Aussie sports fan take realistic view
I've been getting calls from London this morning for reaction to England's victory in the Lord's test. The working assumption seems to be that Australia must have suffered a national convulsion or entered into a bout of fitful introspection.
Our breakfast television show wants me to make sure that I show viewers the morning papers, with the expectation, perhaps, that the front pages will be edged with black and feature eight-page, souvenir pull-outs marking the death of Australian cricket.
But I can report that the sun is shining, there are no signs that the sky has yet fallen in, and that if the country is on the verge of a collective nervous breakdown it has not teetered over the edge.
The notion that Australians have spent the morning in a state of crankiness, cussing the wretched English, is as wayward as Mitchell Johnson's bowling or as fragile as Philip Hughes' technique against short bowling. As far as I can tell, Australia this morning is not in a giant, antipodean sulk.
Sure, Australians love winning. But they also recognise and appreciate brilliant sporting feats - even when they are on the wrong end of them. Andrew Flintoff produced a stunning display of fast bowling on the final morning of the Lord's test, and that's the line that most of the papers here have taken this morning.
'Flintoff Lords it over Australia in historic win,' reads the front page of The Melbourne Age.
'Hooroo, Hoodoo,' reads the Sydney Morning Herald, alongside a picture of Flintoff being mobbed by his supporters, a reference to the 75 years that it has taken England to beat Australia at Lord's. Hooroo means good-bye.
'Flintoff Destroys Aussies at Lords,' says The Australian.
Much as England fans had a sneaking admiration and affection for Shane Warne, Australian fans seem to have the same dialogue with Flintoff. He's also the sort of bloke who Aussies warm to: uncomplicated, unpretentious, the opposite of posh, a tough competitor and a natural born winner. He also likes his beer. Australians can also appreciate the sentimentality of Flintoff getting a five-wicket haul in his final Lord's test.
Aussie sports fans are also realists. They know this is a side in transition, weakened massively by the absence of its legends. I also don't get the feeling that there's much affection for the new-look Aussie team. The retirement of Gilchrist, Warne, Langer and McGrath not only took away some of Australia's finest players but its most likeable blokes. The new side is lacking in personality as well as experience.
I also get the feeling that there are a lot of Australians who would not mind seeing Ricky Ponting fail. There seem to be two Rickys: the one we saw after the game in Lord's, who was fabulously magnanimous in defeat; and the one who can be peevish and petulant while the game is in progress. Remember, many Aussies turned against Ponting in the aftermath of the Bollyline affair with India, thinking the Baggy Greens were getting a dose of their own medicine when the black all-rounder Andrew Symonds was allegedly called a 'monkey'.
Confessedly, I've always liked the Australian captain. He doesn't tread the dark path of sporting cliché in press conferences, and the few times I have met him he has been personable, interesting and surprisingly candid. But he doesn't command the respect or affection of Steve Waugh, Mark Taylor or Allan Border. For all his flaws, many Australians would have loved to see Shane Warne become captain when Steve Waugh passed on the batton.
If there has been much introspection this morning in Australia, it has been of the sporting kind. What has happened to the form of Mitchell Johnson, a world-beater at his best? And can Phillip Hughes fix his technique? Remember, he was talked of before this tour as the new Bradman, a curse if ever there was one.
Aussie sports fans also know that it's daft to write them off. Only a boofhead would do so. Still, history is not on their side. In three out of the last four times that Australia have gone 1-0 down in an Ashes series, they have gone on to lose the series as well.
I'm 
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Absolutely spot on in your observations Nick.
As an ex-pat in Cairns, I can tell you that had Australia won, the pom jokes I would have had to endure would have been unrelenting, but as it is, today is strangely quiet! :-)
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Having been compelled to avoid Test matches by the revolting "Barmy Army" I find that all pleasure in the victory over the Australians test side is demeaned and diminished by the glory that is Flintoff.
Whilst I appreciate his athletic prowess, his utter "Australian-ness" makes me recoil and prevents me from savouring what must be a soul shredding event for the arrogant southerners.
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I was pleasantly surprised by the media coverage too. I thought I would wake up this morning to the high-pitched sound of a collective Australian whinge, such as was heard post Cardiff and especially given the furore over the disputed catches. To be fair even the immediate response of Warne who was commentating on Sky when the last wicket fell and the SBS analysis team here was to praise Flintoff's performance and to provide a refreshingly honest assessment of Australia's shortcomings. I guess that when your team has just been thrashed not long after failing to win a game it dominated, in a series some predicted Australia would win 5 nil, it is appropriate to consume a large slice of humble pie.
