The true Aussie sporting spirit
It's a sad day when the comments tally at the bottom of this blog looks healthier than an England scorecard. Alas, that is what has happened over the past few days at Headingley. What Ravi Bopara would give right now for the quick-fire half-century of "The end of Australian books," or even the brief cameo of "The Intellectual Health of the Nation"?
The Australian papers have had three days to compose their headlines - the game was effectively lost, of course, by lunchtime on Friday in Leeds - but they are workmanlike rather than inspirational. Superlative headlines, I guess, are usually heat-of-the-moment rather than slow-cooked affairs. "Ashes to Ashes: England's Hopes in Tatters," says the Sydney Morning Herald. "Australia completes Leeds demolition job," says The Australian. "Pure Joy," says the Melbourne Sun Herald, featuring a picture of Ponting playing with his baby daughter. Sydney's tabloid The Daily Telegraph is arguably the best: "Pommelling: Australia Humiliate Old Enemy."
Were there an off-field Ashes for headline writers, surely the urn would not travel far from Fleet Street. "Bop of the Flops" is The Sun's take on Ravi Bopara's dismal performance. "Strauss Hits the Boos," accompanies the story on the England captain being heckled by the Headingley crowd.
The English headlines also point to a statement of the obvious - that there's much more passion surrounding the Ashes in Britain than in Australia, where Ashes have not really caught fire. Day/night might ultimately be the way forward for Test cricket, but night/night cricket can be a rather sleepy and somnolent affair.
So just as Australia did not suffer any great national convulsion when it lost at Lord's, I have yet to witness any exuberant national celebrations following the team's lop-sided victory in Leeds. No one is flicking through the yellow pages to find the number of an open-deck bus operator, nor shredding spools of green and gold ticker tape in anticipation of a victory parade through the canyons of Sydney's central business district.
At a barbeque over the weekend, I expected to be roasted by some Aussie mates over England's monumental batting collapse the night before. But few had even stayed up to watch it, and happily the sausage count ended up being higher than the sledge count.
With the rugby and Aussie Rules seasons soon to reach their climax, the winter sports continue to take precedence over the cricket. I'm still a bit gob-smacked that the ABC has not sent it own commentary team over to Britain (nor has Aussie television), and is relying on the BBC's Test Match Special (augmented with ABC's chief cricket commentator, Jim Maxwell). But if you had tuned in on Friday night expecting to hear Aggers, Blowers and Tuffers, you would have ended up listening the rugby league or the AFL commentary instead.
No doubt fans in Australia would have paid more attention if the quality of the cricket had been higher. Certainly, I reckon most Aussies would have preferred to watch an England side which contained Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, and thus struggled to achieve a win, rather than watching an injury-weakened side which produced a lop-sided victory. By the same token, I reckon England fans would have enjoyed Shane Warne more than Nathan Hauritz, even if it reduced the chances of winning.
There was an interesting piece in the British papers over the weekend by the former England cricketer, Ed Smith, talking about English cricket's "cultural cringe" - "that everything Australian should be copied. First sledging, now booing: they do it to us, so let's do it to them. The English seem only to copy the worst characteristics of the New World, as Auberon Waugh argued, while never emulating its optimism and enthusiasm."
Interesting argument, and one of Ed Smith's reference points is the Melbourne Cricket Ground's infamous Bay 13. But I reckon the loutishness and boorishness of Aussie cricket fans is commonly exaggerated. True, there's no shortage of sledgers, and Australia's most famous barracker, Yabba, has recently been memorialised in bronze in the new stand at the Sydney Cricket Ground. But boos are directed at the security guards who confiscate the beach balls, rather than visiting players. So heavy is the policing these days at the MCG that Bay 13 - there are actually four Bay 13s in the various tiers of the newly-developed stands - is no longer the den of hostility of days of old.
For what it's worth, my abiding cricketing memory of the southern summer was watching the crowd at the SCG as it gave the South African captain, Graeme Smith, a standing ovation for coming out to bat with a broken hand in a valiant effort to save the Third Test.
