Boys' own stuff

   

      Regular readers will know that sport appears only rarely on these pages (though I did surprise myself with my 'analysis' of the Calcutta Cup game earlier in the year, and I heartily recommend Lloyd Jones' All Blacks novel The Book of Fame which I wrote about here). But I've just read a non-fiction book about sport, one that will appeal to men particularly (there was a wee bit too much locker room stuff in it for my gentle sensibilities) and whose relevance could extend to anyone engaged in anything competitive and challenging.   

   
     An ethnographer by profession, Mark de Rond spent a season with the members of the Cambridge University Boat Club, and his resulting book The Last Amateurs: To Hell and Back with the Cambridge Boat Race Crew charts very closely their preparation for and participation in the 2007 Boat Race. Over the course of seven months he moved from being - in the words of the CUBC President - impartial observer to comitted squad member, but his allegiance didn't prevent him giving a full and frank account of what is involved in reaching the start line, never mind the finishing post.
     It's a fascinating look at one of the most demanding of sports, one in which each rower must face up to his "inner demons, [his] very own Voldemort"; in which questions of status, identity and sense of self become acute. There is - unsurprisingly - a deal of childishness and immaturity alongside courage and determination; insecurities surface and skills are developed and honed, but always the eyes are on the prize, and the commitment required of each member of the team in order to reach it is enormous.
     When I watch next year's race it will be with a much greater insight and knowledge, and that can only enhance my enjoyment of a fine sporting encounter, but one in which winning is everything.

Comments

[Mr Cornflower]

Despite my own allegiances lying with a darker shade of blue I greatly look forward to reading this book. These are athletes working at the peak of their sport who also have to measure up to the academic demands of a top university - it's as if the Boston Red Sox had compulsory evening classes at Harvard.
My abiding Boat Race memory however is from some 25 years ago, when sadly the Cambridge boat sank. Shame.

[Mr Cornflower]

PS The sinking I remember was in 1978, when the tabs at least got within a mile of the finishing line. In 1984 they rather clumsily sank before the race even started after ramming a barge.