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Rob Hughes, NY Times/July 10, 2009
LONDON — The sporting superstar has reached a level of global recognition beyond any film star.
“There is no movie star in the world who could get thousands of people to wait six hours just to see their arrival, as Cristiano Ronaldo did this week,” said David Puttnam, filmmaker turned law maker in the British House of Lords. Puttnam, who over 30 years produced award-winning films, including “Chariots of Fire,” “The Killing Fields,” “Bugsy Malone,” and “Memphis Belle,” is certain that Tom Cruise could not hope to draw 80,000 to a movie theater the way Ronaldo did to his signing ceremony at Real Madrid’s Bernabéu stadium last Monday.
“I have watched the dynamic of the superstar shift from film to sports,” Puttnam added. “The whole level of globalization of sports is bigger. The key is engagement. The power of sport has taken the movie industry by surprise.”
We were speaking at the Beyond Sport Summit in London where Puttnam — now Lord Puttnam, legislator and ambassador for Unicef — joined people from government offices to ground workers in some of the world’s most violent crime spots to discuss the power of sports.
Fame need not be frivolous. Puttnam, 68, has witnessed the emergence of celebrity added to charitable causes, from Danny Kaye, the American actor, singer and dancer of the 1950s, to the David Beckham phenomenon today.
Katalyst Note: On Day 3 of the Beyond Sport Summit & Awards gathering, I had a wonderful time conversing with and listening to Lord David Puttnam. He possesses a unique combination or wisdom, insight, intellect and devilish humor that quickly disarms an audience and inspires all listeners!
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The tone of irreverence, the Tutu chuckle that rises to a cackle, fills the air. The archbishop is on stage, and in his element. His interviewer, Michael Parkinson, a veteran British talk show host and sports writer, struggles to get a word in as Tutu works the audience of 500 people near St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
The theme is “Beyond Sport.” The room is filled with people who are on their own crusades and using sports beyond its simple goals of fitness and triumph. Some want to wean street gangs off lawlessness through rugby, or fight crime in Rio de Janeiro through boxing, or use soccer to educate kids on the dangers of land mines in Sarajevo.
“Beyond Sport” is a catch-all phrase used by a London-based organization to recognize what is going on beyond the playing fields. We hear social workers who give their all to use sport’s popularity and discipline to alleviate inequality and wasted human potential. Some, like Dikembe Mutombo, a former National Basketball Association giant from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Lucas Radebe, a former South African soccer captain, lend their fame to HIV/AIDS work in Africa.
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