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It's a cricket match.
It would have been great to win but we didn't so there's no use complaining about it. England should enjoy their place in the sun (pardon the pun).
I guess the question is, will England (it is England not Britain; isn't it) will win the series.
God help th Queen if they do; she'll have to dig out some MBE's or OBE's if they do.
As for Ponting, he's OK. He'll do.
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Brilliant insights, Nick, into contemporary Australian culture and thought.
Tim Vickery does it for South America. We need a BBC blogger in India with his or her finger on the pulse.
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Well, I guess this is officially a sports blog now.
Okay - just to stir things up, I wonder which team the Queen is going for?
Um....I hear a woman got bitten by a snake near Canberra today. What else is in the Australian news?
Oh! That's right. A terrorist attack in Indonesia, widely speculated to have specifically targeted a group of Australian businessmen and officials meeting at the Ritz Carlton in Jakarta. We've seen the first tragic death of an Australian government official in a terrorist attack whilst in the course of their duties. We've seen another brave soldier killed in Afghanistan as questions have been raised over Australia's capacity to combat the Taliban as the Dutch security force working alongside them departs from active service.
But all that is pretty boring, especially during the Ashes. Cricket does put piddling things like war and terrorism in perspective, that's for sure.
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I saw the picture of Flintoff on the article without my glasses on, and it looked suspiciously like he was holding a giant axe.
Turns out it was a cricket bat and his cap, perhaps not unsuprisingly.
I'm still going to pretend he batted with an axe, though.
Axe/weapon-related punnery welcome.
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As I doubt many English will understand this, but Australia were never going to winge after lossing the match at Lords. Sure there are going to be some who will critisise the captaincy of Ponting (always have and always will) especially since the Aussies have lost an Ashes series and now the unbeaten record at Lords - but in all honesty this was eventually going to happen anyway either under Ponting or another captain - and the detractors seem to conveniently forget that the team that lost the Ashes stil had Warne, Gilly, Hayden and Langer et. al. in it.
Having said all this England have for many year along with most of the rest of the Cricketing world blamed and hammered the Australians for either bad losers or poor winners, and yet here we have the English ultimately showing that they themselves are poor winners by expecting that the Australian's will be down hearted and had their spirits crushed by this lose.
I'm sorry to say it but we haven't and aren't. We love to win but more than that we love to see a great contest and so far the first two tests have proven that. Will England go on to with the series? Well it's way to early to even suggest or predict that, as I am sure the Aussies will come back firing in the Edgbaston match.
Lastly while there are comments about eating Humble Pie - very few people in Australia expected a 5 nil drumming in this series, while we like to talk about it we all knew that it was unlikely as this team is fresh and new and fairly untried with a spin bowler who generally never showed a lot of talent, was going up against an side which was playing on home soil, with generally players who had more experience and we're ultimately pitched at being the better side in all honesty.
To be frank I'm proud of what the younger fellas in the side have been able to achieve, and some have even out shone the more experienced players of an English side. As all the talk in England before the start of the series was that the English had far superiour spin bowlers and yet this has yet to be proven (although we in Australia never asked for the English to eat humble pie over that prediction and comment - unlike them asking us/McGrath to eat it over the 5-nil prediction).
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That's funny, because in two separate articles in the SMH it's heavily implied that Strauss was unsporting for claiming that catch, and Koertzen is getting plenty of criticism.
When should we be calling this "whinging"? Would be good to know...
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I think the fact that Australia were the better team in Cardiff and lost the toss AGAIN at Lord's is what convinces 3rd party observer fans such as me to conclude that England won't win this series. There are still 3 tests to go and none are at Lord's again. I know Ponting has his critics and not everyone thinks he's up to scratch. But you only have to look at Andrew Strauss and you just know that you're better off in every way with Ricky.
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As witness to far too many England defeats at the hands of the old enemy, I have to congratulate both teams on an excellent, fair (mostly lol) and hard fought battle!
England for shocking me by not capitulating for once, and the Aussies for taking it on the chin in magnanimous style. I think they, and esp Ricky, who hasn't always gone down well over here, were very gracious in defeat (prob bcoz they back themselves to level the series and retain the Ashes lol, but nevertheless well done guys for not getting sucked into the blame game)
All sport between our two proud nations is special, but the last 5 days have shown, in the face of the encroaching Twenty20 phenomenon, what a unique spectacle test match cricket is!! Long may it continue :-)
Jezz, Brighton, England
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Have to disagree on the public reaction. Living in Sydney as an ex-pat much like yourself, and now working for one of the country's two Ashes television broadcasters, I've spent the past 48 hours moderating hundreds of comments on our website about how Australia "woz robbed", as we say back home. It was everybody's fault but the players, England is a team of "dirty cheats", and some of the vitriol we received on Andrew Flintoff was astonishing and cruel.
