There is a lot happening in the world of sport. Really. A lot. And look, you can’t be expected to keep up with all of it – you’ve got things to do.
That’s why every week we take a quick look around and round up the most interesting sports writings out there, so you don’t have to.
So kick back, relax and let us share what we found out this week…
Celebrating Sporting Awesomeness: A Week Of Wonders
No, we’re not going to talk about CricketSA, and all the drama that’s happening over there (not again, at least). Not when there’s so much good news to celebrate. For example: Banyana Banyana star Rhoda Mulaudzi has been crowned the new South African Football Journalists’ Association’s (Safja) inaugural Women’s Footballer of the Year for the 2019-20 season. Safja will announce its nominations for its inaugural Men’s Footballer of the Year and Football Journalist of the Year awards soon after the 2019-20 Premier Soccer League ends. Meanwhile, South Africa’s women in sport owned their own success at the 15th edition of the longest-running official women’s sports awards in South Africa, the prestigious Momentum GSport 4 Girls Awards. And the University of the Western Cape is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year with a special celebratory issue of UWC’s Blue & Gold (check it out here), with tales of sporting legends, troubles and transformation.
Basketball For Black Lives Matter
The #BlackLivesMatter movement has inspired activism around the globe to combat racism, white privilege and gender discrimination (and some truly shocking happenings in the US). Worldwide, sport lovers from athletics to tennis have added their voices to the chorus, saying they’ve had enough of prejudice in sport. But nobody is taking this more seriously than America’s National Basketball Association – and they’re taking this chance to talk about racism. How? By using their platform to protest…by not playing. It may not be too surprising for a league that is (player-wise) dominated by African American athletes, and whose fans (unlike US football) tend to be a bit more liberal – but this is a huge moment for sport-related activism. And South Africans are taking a BLM stand as well.
Chess: The Hot New Thing Online
Not everyone agrees that chess is a sport (but here’s why it is; or hey, maybe it’s a game), but nobody can deny it’s super competitive. It’s also pretty perfect for the digital world: the game of kings is more popular than ever, with over 600 million players worldwide (and that’s not counting the AI players, who’ve been dominating the field since world chess champion Garry Kasparov faced off against supercomputer Deep Blue). So while Chess SA is going online (check it out), tens of thousands of viewers have been tuning in to watch people play chess (and share memes) on a livestreaming website called Twitch.tv. In related news, global chess body FIDE has defended their decision to award first place to both the Russian and Indian teams after an internet outage disrupted the final of the very first 163-nation Online Chess Olympiad (even if not everyone is happy about it). And Magnus Carlsen, a living legend of the game, will soon be facing off against Kasparov for the first time in nearly two decades.
Women Welcomed To Tour de France – Virtually:
For cyclists (and fans), the massive multi-day international Tour de France is one of the highlights of the sporting calendar. But with most cycling events having been cancelled and travel, support and supplies a bit difficult to manage (for obvious reasons), Zwift and Amaury Sport Organisation decided to do something useful together and create the very first virtual Tour de France. Not only was the event a massive win for e-sports globally, with teams taking part of their bikes indoors plugged into the Zwift virtual cycling system – but it was also the first time that women competed in a multistage Tour. In a piece at The Conversation, Andy Miah, Chair in Science Communication & Future Media at the University of Salford, and Board Member of the British Esports Association, explores what this means for the alignment of elite sports industries with esports.
E-Sports, Ballet and Gaming Grandmas
It’s not just chess. Also going digital: the oldest ballet company in the Southern Hemisphere, Cape Town City Ballet, who’ve embraced hashtags and influencers and massively increased their social media presence. Find out more (and receive exclusive members-only benefits) by becoming a Friend of Cape Town City Ballet. Meanwhile, MIT is outlining how the pandemic will change the way we watch sports, and SportsProLive will soon be hosting leading sporting experts in a global virtual summit on Driving the new era of sports, covering everything from AI to e-sports and the relationship between sport and gaming. And while we’re talking games, did you know that ‘Gamer Grandma’ Shirley Curry has almost a million folks following her video adventures? What have you been doing with your life?
Go Get Involved
Okay, so maybe you can’t be a world chess champ or an octogenarian gaming legend right now. But you could be an International University Sports Federation (FISU) ambassador: registrations are now open for the 2020 FISU Volunteer Leaders Academy. And World Rugby has launched its search for a new global rugby fan panel to be part of the future shaping of the governing body’s award-winning broadcast, content production and social media rugby offering. Get involved – and maybe we’ll get to write about you soon.
And that, in short, was the week in sport.
So…did we miss anything? Why not let us know at info@capeat6sport.co.za? Or if you want to know more about what’s happening in sport, why not check out the latest issue of the Cape At 6 magazine?
