Chapter 124 : Women and men in sport

I am confused about women in sport.   Perhaps other people can inform me. I will listen to other people. Some are women. Some are men telling me they don’t watch woman’s cricket or the women’s football because they are not as good.

I listen to a man who says,” I’m a sportsman. I watch all sport; football, cricket and rugby. Not the women of course. ”

My mind drifts back to when I was young and I watched AFL football with my sisters and cousins.

We all had the same heroes on the football field and we all knew we would never emulate them. My sisters and I all looked on EJ the same. We cheered him (because he was our best player) and knew we would never emulate him on the football field.

The sporting heroes who inspired me were different. They were Raelene Boyle, Ralph Dobell, Eyvon Cawley, Margaret Court, Ken Rosewell, John Newcombe and John McEnroe.  These were the people who inspired me and got me to get out and copy them.

We all thought men watching females play netball were dirty old men having a perve.

My days of watching AFL have been replaced by parkrun. Parkrun is the future. Before or after parkrun I stop and talk to other runners. The runners could be classified by sex, sexuality, age, health or ability. I see them all as people who have made an effort to be fitter and healthier by running/walking 5 kms. That is what we have in common. That’s is what I normally talk about. Running 5 kms.

The people at parkrun are fit and healthy. They never mention the media coverage of women in sport.  They never mention the wages of elite sportspeople.  They never say the system favours men. They never say they don’t play sport because the sports pages are all about young able-bodied men. They never say we need a special parkrun dedicated to women.

At parkrun we are not running in order to come first. I win every time I finish. It’s all about me. My victory comes from becoming fit and healthy.  

I am a sportsman who has no interest in watching sport.  I much prefer to play sport. To get the physical, social, emotional, mental benefits of playing sport. My victory does not come from following a team that wins.

I see the sport on TV as pure entertainment. Same value as soap opera. Not connected to the health of the community. Sport in the media is unscripted drama. With players we either love or love to hate. Good and bad characters. People or teams we boo or support whenever they enter the stage.

Just as with any soap opera, sport on TV should reflect our society. Sport should have a balance of males and females; able bodied and disabled; young and old people.  We are a better society when all these groups are looked on as containing elite sportspeople. Where my grandkids imagine physically fit and healthy people are everywhere.

Back to my grandkids. Their heroes are Spiderman, Luke Skywalker, Princes Leia, singers, actors and TV personalities. I can’t control what they watch on TV or the Net. What I care about is their physical health. At the moment they play sport that is accessible and available. They play what their friends play? They play what is well organised and well managed?

They are playing the same sports as I did many years ago.  Sport has remained the same but our society is changing. My grandkids will live in a different society to the one I grew up in.

I dream of my male and female grandkids becoming fit and healthy. I don’t see their future physical health relate to any sport or drama on TV. But I do want them to grow up in a society where TV reflects their community. The dramas and sport on TV should feature all people. Males, females, able bodied, disabled, young, elderly with every different heritage.

I look forward to a future were Kay looks on International Women’s Day as an unnecessary anachronism. Were Bruce never says, “Men are better than women.”

I look forward to a future where parkrun is the normal. Where everybody is welcomed. Where everybody is respected because they are different and unique. Where everybody’s aim is to be fit and healthy.

I look forward to a future where the shows on TV (including sport) represent the community we live in.

A future where my grandkids are all fit and healthy. Physically, socially, mentally and emotionally. Were their community is a fit healthy community.

Chapter 123 : Retired

In 2016 most days were pretty normal. Including a Wednesday in October.  I followed my normal routine. I went to work in my dental practice; in the evening I played tennis; then I went home and went to bed. A pretty normal day.

I woke up two weeks later lying on my back in a bed in the RHH.

I immediately thought, “I am doing nothing. The work will be piling up. I’d better get back to work.”  

I was then told. “You aren’t going back to work. You are now retired.”

In the next few weeks my wife spent a lot of time visiting her now retired husband. One day she showed me a piece of paper and asked me to sign it. This I did.

She then said, “You have just sold your dental practice.”

After selling my practice I lay back in bed.

My mind thought about the shower. How do I use it? Is this tap hot or cold? How can I shower without this nurse coming and watching me?

I thought about shaving. I don’t want a beard. I don’t want to shave. I’ve got to work out when and how to shave?

I also thought about being retired. What does that mean? What does it involve?

I listened to the word retired and the way it was used. 

The word retired was always followed by another word saying what I used to do.  It ignored my future. It ignored where I wanted to go. It thought the best years were all behind me; I was just sitting around waiting to die. It is like being at university and continually described by the secondary school I attended.

The word retired looked backwards and contained the word tired.  It told me to sit quietly. Don’t make a fuss. Take these tablets. They’ll make you feel better. Be careful crossing the road.

After continually hearing the word retired I decided I didn’t want to be called retired and treated the way everybody treated retired people.

I tried to treat other people as unique individuals. I tried to treat them with respect. I abhor stereotypes.  When I met people I don’t think of a stereotype based on age, sex, sexuality, physical or mental disability, race, appearance, education, clothes.

I try to celebrate all the people I met.  They are all unique and different. They are unique individuals with a unique history; a unique view of the world; a unique future. I assume that everybody I meet will do the right or wrong thing or a combination. They will vary from day to day and during every day for reasons I can’t see or understand. They will be full of virtues and foibles.

I have realised I hate being described as retired. I hate the way the word is used and everything it means. Eventually I realised I have to live with the word retirement. I can’t avoid it. When I use the word I will change the meaning of it.

Other words have a meaning that grows or changes. Like words such as YMCA, Qantas, surf, mouse and friend. For me the word retirement will mean freedom.

Traditionally the word freedom has meant Bob Dylan; Easy Rider; guitars, backpacking; jeans and boots. With the soundtrack playing Janis Joplin singing “Me and Bobby McGee.”  

Well I’ve been both young and old and being old is the freest I have even been. When I was young I never felt as free as now. When wearing jeans and tie-die t-shirts I was always aware of things I had to achieve or do. I had to pass another exam; get a job; buy a house; go to parent teacher interviews.

Freedom belongs to us baby boomers; grey nomads; tracksuits; running shoes; campervans; mobile homes; and deck chairs. The soundtrack is John Farnham; Jimmy Barnes; Golden Oldies or Hits and Memories. 

We are the free people. We are footloose and fancy free. We are the people who can do anything we want.