As for the MCG, instead of constantly citing Bay 13, perhaps it is time to step outside to peruse the bronze statues that encircle that great sporting cathedral. There's Lillee at his terrfiying best and Bradman with his bat aloft. But there's also a statue depicting the moment in 1956 when the middle-distance runner John Landy stopped mid-race to check on Ron Clarke, who had been tripped by another runner, and then helped him to his feet. Is that not the true representation of Australian sport?
I'm 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~54~RS~)
Comments
Sign in or register to comment.
Hi Nick, on the commentary - the ABC usually hasn't sent a broadcast team to England for The Ashes, instead adding a commentator to the BBC coverage, so guys like Henry Blofeld and Jonathan Agnew have been regulars on late-night radio ever four years. Aggers usually joins the ABC coverage here.
It's actually quite interesting listening. Oh, and with digital radio (everybody has it now, don't they???) the cricket is relegated to ABC grandstand radio while the usual winter rugby and AFL matches are broadcast in Sydney and Melbourne.
As for television, only Kerry Packer could afford to send Ritchie and the boys to the old dart to cover the games and it gave Australian viewers one of the most memorable Ian Chappell late night swearing stuff-ups. Remember, he couldn't hear anything through his earphones. Since then, channel nine has gone off the winter game. But the Sky broadcast on SBS was enlightening, with the commentary of the England performance from some former greats on the standard of the home team's efforts at Headingly.
But it was part-time viewing on Friday night given that Carlton was giving Geelong at touch-up at the MCG. Thank goodness for remotes!
Complain about this comment
G'day Nick,
I think that you raise an important point about England attempting to take a leaf out of the Aussie's book. It just happens that they haven't taken the correct one. The Aussies have definately created a culture around their cricket and they will never loose that no matter what personnel they have in the squad. So how do the Aussies create this culture? Well smarter people than me should answer this but I think that there is one crucial point: captaincy. Does anyone know how many captains England have had compared to the Aussies? I don't know but, I would guess that England have had substantially more (at least in the time that I've been watching). England seem to change captains for every Ashes while the Aussies seem to groom their captains (look at how Waugh mentored Ponting and now how Ponting is doing the same with Clarke). As much as I do want the Aussies to always win, I want them to beats the poms while they are at their best. That said, lets hope the poms are not up to their best in the next test! Another thrashing would be nice!!!!
Complain about this comment
Nick,
are you as steel-blue cool in real life as your blog photo suggests?
ben
Complain about this comment
I think we are probably a little reticent to make the big statements on the cricket in the immediate aftermath of Headingly because of a fear of egg-on-face syndrome with a decider still to be played. Premature congratulation is something that we tend to remind each other of when it happens. There might also be a satisfying sense that the ship is being righted at last at the business end of the series. Australia’s batsmen have scored eight centuries to England’s one yet the series sits at 1-1 and the casual observer might say that England have looked the more likely. So, it seems the Aussies have finally got the balance right and bowled well to complement the batting. England has seized the opportunities well throughout the series so I’ll hold off with the beer and prawns for the time being. Besides that, as you say, the footy has a few weeks to run and the intensity is picking up.
Justin Langer’s dossier delivered to the Aussie players prior to the series is sure to make its mark. Its reminiscent of Rod Marsh’s call years ago for the Ashes to be reduced to a three test series like we would play against Zimbabwe because England were a bunch of pie chuckers! Shortly thereafter Marshy was in England helping to establish the English cricket academy on the Australian model in Adelaide. I think the banter is great and sincerely hope that it doesn’t become zealously incorrect to have a good natured crack at the opposition. That doesn’t extend to calling the only black player in the team a monkey then telling the world that it’s a term of endearment and a cultural misunderstanding. By and large, the crowd behaviour is completely different from the bygone era. I remember sitting on The Hill at the Sydney Cricket Ground in about 1980 or thereabouts. The Yobbos around us were boozing up a storm, urinating where they sat and fist fighting like crazy. The two policemen on duty didn’t have a chance. Today in the modern stadium setting with sophisticated surveillance and monitoring, light beer and allocated seating, the cricket is no longer attractive to the type of yobbo I’ve just described. Don’t rule it out at a suburban footy field, though.
