Modern sport thrives on drawing together four elements: tribalism, home ground advantage, civility and aesthetics. The goal is to attract attention and participation while avoiding feral on-field carnage. At the elite level of play, taking the first option is the only option. For the player it comes with the chance to escape, recover, and go again. The four founding elements can open up new fields of play and attract new players.
Featuring a Peter Lyssiotis image evoking the cruelest atrocities, this tribute to Muhammed Ali is based on an extract from the essay, The Five Categories Of Sport. Born with an inherited slave name in the darkest Jim Crow country of the United States - Ali was quick off the mark demanding his preferred new name. He always bent the knees and was alert to the shin kickers. He dummied brilliantly, fooling the dummies. Edward Hopkins
Invasion, bat & ball, measurement, adjudication, and their combinations - each founded in various degrees on the four pillars of tribalism, home ground advantage, civility, and aesthetics. Edward Hopkins
The biggest change in modern sport is that everyone now wants to play defence. My mum showed me how its done. Edward Hopkins
The Hopkins family travelled to the nearby Lake Gutherie in a metallic gold Valiant V8 to watch the speedboat races featuring Hoodoo driven by local hero, Harvey Gunn. I saw something leaping between heaven and earth. Edward Hopkins
Tolstoy. David Foster Wallace. Both literary giants saw oblivion and both graced the game of tennis as a form of redemption. My journey existed in experiencing elite sport and a constant yearning for the great Blackwood Tree. Edward Hopkins
The lyrics, "Dear landlord, Please don’t put a price upon my soul," has stayed with me ever since I first heard them sung by Bob Dylan. At this later stage, I can sense the words merging even more with my own lengthy journey. Music has always held sway within the souls of people. Sport has also found its way into the souls of people, nowadays more than ever. Why sport matters (and matters to me) begins in concepts of homeland and fair play. Edward Hopkins