0
Squaring the sledger
A book, The Art of Sledging, assembled by J. Harold, hit the shelves in October. Here a few gems:
Bowler Charles Kortright to the famously argumentative W.G. Grace, after Kortright had bowled him, knocking two stumps clean out of the ground: "Surely you're not going, doctor. There's still one stump standing."
Viv Richards to racist taunts from an English crowd: "I may be black, but I know who my parents are."
Ian Healy to Mike Atherton: "You're a f---ing cheat." Atherton's retort: "When in Rome, dear boy."
Jamie Siddons to Mark Waugh, who was taking an eternity to take guard in a Shield match: "For Christ's sake, it's not a f---ing Test match", to which Waugh replied: "Of course it isn't - you're here."
A time to remember
You might well have seen a brief but severe storm a couple of months ago after Anthony Mundine scheduled a press conference to begin at 11am on November 11 - as in the most sacred hour of Remembrance Day on this 90th anniversary of the formal end of World War I. The boxer admitted in that press conference he knew nothing about any of that. Some of the milder commentary accused him of gross insensitivity and breathtaking ignorance. The stronger commentary was completely feral. The truth of it? This country is a rich mosaic of different ethnicities and cultures. Each of those cultures and ethnicities places different emphases on different days of respect and things to honour and remember. Yes, it is regrettable that Mundine didn't know more about the events of 90 years ago. Far more regrettable, however, is how little the rest of most of us whitefellas know about Aboriginal culture and history: from the Dreamtime through to the agonies of colonisation, to the Myall Creek and Coniston massacres, to how when proud Aboriginal soldiers returned from World War II they were not allowed into RSL Clubs, to the Stolen Generations all the way to Mabo and Reconciliation. Mundine knows all of these things backwards. Why don't the rest of us?
IN 2008 WE SAID GOODBYE TO …
Edmund Hillary. 1919-2008. A mountain of a man. After his death it was announced that England v New Zealand rugby Test matches will be played for the Hillary Shield.
Bill Brown. 1912-2008. Another one of the Invincibles left us.
Paul Newman. 1925-2008. Motor racing suddenly became cooler when the great actor took it up.
Norm O'Neill. 1937-2008. In his 42 Tests, the grand old gentleman of cricket scored 2779 runs at 45.55.
Jack Gibson. 1929-2008. Guided five grand final-winning teams - two with Easts and three with Parramatta. He will be remembered as a great coach, a good man and one of rugby league's greatest characters.
Jack Rayner. 1921-2008. The South Sydney great passed away aged 87. A feared Australian forward who led the Rabbitohs to five premierships in six years from 1950 to 1955.
Roger Vanderfield. 1928-2008. Former chairman of the International Rugby Board, president of the Australian Rugby Union, and international referee who, among other things, was instrumental in organising the first World Cup in 1987. A very good man with a great passion for the game.
Harry Bath. 1924-2008. Former St George and Australian coach passed away aged 83. Guided "Bath's Babes" to two titles.
John Carew. 1927-2008. Master swimming coach passed away aged 81.
Jim Stenmark. 1924-2008. One of the last men left standing from the 1947-48 Wallabies side that toured Great Britain, and a good man he was. One of his other claims to fame, extraordinarily, is that he once beat Walter Lindrum in billiards.
Sydney Kings. From woe to go one of the most unfortunate stories of Australian sport.
Roy Prosser. 1942-2008. Played 220 games for Norths, 24 for NSW and 25 Tests for the Wallabies. One of the original hard men.
Bob Cunis. 1941-2008. Played 20 cricket Tests for New Zealand.
Dick "Tosser" Turner. 1931-2008. Former manager was the soul of rugby league's Queensland Maroons.
WHAT THEY SAID - CRICKET SPECIAL
Allan Border on Ricky Ponting's tactics on the fourth afternoon of the infamous fourth Test against India: "I don't know what to make of all this. They go into the tea break on a high and come out worrying about over rates. I am glad Ricky can't read my mind right now because he is not going to like it."
Kerry O'Keeffe's take on what happened in India: "Has there ever been a greater over-reaction to a couple of bowling changes? On sandy surfaces Ricky Ponting may not be Rommel, but he is definitely not Thomas Blamey either." A tad unfair on Blamey, but still.
Harbhajan Singh on why he thinks India were better prepared for the Tests against Australia: "I think they were busy writing their books, while we were busy preparing for the series. You can see what difference it has made."
Ian Healy on what happened in India: "I almost cried when I watched Cameron White bowl."
Ian Chappell on Shane Warne: "I think it was Eric Idle, the comic from Monty Python, who said of the male of the species, 'Man has two major organs, brain and penis, but only blood enough to run one at a time'. That probably best summed up Warney."
Shane Warne on John Buchanan: "I disagree with John Buchanan all the time. I don't think he has made one good point in a long time, actually. Everything that I have read that he says, he is living in pixie land. It just shows what us players had to put up with John Buchanan. We had to listen to his verbal diarrhoea all the time. He is just a goose and has no idea and lacks commonsense."
The late, great Bill Brown on getting a pacemaker, with the approval of his wife of 67 years: "It makes my heart beat faster when I get into bed with Barbara. Not that anything great occurs, mind you, but my heart does beat faster!"
English cricketer Chris Adams, who's tussled with Shane Warne in the past, gives Ryan Harris a backhanded compliment: "He's a smashing lad - very un-Australian."
Kevin Pietersen on sex and cricket: "Sex doesn't affect the way you play … Don't tell me anyone's going to stop a footballer shagging before a game. It's [sex before a game] not one of the things that really plays on your mind when you are out there facing somebody at 95 miles an hour."
Ian Chappell on cricket being in the Olympics: "Twenty20 is the way to globalise the game, but that cause won't be helped if, as in all likelihood, only the eight major cricket nations qualify to play at the Olympics. Marching in an Olympic Games opening ceremony might give individual cricketers goosebumps but as part of the evolution of the game it wouldn't rate as a pimple on the backside."
Matthew Hayden trying to talk up Matthew Hayden: "I think, more than anything, I am such a weapon here because, when I started attacking, they [India] just got so defensive."
Geoff Boycott on the "overkill" of Twenty20: "I like steak and kidney pie but I wouldn't want it every day of the week. If your wife made you it on Monday, great. Again the next day, fine. But you'd be fit to throw it at her by the end of the week."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/gre...02.html?page=2
Reply With Quote