With the exception of Melbourne where people flock to sporting events en masse and throw themselves into the contest, Aussies are less vocal and frenzied about the way they express their support than they are in England. I’ve never heard Jerusalem, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, You’ll Never Walk Alone or anything remotely similar sung at a game of any sort in Australia. On the other side, our press don’t savage the team when they lose as occurs in England. I think your Aussie mates at the barbecue probably realise that reminding you of the result is sufficient and that an enduring barrage of grief oversteps the mark.
Complain about this comment
Hey Nick,
It's not even difficult: Go hard. The English track cyclists and Mark Cavendish on the roads have got it about right. From memory Cavendish even slipped the verbal boot into Hushovd in a press conference or two. Maybe they should give a speech to the cricketers before The Oval.
And seriously, what is wrong with the sledge as long as it stays on the ground? From the U/12s the first thing we're told is what legs the pads go on and which of the other team doesn't like being called a p**f... What the hell else are you going to do out in the middle of the ground for 6 hours?
I'd find Langer's notes on Bopari more worrying, "he likes to chat. Ignore him" - the freeze out would be far more intimidating than the banter.
Complain about this comment
"Sorry, Nick, but the answer to your last question is no.
"Like you, I'm an English ex-pat, and having worked in Australia as a sports journalist for the past 10 years, I write that response with confidence.
"Let's not forget that this is the nation whose Prime Minister (at the time), John Howard, could not even bring himself to shake the hand of England rugby captain Martin Johnson when the Old Enemy won the Rugby World Cup against the Wallabies in Sydney in 2003.
"If only John Landy's spirit were emulated by modern day Australian sportsmen. Perhaps they wouldn't be booed. The reasons behind Ponting's popularity problem in the UK all stem from his pathetic whingeing of 2005, when he complained about England's sub fielders and a bunch of other things. If anyone is to blame, it's him.
"But therein lies the problem. When things go badly for Australian teams or sportsmen and women, it's everybody else's fault but their own."
Complain about this comment
No one really cares about the cricket over here either.
Complain about this comment
All seems very low key with not much sledging at work in Melbourne this morning. Although the first thing I heard was "Watch the cricket then?" At least it's on a free-to-air broadcaster, with the downside of interminable mind-numbing repetition of the same advertisements between every over. I turn the sound off and get TMS over t'interweb....
We just need to remind ourselves that it's 1-1 and very far from the last series whitewash!
Complain about this comment
I'm going to close my eyes and think about the rugby world cup 2003 instead. Aah, thats better already.
Complain about this comment
Nick, take off the rose-tinted specs for a minute mate!
Complain about this comment
The difference is that here in Australia we expect our cricket team to win, whereas in England you are surprised, happy, grateful and generally gobsmacked by your occasional sucesses.
Complain about this comment
Yillki has it exactly!
It's so simple. Australians expect to win, especially against a team ranked only 5 in the world. Here in England victories against top cricket nations are all too rare - and especially against the old enemy. We expect to have our faces wiped in it, but that doesn't make it any more welcome. So - to quote Yillki - we are pathetically "happy, grateful and generally gobsmacked by occasional sucesses".
Another factor in the different amounts of interest is that the Ashes are followed by far more people when England are hosting it (and it's in daytime hours). I expect something along the lines in Australia when Oz are hosting it.
Mind you, anything can happen in a one-off Test. If (by some miracle) England were to beat Australia at the Oval then:
* England would be dancing in the streets - it would be almost as unexpected as last time ('05).
* Australia would fall to 4th in the world Test rankings (next to England unchanged at 5).
Complain about this comment
Yillki, that's correct, you do expect to win. Consequently it appears to be taking a certain amount of adjustment now that you're far from the best.
Complain about this comment
The simple truth is that we believe we are among the best nations on earth.
Seeing that this simple truth is almost universally accepted here, we expect to win and when we don't the planets don't seem to be in their rightful places.
Whether we are right or wrong is of no consequence; we believe it and that's all that counts.
Complain about this comment
Burt, you are among the best nations on Earth. But being delusional helps no-one!