Our Ashes website has been chock full of Australia fans whingeing about defeat. Let me know if you want the URL so I can direct your producers back home there for the story they craved.
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Whitlamite, it's our taxes that pay for this blog, so if you don't like the content, don't read it.
It's turning in to a pretty good ashes. Much more interesting than 2007.
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I'd like the url lol
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Shame many other sporting heroes cant show such dignity in defeat. You have to admire the Aussies, team and fans for their reaction to the 2nd test defeat. Grudging respect for the result, acknowledgement of Flintoffs top drawer performance and being outplayed on days 1 and 2, and then the unspoken resolve to come back and make sure that every effort is made to win the remaining matches.
Given that they were so close to winning the first test they can consider themselves to be unlucky at 1-0 down and have everything to play for. Im sure we are all behind you England, but dont take your eye off that ball for a second !!
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Thank you for your honest reporting Nick.
The British media seems to prefer a cartoon version of foreigners and get irritated when the foreigners don't stick to the script they've written for them. Too often the UK media then just make up the story to suit the script, regardless.
Foraggio just shows that if you "forage" on the internet (as opposed to Real Life), you'll find something to confirm your preconceptions.
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Love beating the Australians, i get a special kick beating them at anything. Olympics, rugby world cups you name it. Most only eat humble pie straight away because they know whats coming when they are beaten, inside they are all bitter and twisted as they always are. Olympics? We have to 'join up with other countries', pathetic and poverty stricken. Keep on beating them and their natural character will eventually burst through.
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As my comment suggested, and some of the comments have shown, the English are bad losers.
Yes you will find that SOME Australians will winge or complain about bad umpiring (as the English have in the past might I add), but in all honesty Australian's love to win and are competative to a fault (which is what makes us such a great country) unlike the English who are use to losing.
As for the Olympics comment by Hornetchap (which is a completely different topic altogether) very few people in Australia cared about England getting more medals - it was the English people and English media who beat up a story that just wasn't even there or relevant in Australia.
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Spot on Nick. We're two beatable sides and at Lord's England played pretty much to the maximum and the Aussies didn't. I also agree about Ponting and I think his remarks after the match did him great great credit - I just think he could do better if he didn't scowl quite as much at umpires as he does. Everyone gets sawn off once in a while - it's part of the game.
I was at the Oval on the last day of the 2005 test when the crowd was singing to Warne and McGrath that they wished they'd been Poms, which was very moving, as was their response. Real cricket fans love to win (who doesn't) but they also love wonderful performers like Warnie & McGrath, and Freddie.
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#2
I find snobs far more revolting than the 'Barmy Army' and isn't snobbish behaviour really just a display of cultural arrogance? Oh, and I'd like to hear/read your description of Flintoff's 'Australian-ness'. It would probably show how out of touch you are with 'English-ness'.
#7
Spot on! Thought the same thing after a quick glimpse.
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Sadly, judging from some of the comments, the close-minded "all THEIR fault" mentality is still strong for some groups of fans.
I don't see that dying out any time soon either, more's the pity.
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#18, Considering you're anti-Englishness shows through in your posts you are holding it together quite well, better than a lot of your countrymen do. Its precisely the anti-Englishness that causes me to have greater pleasure when Australia are beaten.
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#22 - Sorry to disappoint you but I am not anti-English. In fact I have no problems with the English whatsoever except their prechant to claim an issue when there isn't one there - yes I am an Aussie and hence do not want the English to win but then again your English and don't want the Aussies to win.
As for holding together better than most of my countrymen, well again you clearly haven't seen most of my countrymen or know how well they are holding it together or reacting. While there is a small (and I will highlight the word small) proportion of Aussies who will winge or complain about the umpiring etc, most know that we lost this match in the first innings and that the umpiring in the second had very little effect on the match.
But I will agree with on one thing, while you take great pleasure in the anti-Englishness as you put it when Australia is beaten, I can honesty say we Aussies love the anti-Australianness that is show by the English when the English are beaten.
I guess that's is what allows us to share a drink together after a well fought match of cricket.
All's fair in love and war.
