England Out . Are our schools to blame. ?

[modeller]

For many years ' competition' has been a dirty word in schools. Whether its in English , Maths or Games no one can be seen to fail. As a result children grow up with a false sense of their abilities and there is no need to compete with others .
Some schools even refused to play competitive games against other schools.
I haven't taught for a number of years but ex-colleagues tell me little has changed. They are expected
to tell parents only positive things about their child never negative.
Could this ethos be a factor in our lack of success ?

[Gromit]

This is a bit of a myth.

Some looney leftie councils did indeed ban competitive sports in the 1980s, but it was not widespread.

A more significant factor is the loss of playing fields and Sports grounds for development. Leading the kids (the next generation of footballers) to sit at their X-Boxes all day instead of being active. Our children are now more obese that the USA's.

[missnemesis]

I believe, like Gromit, that it's more to do with the fact that councils have spent years selling off land(s) which had previously been used for football, rugby etc.
How can the country expect their sportsmen/women to become proficient when they have very few places to practice their chosen sport and even less financial and or practical back-up?

[joeluke]

I think we should blame it on the boogie

[RATTER15]

Why not just accept the facts, England aren't the Gods of football like they sometimes believe, we were beaten by a better team, it happens, get over it, why do we have to blame anybody. We haven't won the cup since the sixties, why such a surprise!!?

Its just a game for Christs sake!!!!!!!!

[snags]

''Its just a game for Christs sake!!!!!!!!''

Cough... splutter...

[joeluke]

Ratter, your last sentence is what blondes usually come out with

[Old_Geezer]

One should not be searching for where to place blame, but for reasons for the performance that we can correct for the future.

I'm sure there are probably many factors. But one can't help notice the pundits claim the footballers have no problems competing in the league, but fail to get it together in the national squad.

Maybe one problem is lack of time playing together ?

[Old_Geezer]

Hey this is just life for Christ's sake ! You won't get out of it alive.

[rowanwitch]

I'm not so sure it is completely an urban myth I can remember being told by a senior member of teaching staff that I shouldn't be proud of my achievements because they were due to natural ability and it would not be fair on less able pupils. If you were good at a sport or an academic subject or art/music you were moved to do something else and you were not allowed to do all the subjects you were best at 'as there would be no room for improvement' the plan was to produce generalists who would be adequate at most things
Effort was valued over achievement and the prizes if any went to the kids in the lower streams for things like most improvement in basic english etc
Out of my class of 31 grammer equivalent streamed pupils I know of at least two who have committed suicide and 15 who have needed treatment for mental illness and almost all I have since spoken to have issues with both guilt and self esteem only one has reached any sort of success in his career and his parents paid for extra tuition in his best subjects The sixth form coordinator who was in charge at the time told a classmate some years later it was a social experiment that went badly wrong

[RATTER15]

Joeluke, im not Blonde, just a realist!

[Kromovaracun]

Sport really isn't that important....

[B00]

Ratter's right.

we were crap, was nevewr good enough to win it anyway. Perhaps we should look at the overpaid playboys, sorry I mean footballers, rather than pointing fingers at anyone else.

[missnemesis]

I think the fans who are disappointed by England's performance have only themselves to blame. Perhaps if these so-called 'soccer stars' weren't given so much adoration, celebrity and god-like kudos by the media, fans etc. then they wouldn't have such a vastly over inflated sense of their own importance and they might get on with being a "team"

[brionon]

Wasn't it Maggie and her Loony Right wing friends who sold off the School Playing Fields ? Because what do Working Class kids know abour Sport !

[brionon]

missnemesis Yes,of course, Footballers don't get worshipped in Brazil,do they ?

[modeller]

I don't think it's a myth and restricted to looney lefty councils. My council is Tory and still has grammar schools but some head teachers were appointed who were child centered to the extent of being against any overt competition. As an example we used to have an inter school sports day between 5 schools but 3 of them dropped out because they said it was too competitive. They all had large playing fields so that was not a factor.
This was in the 90s when the use of playstations was not common so that's no excuse for our present soccer players either .

[OrcadianOil]

Why not try pointing the finger at football's administrators in England and Premiership clubs? There is so much money swilling around that it's a miracle no one has yet been drowned in it.

However, that money isn't being channelled towards the grooming and nurturing of future possible England stars, it's being used to buy multitudes of foreign players. Out of the "Big 4", i.e Chelsea, Man U, Arsenal and Liverpool, the Gooners are probably the worst when it comes to fielding teams either with a token Englishman in it or, horror of horrors, none at all! The others, though, are hardly much less culpable in that respect.

Therefore, if you're a young English footballer, you need to be perceived to be ultra talented before you even get considered by most Premiership clubs, let alone get to play a game. It stifles and strangles talent, and ultimately impacts negatively on the England national team, as very recent events will testify.

The obsession within English football is to win the likes of the Champions League, or even the Europa League. Let's face it, even the FA Cup has lost its appeal, and as for the old League Cup, just look at the contempt for that shown by the likes of Messrs Ferguson and Wenger by fielding teams of kids, not to groom them, but to rest their foreign stars for the next league or CL game.