The rise of technology, the proliferation of performance enhancing drugs, electronic sport and sport as entertainment were the themes that dominated sport in the last decade.
Change was everywhere and sport was happy to go along for the ride, if only because many of its constituent parts were terrified to be left behind.
South Africa still hasn’t embraced Video Assistant Refereeing (VAR), although given the shambles we see in the English Premiership – five goals were disallowed via VAR last weekend alone – this might be no bad thing. Let the UK be the guinea pigs and once the Premiership has found a way to make the bonkers system work, we can get on board.
In global football terms, there are fewer bigger issues to tackle.
As the shiny new decade takes hold, there are many more changes required across major sport.
In rugby, a global season remains intractable, but it doesn’t mean we can’t wish it were different. More practically, we should yearn for an end to the endless scrum re-sets that disfigure the game, not to speak of the mess otherwise known as the breakdown.
Rugby has much going for it, not least a curious new audience exposed to the brilliant recent World Cup, but its law book is a jumble of contradictions and too complex by half. Perhaps the next 10 years will be enough time to fix it.
The extraordinary rise of T20 dominated world cricket in the past decade, but Test cricket continues to thrive notwithstanding efforts to push it to the margins. The daft suggestion this week of cutting Tests to four days should be shot down. So too the mooted “super league” featuring the privileged trio of England, India, Australia and one other.
Other nations are already concerned about the financial inequities that ensure the rich get richer and the poor feed off occasional scraps. A tournament featuring the big three has some appeal, but as a way to sustain the game it’s a slow, sure form of euthanasia.
South Africans continue to flood the English cricket scene, so too the Japanese, French and England rugby leagues. There’s much to be said for players embracing international options and adventures, but both local cricket and rugby are being hollowed out to a devastating degree. It’s likely not sustainable, but given the weak state of the Rand, it won’t end anytime soon. Pity.
My big wish for boxing is an end to the bogus organisations that suck the sport dry. Like parasites, they leach off the promoters and fighters they purport to help. Sadly, boxing is too splintered and peppered with self-interest to envisage a day when a single international federation will take charge, but we can dream, can’t we?
Women’s sport deserves to thrive in the decade to come. There have been massive advances in rugby, soccer and cricket, with waves of top females demonstrating their talents, but much can still be done to ensure this trend becomes truly international. Resources must be shared equally, and female participation shouldn’t be the exception. South Africa must up its game.
Finally, a wish for the Cinderella sports to find new and clever ways to become relevant, to thrive even, in an environment that is often spiteful and unforgiving. Good luck to them.
A new decade beckons, but, inevitably, old challenges remain. – © Sunday Tribune