Complain about this comment
Hi Nick,
As another expat, enjoying Brisbane hospitality, I was a bit puzzled about the apparent lack of interest in the Ashes series. This is probably best manifested by the repeated pleading by Stuart McGill for audience participation via the SBS Web site. I'm afraid I watch it into the early hours (I'm knackered!) and think Damien Martyn, in particular, always has something worthwhile to say. I can only think Aussies are less interested in Test matches than English cricket fans. Certainly, the presentation of shorter cricket formats matches the brash nature of modern Australian life better than a necessarily more sedate Test series. It was interesting to see various comments on the Langer "dossier". It isn't taken too seriously by anybody so far as I can see. Any Test side will have that information (such as it is) anyway and Langer must be a bit naive to think he can send a "private" email! Moreover, there seems to be a lifting of phrases from Shane Warne's Century book - the sincerest form of flattery, they say.
After three great matches, and one that was redeemed as a spectacle only by the batting of the England tail, we come to a decider at the Oval. It couldn't be much better. My considered view is still on an England win, provided Flintoff is back for Harmison and they don't change the side other than, possibly, dropping Onions for a more appropriate Monty. Australia should bring back the excellent Hauritz for this one but, knowing Ponting, I suspect he'll stick with Clark. Let's hope there's no rain to give Australia the draw!
Complain about this comment
I reckon this is a great Ashes series. I mean, both teams have flogged the other in different matches. 1-all so far. (Shame about the weather mucking up the other 2, oh well).
But we're down to one big decider. Both teams have shown they can run hot or cold.
I just hope the last test at the Oval has them both running hot in the same game...
Right now, it's being argued that the Aussies have the momentum in their favour form-wise... I don't put too much store in argument that myself. They'll both be fired up over this one, it's great to see a cup mean something to both sides. They bloody well better be fired up anyway, or they'll get a right roasting by the public!!
My point to Nick's point: I think Australians want to see a real contest, rather than a flogging. And the Oz papers can't crow too much about collapses in form, given we've had our fair share of those too.
BUT: looking forward to it if the final game is a thriller rather than a walkover!
Complain about this comment
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Forragio (#6) - I think you must be an imposter.
Ponting has been nothing but gracious in both defeat and victory since 2005, and that's because the Australian public and press shunned him at the time for being a brat when Australia lost that series.
Humility is held dear in the national psyche, if you seriously live in Australia you would have heard the phrase "Un-Australian" and you would know what that means.
Complain about this comment
I must agree with one of the other bloggers on the issue of captaincy. The only English captain that would have had any chance of being selected over the last forty years for an Australian side was Ian Botham. The tepid and feeble attempt by English captains to push the boundaries and show true leadership is pretty ordinary. At his height of prowess, we all thought Botham was an Aussie that was kidnapped at birth. Now, there was a leader. While there has been attempts to elevate Flintoff to "Bothamesque" heights, the reality is, Flintoff would struggle to be chosen in an Australian side, especially one from a few years back.
And while Ricky Ponting may get booed everytime he walks onto English cricket grounds, English cricket would give it's eye teeth for a competitor such as him as captain. Get a good captain, stick with him and everything else will follow.
Complain about this comment
bondifireman:
I wish that were true. I think Strauss could become a good captain but he's not there yet. The best captain we've had since Botham (Vaughan) did win us The Ashes but that was with a squad that had more quality and depth than we've had for some time, before or since. Strauss and Ponting combined couldn't make a consistently world-beating side out of the lot we've got at the moment and that's not down to the captaincy, it's down to the failure of the grass roots of the sport to bring through the right quality of player. That and the depressingly defeatist attitude of the media and the public in this country.
Complain about this comment
Utter clap trap.
Sorry but the Aussies are great sports fans when their guys are winning, we all know that. But when they struggle they do not turn on their athletes like we do here in the UK, they just turn off!
In Australia no-one berates Leyton Hewitt when he fails in big tournaments, here we practically call for Murray to be expelled from the land. No-one really bothered when their football team kept failing to qualify for the World Cup in the 1990's.
Only in rugby union do you regularly see any Australian turned on for losing and I honestly feel that this has more to do with the proximity of the All Blacks who will always be ready stick the boot in (metaphorically speaking of course)
Complain about this comment
#20 Bondifireman - what a load of tosh. Yep, we've had many changes in Captains, and that can't have helped stability in the team, but to suggest that Flintoff wouldn't have been picked for Australia, or that we'd actually want Ponting to captain England, well that's just plain rubbish!
