Book Review: RUNNING WITH FIRE - The true story of Harold Abrahams by Mark Ryan

The more you delve into this meticulously researched and immensely well-crafted biography of Britain’s first 100m Olympic champion, you feel that the author Mark Ryan has successfully encapsulated the depth and complexity of a man driven by self-doubt and contradictions on and off the athletics track.

Most would be aware of the 1981 Oscar winning film Chariots of Fire, which depicts Harold Abrahams’ exploits at the 1924 Olympics and his relationship with fellow athlete Eric Liddell.

The film is a largely faithful portrayal of both men and their contrasting sporting philosophies. For Liddell, a Scot and devout Christian, racing was a celebration of the ability God had given him. He would honour God by running as fast he could.

For Abrahams, it was not God but the fear of failure that was behind his relentless pursuit for perfection. Contentiously, for that era, he employed a professional coach. Many felt that this was against the ‘Corinthian’ ethos of amateur sports. However, Ryan argues that this simply exemplified how ambitious and focused Abrahams was in his yearning for Olympic glory.

Born in February 1900 to Jewish parents, his faith would always play an integral part in his life. Abrahams endured anti-Semitism both at school and University.

Ryan believes that Abrahams did not suffer extensively from discrimination, but what Abrahams skilfully did was to turn any apparent slight to his advantage. If he needed anger, the fire in him to run, he would call upon any perceived anti-Semitism. He employed this mechanism in his head to win races including the Olympic final in Paris.

Abrahams’ success was all the more remarkable, due to his mental frailty that plagued him throughout his life. The source of his anxiety was his fear of marriage. Abrahams had to undergo psychotherapy before he was able to marry his fiancé, singer, Sybil Evers.

On his retirement from athletics, Abrahams became an influential administrator, broadcaster and journalist. He modernised athletic rules and practices, fought tirelessly to promote women’s athletics and led an unremitting campaign to increase BBC coverage of the sport. Ryan maintains that without Abrahams’ zeal, athletics would not be as popular as it is today.

Although an innovator as an athlete, who hired himself a professional coach, Abrahams was surprisingly opposed to any sort of professionalism within athletics. As one disgruntled coach said of him: “He was a poacher turned gamekeeper.”

The book details Abrahams’ role in assisting Roger Bannister to break the 4-minute mile. Abrahams was one of the timekeepers when Bannister ran the historic race in May 1954.

The author also exposes the way Abrahams was abysmally treated by the BBC who refused to send him to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Being a Jew they were concerned this would offend the Nazis. Abrahams went independently and returned with his journalistic reputation enhanced.

Mark Ryan’s enthralling and eloquent insight into a man who literally gave his body, mind and soul to the advancement of British athletics is a genuine must read for any sporting devotee.

FIRE IN BABYLON - Director Stevan Riley - Film Review

 
As a West Indian growing up in 80’s inner city London it was a turbulent time. It was the Thatcher era of police harassment, racial abuse on football terraces and slim job prospects if you were black.

One shining light from this misery was the fact that as West Indians we took great comfort knowing that our team reigned supreme at cricket. As immigrants we may not had the capacity to overcome our colonial masters but we took enormous pride that stars like Clive Lloyd, Vivian Richards and Malcolm Marshall were able to do so on our behalf.

Stevan Riley’s Fire in Babylon delves into the beginnings of this supremacy and illustrates the far-reaching social and political consequences it had beyond the sport.

The documentary, via evocative match footage and charismatic narration by former players, shows a team transformed from being labelled as happy-go lucky cricketers into a side that ruthlessly ruled cricket for 15 years (1980-1995).

The catalyst was the West Indies’ humiliating defeat at the hands of Australia’s fast-bowling attack in 1975. With the side demoralised, captain Clive Lloyd took the radical step of using a four-man pace attack designed to fight fire with fire - with stunning results.

What Steven Riley’s does so well is the ease that he moves his film from being merely a sporting documentary into a commentary on the time, the people, the region of the West Indies and the political and racially charged atmosphere of the world that watched cricket.

The insight of stars of that generation revealed the racial abuse and vitriol they suffered in Australian from both spectators and opposition.

Touring England, players knew they were representing Caribbean immigrants whose only respite from their day-to-day struggles was seeing their cricketing brethren humiliate the ‘Mother Country’.

Riley’s engaging documentary moves at pace with an eclectic mix of Caribbean music, which provides the perfect accompaniment.

