Team vs individual sport. There is something for everyone in each discipline.
However, I sometimes feel that individual sport can be a trifle one-dimensional in comparison to group sport.
I’m not suggesting that a sport has more appeal when you compete as part of a group, but team competitions have their own, attractive niche in the sporting stratosphere.
Take the Ryder Cup or Davis Cup and Fed Cup for example - three hugely popular team competitions. All are borne from demanding individual sports where the players tend to be larger than life individuals, like the Rory McIlroys, the Roger Federers or the Serena Williams.
But put them in events like the Ryder Cup and Davis Cup and the whole scenario changes and people appreciate that there is something so captivating about seeing superstars of this mega-stature transform themselves into your regular guy or girl.
Team events are great for golf and tennis as they boast its appeal and help promote the sport to a wider audience globally.
Flat racing was long vied as a seriously individual sport, pretty much suggesting that there was no room for a team competition. For a bit of variety the sport introduced competitions for jockeys, with an international flavour, that allowed riders from differencet jurisdictions to test their skills against riders who they would normally not meet.
And then in 1999 the Shergar Cup, an event that had the potential to be as immense as the magnificent horse it is named after, came into being.
The concept of twelve jockeys in four teams based on countries or regions, being pitched into combat against each other in six races on a single day sounded exhilarating.
Points would be earned for winning, coming second or third while mathematicians and statisticians would frantically add up the scores before the winners were announced. Horse racing had its very own Ryder Cup and Davis Cup. Obviously comparisons cannot be drawn between them, or to suggest that any one was more or lesser important. All of them had their place in sports that were essentially focused on individual skill and ability.
I believe that the team aspect of the Shergar Cup helps raise individual performances, much like the Ryer Cup or Davis Cup does in golf and tennis.
Individual performances in turn impact on team success or failure.
To that end, events like the Shergar Cup add greater dimension to the sport.
The experience of jockeys in a team are vastly different to those in individual sport. On their own they do not have the opportunity to share their success or should they fail, turn to a team-mate for support and encouragement.
In events like the Shergar Cup jockeys have more opportunities to develop deeper and more meaningful relationships with their team mates whereas relationships between a player/ coach or jockey/trainer tend to be more hierarchical.
However, at the end of the day there is nothing wrong with individual or team events as both help in the promotion and popularisation of sport. And that can’t be a bad thing at all.
