Thread: Cricket Rambles
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Old 03-26-2018, 08:17 AM   #376
bazzap

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Excellent article by Tracey Holmes on the ABC website today



Quote:

Dear Steve,


I've often thought about the pain and stress of having to make a long-distance flight home when someone close to you has unexpectedly died. I imagine not wanting to make small talk with the passenger seated next to me. I imagine waves of emotion like anger, sadness and distress. I imagine being dog-tired but unable to sleep. I imagine it possibly being the worst hours of one's life.

No-one has died in this instance, but the lonely journey awaiting you warrants some comparisons.

Not until today have I ever contemplated what it must be like to be flying home in your circumstances: as a captain of the Australian cricket team, who conspired to cheat and still believes he is the best person for the job.

No doubt you are going over and over what exactly you've done and the impact it has had.

Are you angry at yourself, or angry at the outcry back home? Are you distressed at the prospect of never captaining the country again, or do you genuinely think you deserve to have the "C" after your name still? Are you saddened by the prospect of a generation of kids who wanted to be "just like Steve Smith" and this morning are asking their parents "but why did he cheat?"


I do feel for you, Steve. I would not want to be in your shoes. But this was entirely self-inflicted. You made a bad/wrong/unethical decision and now are paying the price. Your flight home is taking you from the top of the world to one of the loneliest places on the planet.

I've heard reports that the team has been surprised by the outcry. I'm surprised any of you are surprised.

That perhaps is the root of the problem.

There's been no shortage of people lining up to speak about the arrogance of the team that has been allowed to build and fester. The team has developed a reputation for being quick to call out others' faults without ever seeing its own. Those who watch these things closely, from commentators to former captains, have spoken of "the bubble" and the fact that you've floated so far from the reality of normal people that you no longer know what reality is.

Reality is having two feet on the ground. It's reading the pulse of the society you supposedly represent. It's knowing right from wrong and having the courage, no matter how difficult, to make the right choice.

I can hear you saying, "but we all make mistakes". It's true. We do. But how many of us are chosen to wear the baggy green cap of the Australian men's cricket team — a position that until now has often had more respect than for those who serve as our political leaders?

Only 45 Australians have ever been made captain of the Australian men's team, you being the 45th. It's an exclusive club. It does not deserve the type of attention you have brought to it.

When politics turns ugly we turn to our sports teams. More than anything else in our culture it is our sports teams that bring us together. You unite us in a way our politicians can't. You do what many of us would like to. You have the talent and opportunity to represent us all. You are how we see ourselves egalitarian, underdogs, unafraid to take on the world and regularly punch above our weight.

Today that is not the case. Today there is a collective sense of embarrassment, anger, shame and disbelief. All of us are tarnished in the eyes of the world for what you and your leadership team did.

I've never seen such emotion and anguish on a national scale. Are you starting to understand the impact of what you've done?

Some have call for a life ban, others are more forgiving. After all, you haven't committed murder. But you have brought our name, all our names, into disrepute. Surely, the penalty for that must be significant.

The Rajasthan Royals, coming back to the lucrative IPL competition after their own integrity issues, did a thorough and extensive search to find someone who stood for ethics and values that surpassed the sporting field. They picked you. They signed you to a $2.4 million contract as the person who could lead them out of exile and onto centre stage as the team that stood for the highest values.


That mission has now been trashed.

Steve, unlike many that I've heard talking over the past 24-48 hours, I do have some empathy for you. For the rest of your life people will see the "C" next to your name and think it means "cheat". I don't think you will ever captain Australia again. That is a tragedy of your own doing.

But there can be redemption. You will need to work harder than ever to earn it.

We have seen you stand like a warrior at the crease, leading the team from the front and holding out your chest like you could take on the world. Well, here's your chance to do it again, but for something far more significant than an Australian sports team winning a match: this one is for all of us, this one is for Australia's reputation as much as your own. This, now, is your challenge.


Seek the help of those who can help you.

I hope you can do it, for all our sakes.

I wish you well,

Tracey




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