Participants in the game of tennis, (if one can overlook Ms William’s recent unforgivable foul-mouthed outbursts), are generally inclined to be a little behind the times, usually preferring to practice old-fashioned sportsperson-like decorum when on the court.

Admittedly not always the case as a player may occasionally be seen mouthing a string of softly expressed for-his-ears-only expletives following a poorly executed serve or return. Such behaviour was the case last Saturday on the public courts adjacent to the MSA Arena on Emerson Road. Men, women, and children were enjoying a last game of summer when just before 5 p.m. “peace” was quickly replaced, following the arrival on the nearby basketball court of a group of noisy teenage/young-20s players.

While occasional outbursts of excitement are to be expected in the heat of any game, language from these players and accompanying rapper “music” played on their boom box was, in my opinion, more suited to a noisy, dimly lit ghetto hangout. “My opinion” being that of a man who spent many years firmly entrenched in military life where crude language was common place, but always through unspoken rules of soldierly respect out of earshot of women and children.

While on the one hand trying hard to ignore the infestation of noisy ghetto language and concentrate on my game, a natural impulse was to approach the basketball players and using heated language similar to theirs tell them to at least stop using foul language, and to replace the loud, graphically anti-social/anti-police “music.”

Call it maturity, or simply that I’m a retired guy no longer wanting to get involved in an unnecessary scuffle, I instead finished the match, and for the rest of the evening felt remorseful that I should have said something, even at risk of escalation rather than having walked away allowing these guys to selfishly dominate an otherwise enjoyable family afternoon.

Tony Jones