England’s Hopes Dashed and Fulfilled in 24 Hours – The Euphoria and Despair of Sport

This autumn provided an opportunity for me to get behind England at sports I only really consider at international level and again for the first time for woman.

The sports in question, Women’s Rugby Union, Rugby League and T20 Cricket.

Those of you that are connoisseurs of these sports will know far more than me the true standing the teams have in their respective sports.

To be honest I have watched little or nothing of the opening forays, in what were contests extended to include several teams that were cannon fodder to make them “ world cup competitions.” but I was definitely going to witness England glory in the finals, or I hoped.

All the rugby could have been played between the best four teams in a round robin series which would have truly crowned worthy winners, the cricket maybe a more league format to find the best team.

However, that is not what is expected or apparently wanted by the media and organisers,  Knock Out Competition provides the true nail-biting finale.

Therefore, unsurprisingly we had the usual world cup set ups for all the competitions including the Women’s Ruby Union Final.

England Red Roses came into the finals on an extended unbeaten run and looked to be final certainties, but could they overcome the historical strength of the NZL Black Ferns.

They were in the end unlucky, an unfortunate sending off early in the game meant that the contest was always an uphill struggle, in the end England just came up short, but for that incident England would be world champions and I feel gutted for our lasses, the Black Ferns I felt jubilantly celebrated what in hindsight may be considered as a victory gained by a refereeing decision, but who cares when you win.

England are in my opinion the best side but due to the format are not the world champions that they possibly should be, but thems the breaks in world sport.

The Rugby Leage World Cup competition has been of a similar nature, England looked like shoe in’s for the final and a real chance at World Cup glory but would the old adversaries the Kangaroos steel it with a one-off wonder game when not at their best.

In the end England dropped the ball and came up short, losing in the semi finals to a team they had previously put to the sword, the really good chance was lost in a sudden death drop goal.

The other semi final was the match of the tournament contested between what are usually the two best teams in world Rugby League, with the Kangaroos just victorious over the Kiwis. As is usually the case the Aussies will most likely be triumphant and perhaps a lot of time, effort and heartache could have been saved by just giving them the trophy at the start.

The England T20 Team also came into the world cup final with high hopes being also the reigning 50 over champions but would the controversial timing of the competition in Australia, leaving it at the mercy of the variable weather be their undoing.

They nearly blew their lines with a group game defeat but came back strongly with a magnificent SF victory against India and a 5-wicket victory over Pakistan in the final, which has sealed their legacy as a great limited over team.

The margins of major competition results are often fine, the difference between victory and defeat can spin on a second, what is one teams glory is the other team’s despair. This weekend saw England at the mercy of the which way, figuratively, the toss of a coin lands.

I felt, like many sports fans, a great euphoria in the sole victory while having to accept the bitter taste of defeat in the others but having been here many many times before that I guess is the privilege of following England at world sport.