Fitz Simmons on why Aussies are getting soft. Part1

Lucas Neill might be right. After losing to Brazil and France in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0, the Socceroos captain was quick to point out the root cause of the problem.

 Generation Y!

Tell 'em Lucas.

'My question to the younger guys who want to play for Australia,' he said, 'is, do you dream of playing for Australia and if you do, show me the hunger and the desire. I think that's where we are lacking now - our attitude towards our national team.'

Exactly!

I know, I know, context is all, and in this case what Neill said was in broad response to the accusation by his former teammate Mark Bosnich that the true source of the problem with the Socceroos is the likes of Neill himself - too old, too slow, must resign, don't let the door hit you on the arse on the way out - but still there seems to be truth to the notion that something is missing in the current generation when it comes to what is expected of them when accorded the sacred privilege of 'playing for Australia'. (And if you're sneering unpleasantly now, maybe you don't get it? It is, no kidding, what a lot of us of a certain age were raised on, for better or worse.)

I don't mean just with the Socceroos, but across the board.

Oh, settle down. Is it not true most of our national teams have lost their way in the past decade or so? That whereas we used to rule the roost in so many sports, we are now more likely to be the feather dusters making up the numbers? Isn't it obvious that, all too frequently, part of the problem seems to be precisely the lack of hunger Neill identified?

Start with the Wallabies. Two blokes go out for hamburgers till four o'clock in the morning three days before a Test against the Lions? This was simply unimaginable only a decade and a bitty ago.

Instead of being truly hungry for victory, they were hungry for hamburgers. Who can forget the Gen Y pin-up boy, James O'Connor, laughing and chatting and joking with the Springboks last month, just moments after the national team he was representing had been handed a humiliating and record-breaking defeat.

Did he get it? Michael Lynagh didn't think so, noting, 'It's fine to be a good sportsman and shake hands and say 'well done', but it's got to hurt inside. And I don't think these Australians ... I don't think it hurts enough ...'

And ARU chief executive John O'Neill didn't think so last year, when he addressed the Wallabies straight after their 22-0 loss to the All Blacks in Auckland, as revealed by my Fairfax Media colleague Andrew Webster. 'Twenty per cent of you are letting down the other 80 per cent,' O'Neill roared in the dressing room. '

"That 20 per cent are the same 20 per cent who have their mobile phone in their hands right now. The same 20 per cent are the ones on the grog midweek instead of complying with the rules.

So put your f---ing mobiles away. In fact, don't even bring them with you on match day. I'm your employer. I'm not your mate. You're getting paid for the privilege of wearing the gold jersey and representing your country. And you are letting us down.'

 Perhaps Oz is more adversely affected than over achievers NZ (and SA to a lesser extent) because Oz is a nation of immigrants. Nationalism is irrelevant if Australia is 'nt where you were born. Fitzy's Gen Y poster boy James Oconner a case in point.

On a grander scale, take a migrant Saffa like Boklogic in NZ as an example. He sees NZ as the enemy and has no intention of showing any allegience ever to NZ so on a larger scale this works as an erosive and damaging undermining influence but luckily not all migrants are like that dropkick.

Which is why Australias woes are a cautionary tale for NZ.

 Compounding the problem is players are more often than not playing for their sponsors in corporate driven sports - money being the main motivater as opposed to loyalty to ones country. So corporatism has alot to answer for. If the Qantas logo and all the other logos on the jersey are bigger than the Wallaby name then does'nt that diffuse national sentiment somewhat.

Profesionalism ie turning sport into a business is not Gen Y s fault though.The older generation did that and you reap what you sow.

Add Gen Y's penchant for instant gratification .

They have such a sense of expectation and unwarranted deservedness - without actually having done the work to get what they want.

Throw in some mismanagement of teams players and finances for good measure and political corectness gone mad and it all adds up to Ausfailure.

Perhaps Australia needs to take a back seat for a while and experience some losing to be able to appreciate what it means to be a winner again.

Michael Clarke - prime example of this classic Gen Y self centredness.

Aussie Olympic Swimming team too

Obviously there are exceptions to the general rule - but having dealt with sooooo many career swapping and shifting gen y lying maniputlating types... why would the sporting industry be any different....

Anyway good news the next gen of sportspeople coming thoruhg the ranks dealt with the uncertainty of GFC etc - this will shape their values and no doubt their desire to put in the yards to have a crack and win....