For me it is a nostalgic look into a period when West Indies was cricketing gods at a time of immense social and political upheaval.

This uplifting film will undoubtedly appeal to a non-cricketing audience. You may hate cricket but you’ll love Fire in Babylon.

Is It Time To Implement The Rooney Rule In British Football?

Chris Powell Manager of Charlton Athletic

As one surveys the English Football League what becomes painfully obvious is the chronic absence of black managers within the top four divisions.

Norwich City’s Chris Hughton, Charlton Athletic’s Chris Powell and Paul Ince at Blackpool are the exception, across all 92 professional clubs. In the light that 25 per cent of the English game’s 4,500 professional players are from ethnic minorities, it makes grim statistics, if you are a retired black player contemplating a career in football management.

There has been much naval gazing about whether English Football should adopt the Rooney Rule to remedy this imbalance. This concept, pioneered across the Atlantic in American National Football League (NFL), compels teams in the NFL to interview at least one black or ethnic minority for head coach positions within the game. It’s no surprise to many that since the Rooney Rule was established in 2003 - the number of black coaches within the NFL has more than doubled.

I am sure it is not beyond the wit of the FA and the Football League to adopt a similar approach tailored to fit our national sport. Critics may say this is positive discrimination or see it as mere tokenism.

However, if this doctrine were implemented, it would only guarantee an interview – an opportunity to pitch for a job. The added bonus would be that it would broaden the thought-processes of chairmen and owners of football clubs to look beyond the same old faces who are on the managerial merry-go-round. It’s about time that we shatter this cartel and open up managerial opportunities for all rather than the chosen few.

It is early days yet in the fledgling careers of Hughton, Powell and Ince. But what they have displayed in their short tenures as football managers, is that appointing a young, keen, qualified black manager is no more of a risk to a football club than hiring the same managerial type from the same gene pool that the club got the last manager from.

Dogged Darren Sets His Sights High



Moore Determined Defender

Like many in professional football retired defender Darren Moore is shocked at the lack of black managers in the game.

However, like his no-nonsense bullish defending he's determined to reverse the trend in his long-standing desire to become a football manager himself.

The shortage of black managers in the game has been well documented, with at present only Norwich City Manager Chris Hughton, Chris Powell at Charlton and Paul Ince of Blackpool in top positions within the professional leagues.

Moore, who former clubs include Derby, Wolves and Blackburn Rovers, concedes that these types of statistics are a cause for concern but nevertheless would not deter him from pursuing a career in management.

He said: "I am trying to go about it the right way by gaining my coaching qualifications. But it is important people look at the fact that in our British game about 25% of all players are from a black and ethnic minority background. Although 21% of black coaches are currently holders of the UEFA A Licence, there are only 2% of black managers that are in first-team management roles in our professional game that is alarming.

"Players are going through their playing careers undertaking coaching and management courses and when they come out the other side and apply for these jobs for whatever reason many are not getting the positions.

"It could be they are not good enough, so let's not take that out of the equation. It could be a whole host of different avenues to look at, let's not just look at it and say it's just about race but at the same time you have to probably add that in there as well.

"All I can do is go down the rightful measures and undertake my coaching badges because I can do something - obtain that licence and qualification - to try to minimise somebody not wanting to give me the job."

Moore who retired from the game earlier this year after a successful career spanning almost 20 years, knows of former players like himself who have turned their back on a career in management or coaching as they perceived that their race was denying them opportunities. But he is hopeful that he will not experience such discrimination.

"There are a lot more people who are more high profile than myself that have been discouraged. For them to say they have been discouraged is worrying for me and if that is the case then I'm pretty saddened by it," the 39-year-old said.

In American football the 'Rooney Rule' was introduce to ensure minority candidates have more of an opportunity to land NFL coaching roles. Under the scheme, NFL clubs must shortlist at least one minority candidate when appointing a coach and the former Jamaican international sees no reason why English clubs should not adhere to a similar rule.

Moore says: "It can only help to promote equality within the game, because we have seen it being successful in America and we have seen the inclusion of so many black and ethnic managers in American football. I think certainly, why not look at something like that for our game to ensure everybody has got that equal opportunity to succeed?"

Having been such an inspirational leader during his career, making 600 appearances for eight clubs and being in the select few who have played in all four divisions in England, Moore is determined to do the same off the field. The active anti-racism campaigner is hoping to inspire a new wave of black and minority coaches to fulfil their ambitions of becoming managers.