Olé, Olé, Olé: The Ryder Cup is British

The Ryder Cup is arguably the greatest team sports event in the world. Even the non-sports fan can be enthralled by the sheer tension that it creates. But the Ryder Cup is also one of the strangest team sports events. It throws together sportsmen who normally engage in the most individual of sports, and in the case of the European team, golfers who are not required to have a common national background but who represent one of the major power blocks in the sport - the European golf tour.

International sport, as in sporting events between different nations, supplies its own inherent tension simply because of a nationalistic ingredient. Combining nations should, in theory, lessen both the nationalism and therefore the tension, but when it comes to the Ryder Cup it doesn't. Nationalism is cast aside in favour of supra-nationalism, that of Europe, and for once an Englishman can be proud of a German.

For all this, just how European is the Ryder Cup? The roots of the competition - Britain versus the US then briefly (and officially) Britain and Ireland versus the US before the Europeans got involved - are still very evident. Britain supplied seven of the 2012 team but more importantly, it is Britain where the real interest in the competition lies.

The temporary acquisition of supra-nationalism by the British sports fan is really little more than British nationalism with a twist. Within all the feedback and comments that surfaced on the social media during Europe's astonishing comeback at Medinah were constant references along the lines of the icing on the cake for a great summer of British sport. Not European, British. The Ryder Cup was placed alongside the Olympics, Wiggins and Murray.

The supporters who had travelled to the US adopted the pan-European chant of "olé, olé, olé". While this might have been taken as a nod in the direction of the team captain, José María Olazabal, it was more a case of the football terraces having supplied a ready-made song for all to join in and to understand. "Olé, olé, olé" is a sort of universal sports-speak, one that has been adopted by cricket's Barmy Army and by others with no obvious Spanish origins. The singing of "You'll Never Walk Alone" has also become more global, but its roots are very obvious; it was one of the songs of the European supporters.

It is when one considers media coverage that the picture of where the real interest lies is revealed. The Spanish clearly had an interest in this year's competition in that the captain was Spanish, Garcia was on the team and the inspiration was the memory of Severiano Ballesteros. The event itself though was almost secondary to Seve.

Of four news websites on Monday morning, one carried no mention at all of the Ryder Cup, another managed to put a report in its football section, one did at least place the victory on its home page (with suitable reference to Seve) and another carried a report under "more sports". The national obsession with Barcelona and Real Madrid was of greater significance. One other website, that for the sports newspaper "Marca", did do the event justice, but then it is a sports publication. Compare this coverage with, for example, "The Guardian". I typed Ryder Cup into the paper's search engine and 366 articles came up. I gave up after ten pages, but they were all related to the 2012 event.

For the Spanish, much though there was meaning because of Seve's memory, there wasn't anything like the level of interest as in Britain. And even the Seve memory angle was as important to the non-Spaniard as it was to the Spaniard; more so perhaps. Ballesteros was never lauded as much in his own country as he was outside it, especially in Britain. Olé, olé, olé; it was the emergence of Seve (and others) that was to prove crucial to the success that Europe now has at the Ryder Cup. Without it, there might never have been the change to a European team rather than a British (and Irish) team which was ritually humiliated every two years by superior American golfers.

Of non-British players on the European team, Colsaerts is a virtual unknown in his own country, Kaymer is not big news in Germany. In Britain, though, McIlroy is a superstar. Westwood, Donald and McDowell may not be but they are still well-known. There is a sense in which the non-British players become honorary Brits for three days of golf. To many British sports fans, they do, as Medinah capped a great year for British sport. Apparently.

N.B. In order to pre-empt the pedants, I do of course recognise that McIlroy and McDowell being British is a question of definition.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.