Where have all the good sportsmen gone?

November 30, 2016

Do you know what I hate? And I mean loathe with a nuclear capacity? There are a few things actually; flat tonic water, anything that requires patience, bean sprouts, people who push in front of you when you’re in a queue and professional cricket players who complain about how hard their life was.

I haven’t read anything that ridiculous since I saw an article about men getting Botox in their scrotums to make their nether regions look younger. Yeah – that’s a thing now apparently.

But back to the cricket players. It’s important to out myself as a cricket tragic – I’m NOT in the same category as our former PM John Howard but I do love it. Especially test cricket.

So when I read some recent articles about these blokes who were paid ridiculous sums of money to travel around the world doing what they dreamed of as young boys and representing their country it’s hard for me – and plenty of others I imagine – not to throw up.

I was speaking to a very well respected sports journo recently about this very subject. Have a guess what the wage for a decent cricketer is for one season domestic cricket. About $200,000. Domestic – not international – God knows what they earn when you add their endorsements and good luck to the vast majority of them who appreciate how truly fortunate they are.

img_4583But as we’ve seen recently, that’s not all of them. Would we even know what Tools they were if they didn’t have books to sell?

Imagine what our female athletes could do with that kind of money? Most of the players in the new AFL comp for women will earn $5,000 for an entire season.

And as for all this crap about who said what to who whilst being Masters of the Universe in the change rooms, and that retiring from professional cricket was really hard and I didn’t like my office job (‘cause everyone else LOVES their office job) it dawned on me the Australian cricket team appears, for a time, to have been inhabited by Year Nine girls.

I went to an all-girls Catholic school, so I know all about top tier bitchiness.

Can these blokes not hear themselves? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s not hard to have confrontation with colleagues or lose your role/job and have to read just but guess what fellas? This happens to thousands of people every day that didn’t get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to do what they love.

Yes, everyone’s issues are relative to them, but it’s not a tragedy.

It’s not tragic the way a paediatric doctor friend of mine had to tell the parents of their five year old only child had inoperable cancer and has less than six months to live. That’s a bloody hard day at the office.

These blokes need to learn some resilience. Stat.

Role models seem pretty thin on the ground – don’t get me started on rugby league – but you know who doesn’t carry on like a total knob who played cricket? Imran Khan. The Lion of Lahore. No, he’s too busy leading the political party he set up advocating state responsibility for education, health and the promotion of freedom of thought dismantling religious discrimination in Pakistan.

That’s in between the $25 million he raised for the cancer hospital he set up in memory of his mum.

The Aussie sportsman my nephews think walks on water is Wallabies flanker (and my imaginary boyfriend) David Pocock. A few months ago he spoke at a friends’ sons’ school in Sydney. What a great bloke!

He talked to them about sexism, homophobia, domestic violence, the way we treat the environment and how we all play a part in whether or not those things improve or not.

You know how in relationships you’re allowed to have a free pass to cheat with someone famous/special? My friend Kate and her husband BOTH have David Pocock. I don’t blame them.

Not only does he look like Thor, Poey is using his power for good instead of evil!

He and his partner Emma are also advocates of gay marriage and won’t get married until it’s made legal and he started the charity Eightytwenty Vision with a mate.

I will never forget watching that Super Rugby game ACT November 26, 2016  vs NSW in March last year where Pocock called out homophobic slurs during a game saying it just wasn’t on. It was a quantum leap in the acceptable standard of the game.

Someone give that man a cricket bat! Watch and learn young boys everywhere.

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