I thought sport was about fun...

This came from my brother. Imagine it is spoken by an old before his time, fat, smoking white south african male who once coached rugby for four years.

Surely the purpose of sport, all sport, is to achieve perfection.

Perfection is the holy grail of any sport. It is the holy grail because it is never quite found.We continue to pursue it in the hope that we will encounter it.The fact that sometimes we come close is what gives us the passion and the belief to carry on. In individual activities, such as triathlon, we back ourselves against the clock. We plan and visualise how to execute our motion, seeing in our mind's eye that we can beat the clock. And we see the reward for beating the clock - it is beating the competition. This fails only when a competitor beats or matches their clock which may have been set faster than our own.Win or lose , triathlon for the individual is based on self dependency. In a team sport it is the collective.

In rugby it is having a man on the left and a man on the right who we chose not to let down. We are determined not to be the weak link.All 15 have an equally important role to play regardless of body shape and skill set.More importantly , each has the responsibility to demonstrate leadership when in possession of the ball - leadership is the highest of honours.All 15 have the responsibility to make intelligent , split second decisions time and time again. In rugby , we have the responsibility to play as two men , especially when our comrades have fallen .All 15 must be smart enough to psychologically dominate the opposition.In no other continuous sport can so much be asked of any man. And , because it is a hard , tough sport, we admire greatly those who stand up to heed the call of duty.You have to concede, despite your cynicism, there's a bit more to it then the plod plod plod of the triathlon.Perhaps if you could watch it with people who are knowledgeable and passionate about the game you may begin to enjoy it more. I can only imagine that watching it alone and not understanding it, must be frustrating.

So call it pretentious crap and chose not to see the romance and passion and fellowship.It doesn't matter.

It was his response to me saying mainstream sports i.e. soccer, rugby , cricket are over hyped money making enterprises.