In 1950, George Orwell noted: “Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words, it is war minus the shooting.”

The increased competitiveness brought about by unprecedented financial reward, the television, press and celebrity culture surrounding sport, makes Orwell’s statement truer today than at any other time in history.