Why shearing is a sport
Released 23 Jan 2012
Jeanette Maxwell is Federated Farmers Meat & Fibre chairperson and a version of this was printed in the Dominion Post on 23 January 2012
Should shearing become an Olympic Sport? With March's World Championships being held in Masterton, that question has sporting purists the world over in a stir. According to Google News, there have been 275 news stories about it, from the Washington Post to the BBC. That doesn't include dozens of radio interviews; from Australia and the UK especially. Shearing as a sport has intrigued journalists the world-over. I thought hard before making the suggestion because my prime motivation was to highlight the athleticism of world record holders, Ivan Scott and Kerri-Jo Te Huia, as well as our work with the New Zealand Shearing Contractors Association. We can also add Stacey Te Huia and Sam Welch. A few days ago, they broke a 16-year world record for two-stand nine-hour ewe-shearing. They shore 1,341 unwieldy ewes over nine hours, or well over two ewes every single minute. Scott, Welch and the Te Huia's are athletes in every sense of the word. Why, I thought, shouldn't shearing be showcased on the biggest world stage? Are we letting our Kiwi self-deprecation stop us from realising something we're very good at? Sport ignites imagination and imagination could super-charge demand for a fibre I'm passionate about. Let us dare to dream.
The newest Olympic sports have more to do with visual popularity and the skill of those pushing its inclusion. Beach Volleyball made the leap from holiday activity to a serious Olympic sport. Watching New Zealand's Next Top Model when it visited a shearing shed, I think most of the models were captivated by the male shearers. As a woman, shearing could be for us what Beach Volleyball seems to be for men. Other Olympic sports come from martial pursuits, such as javelin and fencing and no, I am not talking about stringer posts. Some sports have been dropped from the Olympics including synchronised swimming and the intriguing but lethal sounding, dueling pistols. This has allowed new sports to enter like golf in 2012, right alongside Rugby Sevens.
So does shearing fit the bill as a sport? Competitive shearing is much like Rugby Sevens in being fast paced and visual. It has competitors racing against each other, the clock and in our case, sheep. While speed is of the essence it is not everything. The New Zealand developed Bowen technique, the global standard for shearing, puts skill above all else. Shearing as sport demands not only mental toughness and physical strength, but dexterity and finesse. Tactics play a role but sheep provide a chance element any good sport needs. Judges are there to ensure corners, the animal or the wool isn't cut. Once you see competitive shearing you are struck by its physicality and a rhythmic grace. Shearing is open to all sexes and age groups and includes novice, junior, intermediate, senior, open and even veteran grades. There are rules, records and systems and doping is completely banned. This is why SPARC has recognised shearing as a sport since 1994. I challenge anyone to come away from March's World Championships to tell me shearing is not a sport.
Since live pigeon shooting ended in 1900, equestrian events are the only Olympic sports involving animals. Shearing is a human/animal sport but one that combines elements of martial arts, weightlifting and track and field. With equestrian sports, the horse is more than an equal partner but with shearing, it is shearer versus sheep. Some animals are compliant but others obstinate. An ability to read and manage livestock demands genuine skill all top shearing athletes possess. No one disputes the right of equestrian sports, shooting or sailing to be in the Olympics. What is the difference between them as sporting contests and shearing sports?
The next step for us is patience. We need to first get backing for shearing to first come into the Commonwealth Games as a demonstration sport. After Glasgow, the next games are on Australia's Gold Coast in 2018. If possible, it would provide the ideal demonstration platform before shearing is hopefully recognised as a Commonwealth Games sport. With that achieved, it could then be included in a future games programme; the ideal debut would be when New Zealand next hosts a Commonwealth Games. This provides the necessary global platform from which to seek Olympic status. It is here that things become intriguing. The world's top eight sheep herds are respectively in China, Australia, India, Iran, Sudan, New Zealand, Nigeria and the United Kingdom. Wherever there are sheep, there are shearers. Shearing is a lot more global than many people believe. All we have to do is to spread the sporting dimension.
I guess the final question is why Federated Farmers is so enthused by this. Wool is integral to a sustainable sheep industry but it's more than that. We growers sat idly by while crude oil ripped the rug from under wool's feet. That tells me we need to get active if we want to have a future because with new technologies, designers and architects are increasingly enthused by wool. We just need consumers to want wool and that is slowly happening given wool is natural, renewable and sustainable. It needs more, a je ne sais quoi and perhaps sport provides it; something that makes wool dynamic and exciting, but above all, attractive and wanted.
For further information contact:
Jeannette Maxwell, Federated Farmers Meat & Fibre chairperson, 027 357 4464 (from overseas +64 27 357 4464), 03 302 8860 (from overseas +64 3 302 8860)
