“There’s a lot more than footy!”
by John Cushing, March 2023
Most people know I'm a Norwich City fan. We've always said we're not anti footy, but as Helen Nicholls told us from British Equestrian, 75% of media coverage in this country is about football, so we're keen to talk about something else.
Covering Olympic and Paralympic sport in detail since 2012 (and as a fan for many years before that) I've been lucky that it's given me more awareness of sports out there. Watching hockey in the rain in Glasgow 2014 opened my eyes to potential success for Team GB's women's squad in Rio (not in the rain!) 2016. Covering the monumental rise of gymnastics, from when Max Whitlock was a youngster, to now a three time Olympic gold medalist. Swimming, athletics, netball, triathlon, judo, taekwondo, so many sports we excel in.
But even I can still get surprised, and so getting tickets to watch 3x3 Basketball with my wife and son in Birmingham, because he'd learnt about Michael Jordan during Black History Month in his school reception class. And the thrill of the skills, the power and bass of the overall show, and ultimately a gold medal for Team England has got me slightly hooked on a sport where before I'd had a passing interest, and now I regularly shoot 'hoops' with my son, who also now knows more players than MJ. I was so excited to interview Steve Bucknall, the first Englishman to play in the NBA, and now Head of Performance at Basketball England. Have a listen I bet you can't tell!
Steve told me Basketball in this country is the second most played sport among young people, behind football. Wow. I didn't know that. Every person I've told didn't know that and it got me thinking as to why? Obviously, there's an obvious lack of coverage - Sky Sports and BBC1 more recently, do a great job showing NBA matches in the middle of the night, but where's the local news, radio, website coverage of our own NBL? (Our friend Mark Woods btw does a great job!)
But I've come to realise it may be down to our own psyche. We're so entrenched in our own views and teams that we don't stop and look around and think maybe there's something else out there. Something several parents and friends have said to me about my son wearing a Liverpool, or Barcelona or Ireland football kit (he's lucky his mum travels for work a lot - he's waiting for a Messi Argentina shirt!!!! He may be waiting a while...) "how do you feel about that?" indicates to me, why other sports might not get a look in. I've tried really hard not to use my influence on him with his choice of football team. I have no issue with my 6 year old liking the best teams, the best players. He's still learning and will come to his own conclusions. So I've tried to just let it happen naturally, and when he's shown an interest in something, and we're lucky, we try and make it happen - football, basketball, gymnastics, tennis, swimming - and he also does street dance (very apt for the new Paris 2024 sport of Breaking!). He seems to love all sports and is literally finding his feet.
Steve told me at a young age, "we're focusing on football way too much. There needs to be a broader perspective on sports in general. Offer a vision to all types of athletes." In other words, some people might suit playing football, others strengths may lie elsewhere. But maybe because of everything we think, we hear, and we do, we're only giving a very narrow view of the sporting opportunities out there. Not everyone can become a footballer, or has to support a certain team. And I can only imagine it's ten times worse for parents of young girls! ( but that's a whole different blog!) There's so many sports, so many opportunities, so many chances, so let's not restrict their options, let's give them choices and sometimes think 'Anything but Footy'!
