ONE morning during the holidays last summer I got into watching a hot dog eating contest on ESPN2. Five contestants had 10 minutes to wolf down hotdogs like they hadn’t eaten a bite for a year.
With a minute and four seconds left on the clock, Prettyman had managed a feeble 10, Mele was on 12 and Lesco had already eaten 22, but way out in front were Sudo and Ebihara who had scoffed 33 apiece.
The action boiled down to a dramatic sprint finish which Miki Sudo slipped another down to win with a grand total of 39 dogs.
Incredible action.
“So how do you follow that?” you might ask.
Well next up on a packed schedule (yes, it was in America) were more dogs, but these were actual dogs. It was live coverage of the Eastern Diving Dogs Championships which is a competition to see how far a dog can jump into a big tank of water.
Cute-dogs-splashing-around is guaranteed as the dog’s handler throws up a ball and the plucky canine leaps to catch it, landing up to 30 feet away in the tank.
Amazing stuff but, with all due respect, you can't class either activity as a sport. Of course not. It’s pure escapism – something for us to sit and watch and smile, oblivious to whatever else is going on in the rest of the world.
We should realise how lucky we are that we get to do that.
Without quoting the late Bill Shankly, real sport is much more serious. To make it to the top takes years of practice and sacrifice and it is a way of life for those who participate and those who watch. Because of that our clubs have a status, they stand for something and there are times when sport can use its platform to encourage supporters and viewers to take an interest in what is going on elsewhere in this world of ours.
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It’s said that sport and politics don’t mix, and maybe that is true sometimes, but I was proud to see the leadership shown by Clonoe O’Rahilly’s and the other GAA clubs who bravely stated their support for the people of Gaza this week.
A message on Clonoe’s social media read: “Clonoe O’Rahilly’s GAA club stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Palestine who are being slaughtered and injured hourly in this humanitarian crisis. A population already squeezed and living under strict dehumanising restrictions for years. We pray for peace #Gaza.”
Sometimes it is our duty as human beings to make ourselves aware of what is going on outside our own wee bubble. The latest chapter in a conflict that has been raging since the state of Israel came into being in 1948 began with the horrific Hamas attack into Israel on October 7 and the scenes in Gaza since then have been horrific. The pain and suffering of innocent women and children and the lack of humanity shown towards them by the Israeli regime is shocking.
The sporting world has taken a stand against tyranny before. In the 1980s the sporting boycott of South Africa helped to shine a spotlight on the deplorable apartheid system in that country.
There was no place for the Springboks at the first two Rugby World Cups in 1987 and 1991 but, after the abolishment of their racist political system, they staged the 1995 tournament and of course won the World Cup with a momentous victory over New Zealand.
More recently the Black Lives Matter campaign brought home the engrained racial prejudices that exists in society.
Palestinian lives matter too. All lives do.
The plight of the Palestinian people has been dear to the hearts of Celtic supporters for many years. The Green Brigade section at Celtic Park has been at the forefront of some politically-charged activism and they encouraged the remarkable outpouring of solidarity with the imprisoned people of Gaza before the Hoops’ Champions League match against Atletico Madrid.
All sections of the stadium were adorned with the Palestinian colours and the Green Brigade has now been banned from the ground for showing leadership in this instance.
The club say the Gaza protest was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
"To avoid any misunderstanding, the progressive steps taken by the club over a period of time are as a result of an increasingly serious escalation in unacceptable behaviours and non-compliance with applicable regulations, at matches at Celtic Park and away grounds over a period of time, which are creating serious safety concerns and other issues," read a statement.
Celtic will be fearful of sanctions from soccer's governing body but their timing here is terrible. Whatever your opinion on the Green Brigade, they should not have been banned for taking a stand on what is happening in Gaza.
There are times when we have to set scores and silverware aside. Sporting bodies should take a stand here as they have against injustice in the past and fans, the people whose opinions often aren’t articulated by their political representatives, must make their voices heard. Otherwise what value does sport have beyond an hour or two of pleasant distraction?
Sure you might as well be watching a hot dog eating competition.