I do like the rather arrogant suggestion that just because we had a good cricketer, who you could also identify with, then he's labelled as an Aussie kidnapped at birth!
Complain about this comment
I've never been one to gloat, or 'stick it to the Poms', however, after last weekend's performances, I was tempted. Don't get me wrong, I like the English, but I can't for the life of me stand the vile 'Barmy Army', and some of their moronic chants. Each Ashes Series (in England) I look forward most to the Lords Test, as they don't let this bunch of attention seekers in. Its just a shame it doesn't apply to every other venue in the land
Complain about this comment
Nick
think you're being selective.
Yes, they clapped Smith but what about the racial abuse dished out to the black South African players during their previous tour of Australia in 2006? And the mocking of the distressed Simon Jones at Brisbane in 2002 when he was clearly in agony after rupturing his knee?
Also, if this was a tour of Australia most people in England would be caught up in the Premier League than would be staying up to watch the cricket. So it cuts both ways.
And you ask is the Landy-Clarke event a true representation of Australian sport? Yes, in the 1950s. Is foul-mouthed sledging a true representation of Australian sport of the last 15 years?
bondifireman (No.20) Ian Botham was the least successful captain we've had in the past 40 years. Others who would have got in the Aussie side include Tony Greig, David Gower and possibly Michael Vaughan.
Australia has an awful lot going for it and they've been fantastic at cricket for the past 20 years. But a more balanced piece when making comparisons to England would be welcome.
Complain about this comment
As a few comments have centred on captaincy, a couple of quick statistics to illustrate my point on the subject. Since 1970, Australia has had 9 Test captains, while in the same period England has had 25 Test captains. No it is not a typo, TWENTY-FIVE! Ian Botham would have been a great captain (and a successful one) if he had been given more than 2 years to prove himself. People seem to forget that back in the early eighties when practically everybody was belting the Australians, a bloke called Allan Border was really doing the hard yards and was losing more than he was winning, but the powers that be stuck with him and by the late eighties/early nineties he turned it around. Border ended up being Australia's captain for nine years! Unfortunately, leadership seems to be something from a bygone era, thats why Australians admire their cricket captains so much. To be chosen as the captain of Australia is the greatest accolade a sportsman (in this country) can achieve. Men such as Border, Taylor, Waugh and Ponting are how Australians like to see themselves. Tough,uncompromising and ruthless on the playing field may sound harsh but leaders they are. Thats how Australians saw Botham and why he was admired so much by the Australian players and crowds. As for English players being able to be chosen for Australia, I guess we could argue about Flintoff (too inconsistent) till the cows come home, but I would not argue about Gower as an opener or No.3 for Australia. A masterful timer and beautiful stroke player of the ball. As for Strauss, the potential is there as a leader but he needs more time (and support) to determine if he can turn English cricket around. Yes people, stability and success will come by sticking with a good leader and forgo the "revolving door" policy when it comes to the captaincy of England.
Complain about this comment
bondifirman, I certainly take your point that number of Captains that England have been through has not helped them over the last few years. But I'd guess that the majority of those changes were forced (due to form, injury, etc) rather than 'management'. Recently, we stuck with Vaughan for a long period, even when his form was poor because his potential and skills as a Captain were well known.
As for Ponting, I think you must be the first Australian I've heard who wants to see himself as being like him! At best, most Aussies grudgingly admit his success as a Captain and don't seem to admire his character all that much. Others would argue that any half-decent cricketer could have had the same success with the talent available.
Complain about this comment
ettiene123, was it not South African emigres who were the problem in Perth? Abuse in Afrikans is not likely to come from Aussies.
I'd concur that Botham would have been the only captain of England of recent times that would have made an Australian team. Gower might well have given Australia in the early 80's was so depleted by rebel tours etc. But let's not forget his batting though beautiful and a joy to watch was not that successful. He averaged below 45, sign of a good English batsman but a subpar figure for Australian batsmen. For instance he's below Dean Jones, a similarly elegant batsman, but one who most think did not achieve what he was capable of.
