• Update One
• Update Two

Watching Wimbledon last night I saw part of a match where one of the players was a 'grunter'. To my mind there is clearly no need for this person to grunt when serving or playing a shot. She would not keel over and die were she not to emit a sound (as demonstrated by her opponent). This, then is gamesmanship, i.e. trying to put the other person off rather than replying solely on individual skill at the game.

However, everyone seems to accept this. We all know that this is gamesmanship and why she is doing this, but if we asked her she would say that grunting is just what she does, as if she has no control over it!

What rot! Everyone has control over him or herself.

However, we couldn't say this, as it would be too embarrassing, so the inevitable consequence is that the behaviour is allowed to continue. It is de-facto condoned, as we don't have any socially acceptable mechanisms for dealing with people who play games with social conventions.

This is an analogy for many other examples of people playing the social system. A classic example is politics, which relies on the fact that people don't say things like "Come on, that's blatantly shite you're talking".

UPDATE 01-SEP-03: My good friend and tennis fan, James has taken the time to respond to my rant on gamesmanship, which used the analogy of grunting in tennis:

"I have recently be perusing your website and feel I must interject some truth into the "grunting in tennis" section. Two main points seem to have been overlooked. Firstly the "need" for grunting. Whilst I concur that grunting is not emitted from all players, there are several who "grunt" for reasons other than gamesmanship. For example when one lifts a heavy item this is often accompanied be an exhalation of air, if the lifting is quick, the exhalation is quick, resulting in a grunt. Therefore the sounds made by tennis players occur as they are tensing their bodies with the short played. There is not grunting whilst just standing around.

The second point I wish to raise concerns your thoughts that "nothing will be said" concerning grunting. This is incorrect. Numerous players have been reprimanded for grunting and advised to tone it down lest be ejected from the competition. You do not raise thoughts concerning the actions of other players who do not grunt yet moan to the umpire! In my opinion these people lower the tone of the game. "

UPDATE 18-SEP-03: Avid arrod fans Charlie and Kelly (of Team Charlie fame) are responsible for more feedback on this controversial area…

Those of you who know Dave will know that he is not a man built for sporting prowess. However Charlie and Kelly are sporting heroes of first order and as such are in a much better position to comment on grunting in sport.

Charlie related to me that grunting when javelin throwing gave him an extra couple of meters, but that the grunting could obviously not put anyone off in this type of event.

Kelly went into much more detail on the reasons why sports people grunt:

"In the defence of a grunter:

I can think of two occasions when one may scream:

1. When one is in pain
2. When one is angry.

We all scream when we stub our toe and when you can't open a bottle e.g. the salad cream, you may scream at it. This is because you are angry and you are trying to focus your determination to the lid so you can open it. However screaming at the bottle is not gamesmanship. Surely this is not your way of putting the salad cream bottle off!!

Grunting relates to screaming in that an athlete will start to grunt when they are really pushing themselves. They are trying to maintain the determination to win. But also they are pushing themselves really hard and are in agony.

Our coach will encourage us to grunt on the erg (Ed: this is some sort of rowing machine), it does help. It is less necessary in team games, due to the encouragement you may receive from your team-mates, but a lot of what is required in an individual sport is psychological. Grunting especially well may give you the edge over the opponent!"

So Kelly's point is well made - grunting is individually advantageous and is not necessarily done to put an opponent off. Dave was certainly unaware that people might voluntarily partake in activities that cause them pain and anguish to such a degree that they need to vocalise (as these sporty types seem to).

Dave is beginning to regret his ill-considered rant, but he loves to get all this feedback! Keep it coming!

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