Reality check 1: Britain is not in the Euro 2008 football finals because they were not good enough to qualify. The UK did not get into the top 16 countries in Europe!
Reality check 2: Britain would be in position 28 in the medal table for the 2004 Olympics if we take population into account. Even if we go on total medals, Russia, Germany, France and Italy did better. With Ukraine, Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Hungary and Greece chasing hard. The UK is under-performing.
Reality check 3: give some weighting to Euro 2008, Eurovision and Olympic results and Britain would fall in about position 20. With Greece, Sweden, Romania, Croatia, Russia and the Ukraine comfortably ahead. The UK is under-achieving.
Why? The answer is simple. In many minds, the empire still rules. No, not the George Lucas one. Unfortunately, England and/or British teams are continually beaten in all sorts of sports by much smaller nations, often former colonies of the British Empire.
The pundits and media in the UK, however, continually laud mediocrity and avoid the hard truth. When a UK team loses in an international match, they are ‘unlucky’ or ‘a bit tired’ or some other excuse.
The truth is, the UK teams and/or talent contestants are not good enough. If they were coming third or fifth or ninth, then we might believe some of the excuses. But 25th or 17th or 20th is not even close.
So to the current moaning, stop complaining and start performing.
