Question

Sports Create Goodwill by George Orwell I am amazed when people say that sport creates goodwill between nations, and that if people of the world could meet one another at football or cricket, they would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield. In reality, however, sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred. Nearly all sports today are competitive and you do the utmost to win. Rarely are there occasions when you play simply for the fun and exercise; but as soon as the question of prestige arises, as soon as you feel that you and some larger unit will be disgraced if you lose, the most savage combative instincts are aroused. Anyone who has played in a school football match knows this. At the international level, sport is mimic warfare. But the significant thing is not the behaviour of the players, but the attitude of the spectators, and behind them the nations who seriously believe that running, jumping or kicking a ball are tests of national virtue. Even a leisurely game like cricket demanding grace rather than strength can cause ill will. Fiercer passions prevail during football matches. At the first big football match in Spain, spectators threw bottles, tins and whatever else they could lay hands on, at the opposite side's players. As soon as strong feelings of rivalry are aroused, the notion of playing according to the rules vanishes. People want to see one side win and the other humiliated. Even when the spectators don't intervene physically they try to influence the game by 'rattling' the opposing players with boos, insults and noise. Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of the rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence. In other words, it is war minus the shooting. A) (a) When do sports become savagely combative ? (b)What does the author mean by 'mimic warfare' in the context of the passage ? (c) What example of violence in the field does Orwell use to prove his point ? (d)How do spectators behave ? Why ? (e) What is the stand of the author in this passage ? Do you agree or disagree with him ? Support your answer with examples.

Answer 1

Answer:

According to him, nearly all the sports practiced nowadays are competitive. You play to win. ... Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words, it is war minus the shooting.

Explanation:

George Orwell

'War Minus the Shooting': George Orwell on International Sport and the Olympics. George Orwell, the author of Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), wrote relatively little about sport, but is nevertheless quoted regularly on the topic.

Answer 2

Answer:

sport is entertainment