Games of 1916, 1940 and 1944 had to be cancelled due to both World Wars. Since then, there are rarely any sporting events today that can be organised peacefully without any violence. Even today in the Olympic Games, even though violence may not arise from countries between countries, various threats are still present like terrorism.
Coming back to the matches played between Singapore and Malaysia for the World Cup Qualifiers, we should not look at the country as a whole, but the individual supporters. In my opinion, both sides have gone overboard as a result of the results of the matches played. In your post, you have already mentioned the negative reactions from the Malaysian supporters, but what about the Singaporean supporters. A Singaporean has hacked into Malaysian football website UltrasMalaya.net and claimed to have been done in retaliation of the flaming of Singaporeans, hacking of a website and the defacing of our flag. Both parties are not at all respectful of the sovereignty of the other country and ought to be investigated and duly punished, to serve as a warning to all potential trouble makers in the future.
In my opinion, sporting events should be events which promote harmony and equality. If the original aim of the sporting event is to promote further friendly relationships and understanding with other countries, isn’t it ironic that these incidents of violence occur? If countries wish to participate in such sporting events, it has to first ensure that its citizens are civilised, morally upright, and mature enough to have sportsmanship to win gracefully, and lose gentlemanly, and not create a big hubbub over the issue.
Regards,
Ivan
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