Sport & Video Reality

I love the NRL State of Origin series.  It is the highlight of my sporting calendar.  It has been even more of a highlight over the last few years as a dominate Queensland have now notched up 7 series wins back to back....aahhh, just taking a moment to savour a 1 point win.....but in watching any sport these days, it is hard to escape the pressure the video medium puts on us to believe it is more real than real.

The most obvious area of this for me is the video review systems that have now crept into so many sports.  Whilst I feel that such a system is more suited to some sports more than others, I still think they should have left it out of all sports.  As someone who teaches in media and communication, one thing that I always look to raise with students is that as soon as something goes into video it immediately becomes a representation of reality.  In other words, in working with video, it is less likely that you are dealing with the facts.  Video, is not the reality of the game, it is a representation of what has happened.  Anyone who has watched live sport knows this is the case.  They know that there is an immense difference between watching live and watching on TV.  Anyone who has played sport, even if not professionally, knows this even more.

The hidden situation in all of this for me is that the video medium wants to present the case of the technological solution.  That our faith and trust should be in technology.  I think this is the case because the one clear thing that all video reviews in sport want to suggest is that video can, in some way, make the world a fair place where the rightful winner comes out on top.  This to me is a complete fallacy.  I know it is something that I am endeavouring to teach my kids as they grow up.  The world is not fair.

Every sport I have watched with video review systems, still has decisions that are debatable and at times, seem to be outright wrong.  The question I think we neglect to ask is if our world has a place for the unfair?  Where we understand that people get things wrong.  Where chaos can still torment us.  Sure sport just a small part of life, and video reviews aren't that big a deal, but to me they are another marker of the ongoing belief that somehow, in technology, we can rid the world of all that is wrong with it....I'm not so sure we can....