The Sunday Times

June 26, 2005

Sports fans getting downhearted down under

Paul Ham, Sydney

FOR decades their athletes have been among the giants of world sport, but in recent days Australians have been forced to accept that a golden era may be at an end. And they are not proving to be exemplary losers.

Defeats of the national cricket team, not only by England but by the international whipping boys of Bangladesh, have prompted a mood of national hand-wringing.

The gloom has been compounded by a lament from Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 Wimbledon champion, about the parlous state of Australian tennis and by a less-than-buoyant performance from the country’s once-invincible swimmers.

The debacles on the cricket pitch and the prospect of losing the Ashes for the first time since 1987 have struck home hardest, however. The alleged philandering of Shane Warne, the bowler, and an apparent late-night drinking binge by the all-rounder Andrew Symonds have added to the shame.

Pat Sheil, a Sydney newspaper columnist, summed up the despair after Australia’s trouncing last weekend by Bangladesh. “If it wasn’t for Michael Clarke (Australia’s star young batsman), I’d take a bottle of Scotch and a revolver and go into the library and do the right thing,” he said.

A stockbroker in the Lord Nelson pub in Sydney on Friday night was equally blunt: “Our cricketers are superannuated, self-satisfied old men who are overpaid, oversexed and frankly can stay over there.”

Cricket Australia played down the significance of the defeats, declaring: “One week does not a summer make.”

But few are convinced. The perception is growing that sports traditionally dominated by Australia are suffering from a dearth of talent. The result could be a national crisis of confidence.

During the 1970s, Australia usually fielded 10-20 starters in the men’s singles at Wimbledon. This year it could rustle up only four. “It’s really not good enough for our country,” Hewitt said last week.

There is barely any more cause for celebration in swimming. While the women are doing well, the male squad is struggling to generate talent.

A symbol of the lassitude is the decision by Ian “Thorpedo” Thorpe — described as the greatest swimmer on earth — to take a year off and plunge into the celebrity lifestyle.

Some believe the roots of the problem may lie in poor levels of fitness among increasingly obese children and the downgrading of sport in schools.

The Australian Institute of Sport has set up an after-school activity programme but results could take years. Meanwhile Australia is finding itself in the unaccustomed role of underdog.

“Australia does not have a well-developed sense of being a glorious loser,” said a spokesman for Tennis Australia. The Ashes may be the perfect opportunity for some practice.

Make of this as you will.....

Gee it is hard to download this as toilet paper......

The Sunday Times

June 26, 2005

Sports fans getting downhearted down under

Paul Ham, Sydney

FOR decades their athletes have been among the giants of world sport, but in recent days Australians have been forced to accept that a golden era may be at an end. And they are not proving to be exemplary losers.

Defeats of the national cricket team, not only by England but by the international whipping boys of Bangladesh, have prompted a mood of national hand-wringing.

The gloom has been compounded by a lament from Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 Wimbledon champion, about the parlous state of Australian tennis and by a less-than-buoyant performance from the country’s once-invincible swimmers.

The debacles on the cricket pitch and the prospect of losing the Ashes for the first time since 1987 have struck home hardest, however. The alleged philandering of Shane Warne, the bowler, and an apparent late-night drinking binge by the all-rounder Andrew Symonds have added to the shame.

Pat Sheil, a Sydney newspaper columnist, summed up the despair after Australia’s trouncing last weekend by Bangladesh. “If it wasn’t for Michael Clarke (Australia’s star young batsman), I’d take a bottle of Scotch and a revolver and go into the library and do the right thing,” he said.

A stockbroker in the Lord Nelson pub in Sydney on Friday night was equally blunt: “Our cricketers are superannuated, self-satisfied old men who are overpaid, oversexed and frankly can stay over there.”

Cricket Australia played down the significance of the defeats, declaring: “One week does not a summer make.”

But few are convinced. The perception is growing that sports traditionally dominated by Australia are suffering from a dearth of talent. The result could be a national crisis of confidence.

During the 1970s, Australia usually fielded 10-20 starters in the men’s singles at Wimbledon. This year it could rustle up only four. “It’s really not good enough for our country,” Hewitt said last week.

There is barely any more cause for celebration in swimming. While the women are doing well, the male squad is struggling to generate talent.

A symbol of the lassitude is the decision by Ian “Thorpedo” Thorpe — described as the greatest swimmer on earth — to take a year off and plunge into the celebrity lifestyle.

Some believe the roots of the problem may lie in poor levels of fitness among increasingly obese children and the downgrading of sport in schools.

