I hear that in a land of old Disaster’s struck the green and gold A two-Test flogging, so I’m told Don’t look at me to facts unfold I will not mention the cricket. You cannot make me, I’ll resist No matter how much you persist This issue,…
A tale of two minnows
These are two stories with very different endings. Of two Davids taking on their Goliaths. One was a lamb to the slaughter. But one prevailed. Let’s start with the lamb. During the 2003 Rugby World Cup, I had the pleasure of watching the All Blacks get beaten twice in one afternoon. First I took in…
Wanderers have fairytale ending in sight
It’d be hard to find a more passionate bunch of sports fans than those that don the black and red in support of the Western Sydney Wanderers. This is them doing a jig called the Poznan. And here they are doing their chant which, for the uninitiated, goes: “Who do we sing for? We sing…
The death throes of West Indies cricket?
Our world has had to contend with some pretty big upheavals in its 4.5 billion year history — the Ice Age, the obliteration of dinosaurs, the fall of the Roman Empire. Now we face the greatest cataclysm of all. No, I’m not talking about global warming. This is much more serious. I’m referring to the…
Gough Whitlam: an unlikely sports hero
Australia’s 21st Prime Minister was not a noted sports lover. There is no footage of Gough Whitlam getting a facial rearrangement from an errant cricket ball, bowling like a numpty or making his way around the country in lycra and budgie smugglers. In his household, wife Margaret was the bigger sports nut, the one-time national…
Jarryd Hayne’s Plan B
At the beginning of each year, Aussie starlings flock to Los Angeles in search of the juicy but random morsels to be found in the feeding ground that is the US TV pilot season. It’s a notoriously difficult passage. Many will vanish without trace, gobbled up by fat industry predators. Others will land in Hollywood’s…
How about a Nobel Prize for Sport?
In recent days there have been Nobel Prizes handed out for physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. But not sport. Never sport. In the 113 years since they started bestowing these lofty awards on ‘those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind’, not once have they named a Nobel…
When superheroes retire
In recent days, we’ve been shown a variety of ways to negotiate the twilight of a stellar sports career. I’m going to focus on three: the Fred Astaire for enduring grace and dignity, the Brian Meeker for reasons that shall become obvious and the Honey Boo Boo, for sheer search-and-destroy precociousness. The Fred Astaire: This…
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