It was Robert I of Scotland who spurred his troops with “If at first you don’t succeed try, try and try again” based upon watching the stoic efforts of a spider weaving his web. True indeed, but he was a jock and seeing as they are still to win anything significant of a team sporting nature I think I’ll come closer to home for inspiring words at time of need….
A much more local lad born at Blenheim Palace gave us many quotes of defiance in the dark hours and my favourite still applies in everything today. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Six straight defeats this season is not fatal for MGCC. It does not mean that a win is not waiting on the next pitch, nor does it mean that the ability to win does not reside within us. But we need to rekindle and unlock that potential and let it burn.
Winston Churchill’s words were for a much more perilous time and in the face of severe consequences of failure. Many individuals were dying as he said them and that was pretty fatal for them individually. His words are about the collective struggle of a nation, a globe of peoples…a large Team (a very large team).
As individuals of MGCC we must confront our own game and succeed or fail each time we cross that white line. Some will fail in a victory and others will succeed in a defeat. It is the culmination of those individual battles that defines the Team. It is only the total view that matters at the end. Individuals have not won or lost on a Saturday afternoon, but a Team has won or lost.
So quotes from national leaders to rally their troops and their nation at time of war resonate in a sporting context as sport is now the legitimate replacement for war. (If only those countries constantly at war put more energy into sport.) But for a true sporting quote for The Mighty Gibbon I’m turning to Vince Lombardi as these truly match our times and how we should each reflect for the coming weeks.
“It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up”
Six games down….leaves us 12 to be up for.