The Australian Institute of Sport has set up an after-school activity programme but results could take years. Meanwhile Australia is finding itself in the unaccustomed role of underdog.

“Australia does not have a well-developed sense of being a glorious loser,” said a spokesman for Tennis Australia. The Ashes may be the perfect opportunity for some practice.

 

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The inane ramblings of a journo,with its typical attempt at sensationalism in the hope some body may read it.

we all know sport like most things is cyclical and one day come to an end,I think they refer to it as the changing of the guard and nobody would be more aware it than the Brits. decades in the wilderness in cricket,tennis ,etc low in the heap in golf.and other sports they were once the benchmark of. Harken back to the unbeatable West Indies cricketers and look at them now.

Any one who seriously thinks that typical Ozzies give two hoots about Warnies sex life or Symo,s night on the beer is sadly misinformed, or if Thorpey wants to take a year off swimming after dedicating all his teen years to the sport, all these individuals owe nothing to us and are entitled to their private lives.

As for tennis ,take a look at the number of Aussies in the world golfing ranks and you will see where sports allegiances are heading.

But the proof is in doing so just wait for the results of the One Day series, the Ashes tests and the next Commonwealth and Olympic games then we will see if Aussie sport is on the downhill slide.

Youre kidding yourself posting this roscoe..........

“Australia does not have a well-developed sense of being a glorious loser,”

Looking at the posts above... Maybe this part is true..?

totster

So are you toaster.... cant you see now we are picking up our game in the cricket youve got nothing else bad to write about Australia and Australians........

Make of this what you will....

Er...

Nothing Nada Niente, Zip.

It's only australian sports.

"FOR decades their athletes have been among the giants of world sport,"

ROTFLMAO

The really strange thing is the typical Aussie is so proud he won't even admit to being a terrible loser. All he's got to do I stop and think about it for a couple of seconds, swallow his enormous pride ( and beleive me an Aussie can swallow anything) and maybe he will realise that being so ungallant when he arrives at the winning post in anything other than first place, is the reason they are one of the greatest sporting nations on Earth. If the English were bastaads towards their fellow competitors, if we hated our opponents with a war like ferocity, then maybe we too would do better. After all, we both come from the same bloodstock.

The really strange thing is the typical Aussie is so proud he won't even admit to being a terrible loser. All he's got to do I stop and think about it for a couple of seconds, swallow his enormous pride ( and beleive me an Aussie can swallow anything) and maybe he will realise that being so ungallant when he arrives at the winning post in anything other than first place, is the reason they are one of the greatest sporting nations on Earth. If the English were bastaads towards their fellow competitors, if we hated our opponents with a war like ferocity, then maybe we too would do better. After all, we both come from the same bloodstock.

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you've got an english ore a aussie pup???

The really strange thing is the typical Aussie is so proud he won't even admit to being a terrible loser. All he's got to do I stop and think about it for a couple of seconds, swallow his enormous pride ( and beleive me an Aussie can swallow anything) and maybe he will realise that being so ungallant when he arrives at the winning post in anything other than first place, is the reason they are one of the greatest sporting nations on Earth. If the English were bastaads towards their fellow competitors, if we hated our opponents with a war like ferocity, then maybe we too would do better. After all, we both come from the same bloodstock.

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You love it lamp dont you.......

Mate, writing a post like this one is just fishing, we all know this....

Imitation is the greatest form of flattery

Aping all things Australian is the current craze in international cricket, but England, for obvious cultural reasons, are the only team who can create a perfect imitation. And so far, they have got the act down to a tee. First came Nasser Hussain's dictatorial era, twinned with the Academy, which moulded a clutch of battle-hardened veterans. Then, personified by Flintoff, came the ethos of "mateship" that has been so pivotal to Australia's successes since the days of Doug Walters. Now, at last, under Michael Vaughan's uncompromising leadership, comes the sadistic streak.

Naturally, it comes at a cost. Just as Allan Border was forced to sever his chummy ties with the likes of Gower and Botham in 1989, so Vaughan came in for some choice Afrikaans criticism this winter, as South Africa's players spotted the chilly focus descending. "In 2003, he was genuinely likeable and there was respect on both sides," one was reported as saying in The Observer. "Now he's just a genuine ..." Clive Lloyd, the ICC match referee who fined Vaughan for his comments on the umpiring at Johannesburg, added to that image by branding him "dismissive and rude". But if his new attitude brings home the Ashes this summer, as it did for Border in '89, Vaughan will be entitled to retort: "so ****ing what?"

