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HOW LOSING CAN BE EXPLAINED AWAY

WHOSE FAULT WAS IT?

HOW LOSING CAN BE EXPLAINED AWAY

Timothy Mottram

t is a particular trait of the sports
Ifan that they distance themselves
when times get hard. When a team
plays well and wins, it is all about
how well “we” did. But a couple of
reversals later, and suddenly “they”
comes into play. The collective is
alive and well in the good times, not
so much in the bad.
Sport is such an emotionally
charged and crazy past time that it
is no wonder that psychologists look
at it as a fertile ground for studies.
Logic is rarely at the foreground, and
given that this can be a very serious
and costly endeavour, excuses are
never far away.
Managers are probably the worst
culprits when it comes to distracting
the reader from the truth. While it
is almost impossible to fire a player
who is down on his luck, a manager function of a larger psychological external factor that was almost
is the ultimate straw man who concept concerning attribution mythically ridiculous. In April
can be jettisoned as soon as the errors. As humans have a great deal 1996, Manchester United were just
people at the top start asking tough of trouble holding two contradictory coming off a winning streak of 11
questions. So it is in their interest views at the same time, so we try out of 12 matches. Suddenly finding
to distract and equivocate, to put to explain away personal failure themselves on the wrong end of a
the blame for the loss at the feet of through events that are outside of 3-0 scoreline, Fergie looked around
anyone else. our control. Otherwise, we might the changing rooms at half-time and
In 1980, a couple of researchers have to concede that we are not decided the reversal was nothing to
by the names of Lau and Russell great at something. do with the defence: it was about
decided to test how this blame shift This is very important for sports the shirts.
was arranged. Their hypothesis was people, as they rely so thoroughly on United’s grey away strip was in
that when teams win, they would their positive self-image to compete keeping with some of the ridiculous
claim this was a result of intrinsic effectively. For one to actually and garish nightmares of the
factors: such as following the game take responsibility for a poor 90s, but it was only The Greatest
plan or having exceptional skills. performance would be to undermine Manager Of All Time who could
When they lose, extrinsic factors all the ego-driven determination augur that the shirts had turned his
are summoned as reasons for the fostered over a lifetime. players “invisible”. According to Lee
reversal. In football, Sir Alex Fergusson Sharpe, one of United’s players on
In technical terms, this is referred rarely took the blame for a the day, the first thing the manager
to as ‘self-serving bias’, which is a loss, but one event revealed an said when he entered the room

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