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@ #17 hornetchap
Crikey! Bitter much? Your team won, for goodness sake, enjoy it!
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18 rockwanderermatt
dry your eyes, mate
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# 25 etienne123 - no point in hammering me when my eyes are bone dry and I haven't got a problem with the loss (if you hadn't figured that out from the previous posts).
I have no problems with the Aussies losing the game as they were well and truly out played - and think Freddy (the overrated)'s effort was brillient.
Odd as it may seem I was quite pleased with the end result (all things considered) and the fight shown by Haddin, Clarke and Johnson and hope that Johnson will gain a bit of confidence and form back from his magnificent (albeit shaky to start with) effort at the crease.
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Rockwanderermatt, lets call the dogs off as we haven't uncovered anything either way that the whole world doesn't already know. I'd share a beer with you or anyone from Oz win or lose. Reckon it would be lively conversation..
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Lets be clear about something. Yes us Australians are disappointed about losing, but not because of the umpiring decisions. Were some of them shockers? - yeah - but that's test cricket, and I for one am glad that every second ball doesn't get referred to a video umpire for deliberation.
We lost the game on our poor batting in the first innings (and England's quality bowling) and our poor bowling. If we'd been better in those areas then the umpiring decisions wouldn't have mattered.
Flintoff's spell on day 5 was awesome. No batsmen likes to face that. As far as I can see, we've had one test a piece where each team has dominated the other. Looks like there's a long way to go in this series and it should be cracking.
I'll finish by saying that blogger number 2 (Moncursalion-Occamist) you make me laugh. What a pathetic post. Barmy Army are excellent for cricket, and your unabashed contempt for Australians says lots about your character. Our two countries will always have a dig at each other, nature of the beast, but i'm happy to have a beer with a pom any day of the week.
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Just two reminders of the Australian "sporting" attitude to England/Britain and why we should enjoy it every time we beat the Americans* of the southern hemisphere.
John Coates, chairman of the Australian Olympic Committee, bet his British counterpart Lord Moynihan that his team would come out on top, and dismissed the performance of Team GB's swimmers as "not bad for a nation with no pools and not much soap."
"We do all hate England. All I'm doing is stating the bleeding obvious. No one likes England," Australian Rugby Union boss John O'Neill said.
As for the lack of whining over the result, it was only because they'd moaned themselves out last week and the day before. We were cheats after Cardiff because of the 12th man and physio and we were cheats after day four at Lord's because the umpire had made a few debatable decisions against Australia.
Fortunately the likes of Damien Martyn and Greg Matthews are about to give a fair call.
*This is not a compliment.
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All those responding to no 2 - wake up and smell the irony!
As for rockwanderermatt - self-knowledge really isn't your strong point, is it?
Some of the umpiring was shocking. But England won it with their bowling - Jimmy in the first innings (let no one forget) and Freddie in the second. Otherwise a very good Aussie team might well have won. Well done England (and I'm English), brilliant lads, but this series has a VERY long way to go yet. It's too close to call. Can't wait for the third test and the Aussie response.
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I like it etienne123 just because a couple of high profile Australian's say one thing this means that all Aussies think the same.
Can that be applied the other way around?
As for Cardiff, yes the English made some odd descisions in that match towards the end especially when the players in the middle did not even request a physio or 12th man.
As for 4th day umpiring decisions, well had these gone the Australian way and Australia had won the match then the English would be moaning that they'd be robbed of a victory.
But I digress and would like to say thank you for pointout and validating my previous comment about the English being sour winners. Not only this but also to the comment about the British media who like to blow things way out of proportion.
We Aussies love it when you English get completely upset because our reaction to a result is completely opposite to what you had expected.
But in the end, as I said earlier I would share a drink with a pom anyday after any result good or bad - btw I love to play fish with you guys coz you will generally take the bait. hook, line and sinker and it's so much fun seeing the reaction one gets.
Cheers and com on the Aussies to win the 3rd test!
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Oh yea btw etienne123 in regards to your comment on the Olympic's - like I said in the previous post no one in Australia cared about it and the English Media beat the thing up into a frenzy and made such a big deal out of it.
I knew no-one in Australia who took it seriously or even cared enough to think much about it and everyone I knew laughed at the comments and the way England reacted to them - especially when they tried to lord it over us and we didn't even care enough to react.
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The Aussie posts here are predictible, humility in theme with (not so hidden) jibes at the English. See here an article in The Age for a real Aussie view on the game. No sour grapes here then...
http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/cricket/strauss-style-is-unappealing/2009/07/20/1247941873692.html
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vegasgambler
thanks for the link.
