I'm not a fan of the language-use in Chasing the Sun

 

I took some flak in the comments section when I said, last time, that the use of the F-word in the Chasing the Sun documentary was way over the top.

I watched the first episode of the second series last night and if anything, the language is even worse.

I’m an educator at heart, one who believes rugby can play an important role in the school curriculum because of the lessons that can be taught through it.

There are skills and techniques that can be learnt and the players become fit, strong young men, but the lessons learnt are really about values. Just like young people acquire facts and figures, and techniques in their years at school, but what we really want them to learn is to become good people. “Good sons, good fathers, good husbands” is a refrain that comes up at boys-only schools quite often.

And I’ve always thought the right kind values can be taught through rugby. People have different ideas about what those are, but courage, commitment, discipline and reliability are certainly some of them. So are some “softer” issues, the ones that define decent behaviour – sportsmanship, honesty, teamwork, courtesy, gratitude etc. Rugby is a game that develops character, good people get the success they deserve. Terms that have become cliched, perhaps, but those are things we tell ourselves, and the players.

The story of the Springboks and their successive World Cup victories is a fantastic one, and the way Chasing the Sun celebrates how certain players have overcome their dire circumstances is deeply moving. The team has mastered what it takes to be winners at that level.

They are the embodiment of many of the values the game teaches, and Rassie Erasmus is an expert at harnessing all of that in the cause of victory. It’s inspirational and if I were a coach I’d want my players to watch the series, and I’d be looking for quotes and anecdotes to use in my coaching, and teaching.

Excessive repetition of the same profanities is, however in my view, a sign of lazy language use. That’s a lesson that teachers who want to produce good people should be teaching, and using the most foul expressions imaginable, all the time, is surely not helping in instilling the values of decency that we claim the game teaches.

Swear on Rassie and the boys – I’m told it happens in every team and dressing room at that level – I’m close to my dotage now, I know, but I find it offensive and, worse, not the example I’d want school players to follow.

Here comes the flak …..