We may no longer want our sports heroes to die, but we do like our sport to push the boundaries. A bit of biffo adds depth to the football, tennis stars swear at umpires instead.
The World Championship car rally pushes the boundaries of political correctness. It is appropriately dangerous, competitive and spectacular, but has raised the ire of those who care for the small, furry members of our community. More significantly, perhaps, it has failed to set local business on fire because it promises very little in the way of financial returns.
The Repco Rally was rejected by the Western Australian government after seventeen years because it returned only $1.60 to the economy for every dollar invested. By comparison, the Cottesloe Surf Carnival returns around $14 for every dollar invested.
Despite the best efforts of PR flacks to spin the story otherwise, the rally is inappropriate because it is expensive to mount, damaging to the natural landscape on which our tourist economy depends, a relic of the era of excessive consumption of cheap oil, and will return very little to the local economy.
The global collapse of the financing for Formula One racing is proof that these are not isolated rumblings of tree-hugging, anti-car nuts. The sports sponsors’ love affair with speed is over. Even car manufacturers are pulling out. Corporates building profile in the post-carbon world that will endure this and future recessions do not want to be associated with an orgy of oil-burning hot rods, they want to support sustainable, green events that establish their credentials as corporate citizens. Today’s high octane addicts will shortly become the steam-train enthusiasts of the future. In a word, relics.