Strauss should continue with his hard-nosed approach depsite the bleating and if the Australian journalists are a little precious, tough.
For years the Aussies have pushed the limits of decent behaviour on the pitch but all was good because they were winning. As soon as India and now England give it back, the whingeing begins.
Mental disntegration, anyone? Brad Haddin knocking the Kiwi's bails off with his gloves then letting him think he was bowled?
We've been too accommodating to the Australian side for too long. As with Douglas Jardine and Michael Vaughan, it looks like Strauss is made of the right stuff too.
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I saw the picture of Flintoff on the article without my glasses on, and it looked suspiciously like he was holding a giant axe.
--------
That was my first impression too :D
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I don't remember anyone in the UK caring whether we beat the Australians in the olympics. If it appeared to be a big issue to the Australians, then it was probably the media hyping a non issue. I would say we use the Germans, French and Argentinians as a success yardstick far more than we do the Australians.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Moncursalion-Occamist sounds like Douglas Jardine:
"Having been compelled to avoid Test matches by the revolting "Barmy Army" I find that all pleasure in the victory over the Australians test side is demeaned and diminished by the glory that is Flintoff.
Whilst I appreciate his athletic prowess, his utter "Australian-ness" makes me recoil and prevents me from savouring what must be a soul shredding event for the arrogant southerners."
We should be thankful anyone goes to Test cricket at all. You have made the classic mistake of thinking shaven headed and rotund = hooligan. It doesn't. Sure they sing and get a bit drunk, but they are dedicated fans who love the game from a wide spectrum of society.
Indeed, where does the idea that cricket has to be watched in an 'uptight silence' come from? Just from some snobs who think the game somehow 'belongs' to their social class.
Well, the fact is that cricket has always been played by all classes and that is one of the best features of it. I'm quite sure that those early cricket matches romanticized on paitings in the Long Room were loud and drunken affairs, full of spread betting. I also remember as a kid the West Indians being complained about in the 70s for making too much noise at Tests Now we complain that no one ever comes. Which is prefereable?
As for Flintoff's 'Australian-ness' you mean he's up for for a win and in the oppostions face a bit, but a great sport once the game is over (ask Brett Lee?)? Sounds like a good way to play sport to me.
So bury your archytype of the Brylcreamed gentleman. Jardine was one of them after all and he was lucky not to have been up for manslaughter during Bodyline. Society and the games palyed in it have evolved.
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Dear Mr Bryant:
Forgive me but I couldn't resist commenting on your bad grammar.
For example, you write: "He's also the sort of bloke who Aussies warm to." Yours sincerely.
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#6 Whitlamite,
Why can you not accept that sport is hugely popular and of great cultural importance in Australia?
I'll do a woolemi and throw in some questionable stats:
Look at the response to Nick's previous blogs. "The Pom influence" for example - a topic right up your street whitlamite, 50 responses since June 26 and only 18 of those were in the first 48hrs. Today's blog, already at 38 responses. Draw your own conclusions.
The Ashes, after all, don't come around every weekend. (Thank God, I hear you cry)
I'm sure you'll get plenty of opportunities in the future to make your minority views known. I don't think Nick's going to abandon topics on the Aussie/Brit cultural divide (or lack of).
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The Age article (#33) shows Australian reaction to a defeat in its poorest light. Sure, some of the points made may have validity but if these cries were coming from a Pom they would be seen as nothing but a whinge. The magnanimous reaction of Ponting was in complete contrast to, for example, the dubious behavioural standards that the Australian team have set during their period of dominance, where sledging and attempting to influence the umpire with over-zealous and optimistic appealing were the norm. Suddenly when Australia perceives itself as the victim in this instance, the benchmark they helped to set is now nothing of their doing and is vilified. They have long led the world of cricket in this, Warne being a particular offender for appealing and helping the umpire and Hussey (by his own admission) for serially refusing to walk when he knows he has edged the ball - so it is hard to feel too much sympathy when this comes back to bite them as it did at Lords, particularly Hussey.
I attended the 2006/7 Ashes and found the umpiring extremely poor there too, especially Koertzen, though on those occasions England was almost always the victim. It was hard to find an Australian with any interest in or sympathy with this, despite the fact that the decisions frequently occurred at match-changing situations in the game (eg several Strauss dismissals, including both in Perth, or the clear LBW decisions turned down against Hayden and Symonds at the MCG). England would certainly have lost the series anyway, but it is double-standards for Australia to complain only when they are the victims.