Complain about this comment
David Gower is a nice guy and a wonderful commentator who averaged a respectable 44 in tests.
Complain about this comment
Nick,
You clearly were not watching the ABC on Sunday morning.
National sports magazine and discussion program Off-Siders to be specific.
The previous weeks when England won, and then Australia were required to bat out the final day to avoid a defeat at Edgebaston received the cursory mention about half way through the program. Obviously AFL took presidence because after all it is their number one spectator sport.
This week however with the win at Headingly it was the lead story, and the coverage ran for about 10 minutes. Granted they had something to crow about, but one (female) newspaper sports columnist actually declared that the series had been (not quoted verbatim here) boring and that this test had re-envigorated her interest. There was a very stark contrast between previous weeks and this week in both detail and zeal.
Now I can discount the zeal as I would have been pleased had the sports boot been on the other foot, but, it is the degree of coverage.
It can not be denied or avoided, Australian's do not like a losing story just as much as Australian's do not like losing. The media is so juvenile that they pander to the national psyche. If an Australian hasn't won something, or come damned close, only almost prevailing due to his 'battling' nature, then it is not worthy of reporting or of interest to the masses.
An example in kind is Cadel Evans at the Tour de France. Whilst he was in contention, he was a daily read in the press and frequently covered on the news. Drops down the order, and he disappears from view.
Then there is the media itself. At the World swimming championships the news was all about these 'illegal' and 'cheating' suits and that it was an administrative failure to have allowed Grant Hacketts 1500M World record to be beaten. The news all week was the suits. All up until a young Aussie girl won Gold in the butterfly wearing the said same suit.
When interviewed after her race, and praising her (worthwhile) effort, the final comment from the interviewer was "and we won't mention the suit". Effectively the media had laid the ground work for discrediting her effort all week and had driven itself up a blind alley with no where to go. Eventually an Aussie won wearing the suit (almost an inevitability due to their strong showing in swimming events), and they then had no where to go. No consistency could be maintained because they had to back track and just simply ignore their previous objections.
Being English and reasonably new to Australia, you just can't help notice this. It is difficult to understand why Aussie don't. Or, perhaps they do, they just don't care because after all the press is just giving them what they naturally desire anyway.
All in all, I'd pretty much ignore any sledging by the Aussie media, because (as I hope I have demonstrated) they and the nation are too fickle to remember it once the shot has been fired.
Complain about this comment
JustMyCorrectOpinion
ettiene123, was it not South African emigres who were the problem in Perth? Abuse in Afrikans is not likely to come from Aussies.
Not really mate although the culprits were never found. But it was enough to warrant a warning from Cricket Australia to their own fans. Yes, they used the word "k*ffir" but a lot of Aussies or Englishmen would know that word too. Unlikely a South African is going to go and cheer his team then abuse two of his own players.
Complain about this comment
Soapboxjoe, you got that right. Problem is the longer you're here, the more grateful you become for a bit of good sportsmanship from the media - I think that's what's affected Nick.
Complain about this comment
Soapboxjoe seems to be a whinging pom.
Complain about this comment
#31
etienne123
The people jeering the SA team in 2006 were jeering a mixed race team - apartheid era type abuse. THe black players were called 'k*ffir' and the white players 'k*ffir b**ties'. If these terms are known in Britain, they're not in Australia. That was part of the SA management complaint as security did not react in Perth (as they did not recognise the terms)
It happened again when the team reached Sydney and by this time a group of South Africans in the crowd were identified as the perpetrators
Also, wrt Simon Jones and his injury in Brisbane, people at the ground that day said he was jeered by English fans. Were you aware of this?
Complain about this comment
I just returned from England.
SoapboxJoe - pot. kettle. black.
2-1, not 5 nil, was the last reported Ashes by the Mail, Sun, Tele, Guardian and even the Ft sport column on the weekend.
Flintoff was king, Ponting was ridiculed. even at Lords where they showed the reply three times of his dropped catch to the roars of the crowd.
the british media is fun, cantankerous, weird, infectious, clever, dumb and all things in between. And biased. the most biased trollop comes forth from its ink that it is farcical for you to even contend that the Australian media have a case to answer for. In fact, i dare you to make this case with your chums back home. they'll laugh and laugh and laugh till their heads fall off.
