Chariots Of Fire And Next Goal Wins: Film Analysis

“It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game” is a quote by Grantland Rice which suggests that winning is not important as long as one tries their best. In the movies “Chariots of Fire” and “Next Goal Wins”, the notion and meaning of sport is explored in both similar and dissimilar ways. Although “Chariots of Fire” and “Next Goal Wins” both follow the journey of sport and competition, the characters in the respective films show contradicting views on the idea that winning or losing sport is unimportant in light of the best effort.
In “Chariots of Fire”, Abrahams’ motivation to run originates from an influence to their life that isn’t necessarily related to sport at all. It seems that this connection between sporting life and

the life outside give rise to the importance of winning. Abrahams’ goal is to prove himself against anti-semitism and to be accepted like any other person. Though this can be done in many ways, it happens to be that running is the talent that he could use as a medium to achieve his goals. Winning or losing means so much to Abrahams that “if [he] can’t win, [he] won’t run”. In that case, Abrahams fears losing to the extent that he would be deterred from putting any effort into participating. This situation is essentially the polar opposite of what Grantland Rice was trying to suggest in his quote.
Contrarily, the players in “Next Goal Wins” seek their motivation from the passion to play in the sport itself. The rewards of winning do not have as significant of an impact on individual life outside of sport as they do in Abrahams’ case, so the desire to win is not driven by fear and thus winning or losing is relatively unimportant. Through the team’s history of defeat they have already accustomed to the mental repercussions of losing and the lack of winning. Thus they have sought out their own meaning in sport besides the ultimate outcome of a competition. In particular, the creation and continuation of a bonded community is what American Samoa have enjoyed through participating in a sport. The bond of the team is an important factor of the team’s development and success, as the connection between players naturally encourage them to ‘try their best’ to avoid letting down other team members. As such, the underlying meaning of “Next Goal Wins” is fundamentally similar to Grantland Rice’s own beliefs.
Another difference between the characters in “Chariots of Fire” and “Next Goal Wins” lies in the nature of the sports they participate in.

Soccer is inherently a team sport, and in contrast, Running is more or less a solitary sport. What this means in terms of the importance of winning or losing is ultimately that a team sport is able to take defeat as a group of people while in a sport like running, the defeat is endured by a single individual. In “Next Goal Wins”, American Samoa is able to come back from a history of consecutive losses with their first win against Tonga, whereas in “Chariots of Fire”, Abrahams at one point makes the assumption that he cannot win based on a couple of past races. With the help of the coach Thomas Rongen and each other, the players in American Samoa are able to share the consequences of defeat and move on. In particular, is the feeling of guilt that one has caused their own defeat and the hopelessness that comes with it. Because this guilt is held by the ‘team’, each player is able to recover quickly and improve themselves. Since this function of team sport is absent in “Chariots of Fire”, losing, in comparison, is portrayed as relatively inconsequential in “Next Goal

Wins”.
Although the two movies mainly contrast each other in the portrayal of the importance of winning or losing, they also share something in common.

Specifically, in “Chariots of Fire”, Eric Liddell runs for the honour of God, who supposedly gave him his talent for running. To express how much his faith means to him, he refuses to run an Olympic race on the ‘Sabbath’: the day during which Christians observe and worship God. From this it is evident that Liddell does not value winning or losing as much as his faith. Similarly, the players of American Samoa also give up training time for religious and cultural customs. Rongen is initially outraged at them for putting their culture above winning, but learns to embrace the culture after realising that the team’s desire to win cannot replace other aspects that contribute to who they are as people. Likewise, in “Chariots of Fire”, Lord Birkenhead and the Duke of Sutherland cannot understand why Liddell would allow his faith to overshadow national pride, though this is solved when an English teammate Lindsay, generously offers Liddell his place in the 400 metre race. In both movies, religion and culture is placed above sport in terms of importance. Grantland Rice’s quote generally serves as a method of cheering someone up after they are down in defeat, though in this particular aspect it does not apply to Liddell or the players in American Samoa as they are already content with giving up a potential victory for the sake of

religion.
In conclusion, “Chariots of Fire” and “Next Goal Wins” are both films that explore the importance of winning and losing in sport. On one hand, “Chariots of Fire” shows characters which tie in sporting life and real life, resulting in a heightened portrayal of winning’s importance. On the other hand, “Next Goal Wins” accurately portrays Grantland Rice’s belief that winning or losing doesn’t matter as long as you try your best. Ultimately, although both films follow not just winning aspect but also the journey of sport, they represent generally contrasting views in relation to this specific idea of Grantland Rice.