At Lords I sat next to 2 Australians who were very pleasant and friendly but, gee, did they moan. The umpirings poor, you are only winning because you won the toss (how many times did Australia win the toss in 2006/7?!) and had the best of the conditions, you cant field, Prior is the worst I've ever seen, its too cold for cricket, the Poms are obsessed with the convict history (doesnt the p in Pom stand for prisoner?). It reminded me that such moaning is not limited to these 2 supporters and when Australia lose, someone or something else has to be to blame and its against the spirit of the game eg glovegate, substitute fielders and, yes, even Bodyline - yet anything Australia does to gain an advantage is apparently considered part of the game, eg sledging. England are not even allowed to go off the field for rain (eg in Cardiff) without being called cowards, yet when Australia go off for bad light at Lords when playing under floodlights, it is because shadows make the ball is too difficult to see and no other reason! This may be an entirely valid reason, but just imagine the reaction if the Poms had come up with this as an excuse!
I love Australia and almost everything about the place, but you will have to find a more graceful way as a nation of losing. You may well yet retain the Ashes and if that happens, I hope the English team, supporters and press acknowledge that in the right way too, much as Ponting did following defeat on Monday.
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smartlondon wrote:
"Whitlamite, it's our taxes that pay for this blog, so if you don't like the content, don't read it."
How will I know I don't like it if I don't read it?
WWWorker wrote:
"Why can you not accept that sport is hugely popular and of great cultural importance in Australia?"
I do accept that. I don't accept that it's the whole story though. I don't think you can define a country and convey some intimate sense of it through story after story about cricket.
"I'll do a woolemi and throw in some questionable stats:
Look at the response to Nick's previous blogs. "The Pom influence" for example - a topic right up your street whitlamite, 50 responses since June 26 and only 18 of those were in the first 48hrs. Today's blog, already at 38 responses. Draw your own conclusions."
I think you've certainly proven definitively that some people who read this blog are interested in cricket. Well done. But this is the BBC of course, and is utterly disinterested in ratings and far more interested in content. If you want sport stories as 'news' then the Sydney Daily Telegraph is there with its message-boards and is open for content (god help us if anyone over there is using THAT clientele and its opinions to reach broad conclusions about Australia).
"I'm sure you'll get plenty of opportunities in the future to make your minority views known."
Whoah-ho! Have we zipped back in time to the Howard years? My 'minority views'. Goodness gracious. Here's a fact, a majority of Australians honestly do not care about cricket and the ashes. That's not to say its unpopular, but to suggest its a 'majority' view that Australians are sports mad is just wrong. If you're right, then presumably there are at least 11 million people watching the telecast from Lords or are listening on the radio. Are there? Are at least 11 million people following this story closely?
Both sides of this argument are incredibly lame. I'm not saying sport isn't a popular pastime in Australia, and I'm sure you don't disagree with me that there is more to us. The disproportionate amount of sporting posts on this blog which is supposed to paint a picture of Australia is what I disagree with.
"I don't think Nick's going to abandon topics on the Aussie/Brit cultural divide (or lack of)."
Good. I enjoy those discussions, but I also don't think they tell the full national story (which is what Nick is attempting to do here). I'm just saying that there's more to us than sport. I can't remember a blog post written by Nick that dealt with the arts in Australia - literature, visual arts, live performance. Can you? Because I'd wager that the arts in all its forms trump sport in terms of popularity and cultural value any day. Not that I'd be so petty as to seriously make such a point. This is the BBC after all.
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#22
This is a British blog, in a UK site, specifically aimed at Australia and Australians and you seem perplexed and irritated that Australians resent the anti Australian tripe which appears in it.
Grow up. Bad mouth Australia and we'll retaliate. Maybe there's the fundamental difference between us.
We'll retaliate, even against those who think they're our betters.
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Brilliant article,
As an englishman living in sydney i can safely say that Nick has captured the current state of the general public well.
Deep down, though it would pain people in england to realise this, the australian public are quite happy to lose as long as they lose to a better team.
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We Aussies could only admire (and yes, envy) the bowling attack of England in the 2nd test. I just hope the Aussie bowlers and captain were taking notes. I only with the aussie bowlers will get their act together. Johnson's bowling in particular is awfully wayward, although he did redeem himself somewhat with his last batting innings. They only need 3 notes;
1. It's called swinging the ball...
2. funny things down the end are called stumps. Try bowling towards them more often.
3. When you have 5 slips, never dolly up straight balls down the leg side or wides.
It's a great Ashes series, great to see a contest.