So get over yourself and welcome to Australia - may your silly english attitude melt away in the glorious sunshine of our sky and bright lights of our far superior sportsmen.
Viva Los Australia and its media and its sporting teams,
Yours in ignorant bliss (but very full trophy cabinet)
Gazza
Complain about this comment
Gosh Mr Bryantobsessed! Are you really from the same Australia I live in?! The one that when New Zealand beat you in the Rugby League World Cup coverage was "whipped off' the air before the trophy presentation? Or when England beat you in the World (Union) Rugby cup the Sydney Morning Heralds front page editorial was so bitter as to shrivel every lemon in the nation? Or how about the empty stadiums for the one day internationals because Australia were losing???
Ubiased!? Doll I live here every day and read all editorials from both sides. How about the "Flag of Convenience" article after GB got more medals than Australia in the Olympics. Please you tragics care nothing for sport only the winning.
Because when said and done without the odd triumph over your colonial parent you are nothing but an 'A la Mode' to history. (At this point I put the entire ANZAC history aside as I am talking just about sport and that for sure stands absolute and without blemish).
But when it comes to sport, win or lose you are without grace or maturity. And your sports here wether AFL, NRL or otherwise are blighted with drug abuse, poor sportsmanship and worse of all "sexual abuse" beyond any other country or sport I can think of.
As an Australian you are so not in any position to critisize any other nation or sport.
Complain about this comment
Dear Bronto,
Firstly, thanks for your spelling errors, poor syntax, inappropriate grammer and cheesy & childish name. Much appreciated.
As you have misunderstood, allow me to repeat my point - the british press is biased so it is hardly interesting to view another country like Australia and make claims against their press. Maybe I needed to make it really simple for you and just say "all national press is biased towards their own sports teams". Gee what a revelation.
In 2006/2007 NFL season (NFL is a little ol' football competition in the USA), by the half way mark of regular season 35 players had been charged with a range of offences including shooting a police officer. Just a little tidbit of info to jog your memory about 'any other country or sport I can think of'.
Anything else you wish to discuss? No? Okay then, carry on.
God Bless the United States of Australia,
Gazza
Complain about this comment
John Howard presenting the winners medals to the English Rugby team in 2003.
Sums up Australia's attitude to 'sportsmanship'. It only exists while they are winning.
Complain about this comment
Shallow minds use sledging in an attempt to upset opposition. Wouldn't mind betting it carried over from the football scene. I was bought up to respect the opposition, always have. Never boo. I'm 49 yrs old. Poor behaviour unfortunately now a world phenomenon. I once told a bunch of rowdy Serb supporters at a tennis match to put a sock in it. It worked, they shut up ! Viva manners & respect.
Complain about this comment
Dear SoapboxJoe,
look at the scoreboard.
love
AussieJoeBugner
Complain about this comment
BryantObsessed
I love it when people pull others up for spelling ... I believe the word you were looking for was Grammar.
Complain about this comment
AussieJoeBugner - Have to love it. Heard that used many times over here in Australia and always makes me smile. I also like how Barry Sheene was renamed Bazza and adopted as one of your own.
Complain about this comment
sbj,
You'll find that bazza adopted us as his own. We gladly embraced him. There was a vote. Bazza and his missus Stepho are bloody bonza.
Grammar - do you mean i should give it a capital G with every use? once again a classic case of pot. kettle. black.
A word that requires a capital G with every use is German. As in your royal family. A lovely case of adoption if ever there was one.
Barry Sheene MBE = Bazza
Elizabeth Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg = Lizzy Windsor.
We've got Bazza and we revere him. You've got the Hun Queen and the Cranky Greek and you love them. All the same really.
I still don't understand why you think there is a moral hierarchy in our two countries approach to sporting patriotism?
Love,
Strauss (c), Trott and KP.
Complain about this comment
Let's see...Sunglasses, check. Sunscreen, check. Hat, check. MP3, check. Drink, check. Yup, I'm ready to go and play some cricket.
Complain about this comment
View these comments in RSS