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While we're on the cricket, anyone else notice how the Fanatics look like extras from Jonathan Ross's house band '4 Poo fs and a Piano'
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As another ex-pat I'd have to disagree about the quality of the SBS coverage. My British friend and I laugh about how bad a presenter Stuart MacGill is. He's a likeable chap but he is far more interested in his own opinions than the people he is meant to be interviewing. He's also ridiculously biased towards Australia, spinners and Australian spinners.
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This column is quite an interesting reflection of a changing world. Suddenly the Brits are interested in what 20 million convicts are thinking, rather than Aussies taking all cultural lessons from the old dart.
I always thought the English were interested in Shane Warne as he represented everything they loved about Australians in a Barry McKenzie sort of way; brash, sporty, reckless etc.
The admiration for Flintoff is though, as Nick says; based on being a great sportsman & competitor rather than having anything to do with his nationality.
Id agree that there isnt much sentiment towards the current team either, Ponting and Clarke have been tainted by the 05 series loss and the horrible series against India, while the rest are new and yet to be adopted by locals. Losing this series will be disastrous to Punter though, he wont be able to slip into a commentary position so easily with the tag of captain who lost the Ashes twice!
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You cannot avoid the Australian mentality towards losing.
They love winners and they really do consider all other competitors as failures. The reason for this is that it is Australias only way of getting noticed on the World stage.
After the Cardiff test concluded over-night I awoke to catch the news roundup prior to the 6am news hour on channel 10. The only sport headline in the roundup was an AFL (Aussie Rules) story. I knew at that point that Australia had not won, and sure enough over 10 minutes later the draw was reported.
When Australia loses the press and the nation are placed in a very difficult position. They wish to berate their sporting hero(s) for failure, and yet, they do not wish to undermine their winning capacity by doing so. I read the reports yesterday (and more today, Wednesday) as a grudging acceptance of the result, whilst collectively attempting to rally the national psychie for the remaining games.
I personally believe that insufficient attention and accolade has been paid to Michael Clarke's efforts at Lords. The pressure under which he played and the coolness and reassured effort he demonstrated, was awesome to watch, and all should recognise that.
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On this mine site in Laos we congratulated the "resident poms" on their victory, paid them their winnings - crates of BeerLao - and then proceeded to help them drink them.
And then we made the same bets for the 3rd Test.
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Soapbox Joe, I'll think you'll find that England's test results last time they toured Australia were some way behind the EPL and Championship in the trashy popular press unless it was a particularly quiet day
I mean, Ch10 ... it's like going to News of The World!
But it does rather prove the point that not all Australians are as obsessed by cricket as the BBC would like to believe.
I think the only thing to do is have fan segregation at cricket matches during the Ashes, like they have to do at their football matches, so that sensitive English ears won't be assailed by people with contradictory opinions.
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Erm, whitlamite, the title of the blog is usually a give away. If you can see it is about cricket, don't read it.
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Nick, we must live in different Sydneys.
I woke up on the morning of the 2nd test win and caught the 6.55am sports wrap up on ABC radio which had a full on whinge about bad umpiring. An evening later I watched the The Back Page sports magazine programme where one of the panellists in a hissy fit of barley disguised sour grapes was determined to label Freddy a plank for his wicket celebrations and again the panel whined on about non catches and bad umpiring. Not to mention the various SMH online articles throughout this test complaining about, well just about everything.
Thing I find is once you go behind the magnanimous headlines and opening statements, all the excuses and hard luck stories start. Its not just the upward inflection that makes Aussies sound like whiners sometimes.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
WRT Mitchell Johnson
Did anyone see a slight change in his action, esp. in his first spell of the 2nd innings, when he was all over the place? Looked to me like his head position was different, like he'd been told to use a more 'classical' delivery, with head more upright closer to the arm, for more accuracy perhaps. Whatever it was he didn't look comfortable. He's natural slinging action is always going to be hit or miss, when he's on he's really good, but when he's off, it's a shocker.
ps something weird happened when I tried to post this earlier, so apologies if it appears twice.
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Great article. It's what I've been trying to explain to my English friends - Australians love sport for sport, and aren't only interested when we're winning.
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Can't say I agree with that totally missy_m. Australia is in love with sport but my experience suggests that's largely due to it's past success. May be it's the remote geography but always get the impression Australia is desperate to get a place on the world stage & uses sporting success to do that. Hence the huge media investment in coverage & reporting that quite frankly sometimes borders on propaganda. Just look at the complete abuse and misuse of the word 'hero' down here.
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Got to say I agree with newtraditionalhaka at #53, the media really do shy away from poor sports news, and you can tell how the cricket's going by where it appears in the bulletins.
As for individuals, well they're behaving like individuals. There's a general sudden lack of interest in cricket, but the genuine cricket fans are quick to recognise good cricketing skills. To be honest I can quite understand people steering clear of discussing the loss, what annoyed me more was the way there was a major whinge-fest over the draw at Cardiff.
One final point, something I've noticed about sports reporting over here is the increased bias. You can accept it on a national game level but watching the final State of Origin match last week was appallingly hard work due to the NSW bias in commentary. It actually turned me MAROON (a word the Aussies apparently can't pronounce properly) with rage.
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Both "marohn" and "maruhn" are correct Australian English pronunciation according to the Macquarie dictionary.
I have to agree with missy_m - Australians are interested in many sports, not all of which they do well in, most of which don't even feature England in the list of serious competitors, and I for one can remember periods when we weren't even that great at cricket.
It's the attitude of the English that has become fixed on resentment of Australian sporting success against them, leading to all sorts of media hysteria.
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Bren, the only time I ever see the England/ Australia rivalry mentioned is on this blog. I don't see the hysteria you mention all that much. I doubt the majority of people in either country care.
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#41 1PeterT wrote "I love Australia and almost everything about the place, but you will have to find a more graceful way as a nation of losing."
Come on you are kidding?
Why would any confident society want to get use to losing?
The world is full of countries who are "also ran's".
Why would any self respecting Australian want their country to become losers.
Wishful thinking maybe.
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Bren_54, the Maroon thing is one of those strange differences between our respective countries use of the English language. Kind of pointless arguing about it (just like the pronunciation of Scone!) but it does sound really odd to English ears.
As for English resentment against Australian success, it really does seem to be more the other way round. When it comes to cricket, we know we're up against the best in the world and dearly love to win, but in pretty much every other sport, England faces far bigger rivals and has far more antagonistic relationships. Apart from that overly-long period of cricket dominance, we generally like to see the Aussies doing well.
On the other hand, there does seem to be a resentment of English sporting success in some Aussie quarters. I'm sure this is to be expected, due to historical colonial ties and a desire to prove (uneccessarily) the independence of Australia from the UK.
WBurt, I'm afraid it's either a case of being good losers (as well as winners) or face a degradation of your country's currently good international reputation. As you say the world is full of also-rans - every single country is an also-ran in some areas, to pretend that Australia is any different is at best arrogant and at worst dangerous. By the way I'm not pretending that every single Brit accepts defeat with a hand shake and a "well played old chap"!
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At work here in Melbourne I well remember the amount of gloating in previous years when the Aussies won the Ashes, when Australia were frequently dominant in many sports. All very quiet now the boot is on the other foot.....
The aura of invincibility is gone. Brits are now higher ranked than Aussies in tennis, cycling (circuit and road) as well as the Olympics. Cricket is about even. We're not that far behind in swimming either. And after 2012 we'll be even better!
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Nick:
It is always a proper way of journalism to give the realistic
view of the news and opinion....
=Dennis Junior=
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Nick...I'm sorry, but the Aussies I know in NSW have taken this defeat very very badly. There is a lot of avoidance that Flintoff and co played well..rather they say "Australia lost" rather than "England won". In fact, there is even a "cricket grief" room in the office floor for the men/women who are not coping. I of course walked in with a smile and sat their for five minutes to soak up the atmosphere.
To be hoinest, I'm a footbal fan and cricket really, whilst a popular media affair in the UK, is not really followed by the UK masses (it's a semi-posh sport, better played on a sunday afternoon with a warm beer, a bit like darts).
However, enjoying the thrashing of aussies, whether cricket or swimming, is a fun past time all of us Brits can enjoy. Living here has made me realise that they are not so invincible in sport, they just have better climate to practice longer...which incidently makes me worried that when they finally get their act together and allow grasss roots football at youth level to progress to late teens, then they pose the serious threat of becoming a world class footballing nation...everywhere I go in NSW there are football pitches and youngsters playing most nights of the week...in the UK I trained once a week on a cold miserable winter's night - in Newcastle (NSW) it was 28 on a monday and it's still winter!! it's only time before Australia wake up and smell the football roses rather than stay backward in sport following AFL and those old colonial sports of cricket and rugby.
Great stuff Nick by the way...us ex-pats miss the BBC and it's great to have a part of it here in Aus.
Marc
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