Imitation is the greatest form of flattery

Aping all things Australian is the current craze in international cricket, but England, for obvious cultural reasons, are the only team who can create a perfect imitation. And so far, they have got the act down to a tee. First came Nasser Hussain's dictatorial era, twinned with the Academy, which moulded a clutch of battle-hardened veterans. Then, personified by Flintoff, came the ethos of "mateship" that has been so pivotal to Australia's successes since the days of Doug Walters. Now, at last, under Michael Vaughan's uncompromising leadership, comes the sadistic streak.

Naturally, it comes at a cost. Just as Allan Border was forced to sever his chummy ties with the likes of Gower and Botham in 1989, so Vaughan came in for some choice Afrikaans criticism this winter, as South Africa's players spotted the chilly focus descending. "In 2003, he was genuinely likeable and there was respect on both sides," one was reported as saying in The Observer. "Now he's just a genuine ..." Clive Lloyd, the ICC match referee who fined Vaughan for his comments on the umpiring at Johannesburg, added to that image by branding him "dismissive and rude". But if his new attitude brings home the Ashes this summer, as it did for Border in '89, Vaughan will be entitled to retort: "so ****ing what?"

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Exactly

The inane ramblings of a journo,with its typical attempt at sensationalism in the hope some body may read it.

we all know sport like most things is cyclical and one day come to an end,I think they refer to it as the changing of the guard and nobody would be more aware it than the Brits. decades in the wilderness in cricket,tennis ,etc low in the heap in golf.and other sports they were once the benchmark of. Harken back to the unbeatable West Indies cricketers and look at them now.

Any one who seriously thinks that typical Ozzies give two hoots about Warnies sex life or Symo,s night on the beer is sadly misinformed, or if Thorpey wants to take a year off swimming after dedicating all his teen years to the sport, all these individuals owe nothing to us and are entitled to their private lives.

As for tennis ,take a look at the number of Aussies in the world golfing ranks and you will see where sports allegiances are heading.

But the proof is in doing so just wait for the results of the One Day series, the Ashes tests and the next Commonwealth and Olympic games then we will see if Aussie sport is on the downhill slide.

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Good post!

I assume it is the Perth Sunday Times:- Wouldn't use that 'rag' to light the barby fire

That's it . Finished. I'm going to wait for the Ashes series instead of telling everybody how well we played six weeks before it begins. I just hope for a great game of cricket.

One thing for sure is if the Ozzies win, it will be a deserved victory earned through playing fantastic cricket, and down to brilliant teamsmanship.

That is what I will say.

If we win, it will be down to terrible weather in England,the balls out of shape,too many foreign players,not enough foreign players,Symonds was out on the p1ss,Warnie was not out on the p1ss,umpires were biased,match referee was biased,supporters too loud,sightscreens were the wrong colour,ball was the wrong colour,Captain was the wrong colour,dog ran on the pitch,streaker ran on the pitch,fielder ran on the pitchetc,etc.

That's what the Aussies will say.

One thing for sure is if the Ozzies win, it will be a deserved victory earned through playing fantastic cricket, and down to brilliant teamsmanship.

If we win, it will be down to terrible weather in England,the balls out of shape,too many foreign players,not enough foreign players,Symonds was out on the p1ss,Warnie was not out on the p1ss,umpires were biased,match referee was biased,supporters too loud,sightscreens were the wrong colour,ball was the wrong colour,Captain was the wrong colour,dog ran on the pitch,streaker ran on the pitch,fielder ran on the pitchetc,etc.

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Now your talking sense lamp!.............

Lets hope for a good game from all teams.......

Should be good and i will assume my position as an armachair umpire!

The inane ramblings of a journo,with its typical attempt at sensationalism in the hope some body may read it.

we all know sport like most things is cyclical and one day come to an end,I think they refer to it as the changing of the guard and nobody would be more aware it than the Brits. decades in the wilderness in cricket,tennis ,etc low in the heap in golf.and other sports they were once the benchmark of. Harken back to the unbeatable West Indies cricketers and look at them now.

Any one who seriously thinks that typical Ozzies give two hoots about Warnies sex life or Symo,s night on the beer is sadly misinformed, or if Thorpey wants to take a year off swimming after dedicating all his teen years to the sport, all these individuals owe nothing to us and are entitled to their private lives.

As for tennis ,take a look at the number of Aussies in the world golfing ranks and you will see where sports allegiances are heading.

But the proof is in doing so just wait for the results of the One Day series, the Ashes tests and the next Commonwealth and Olympic games then we will see if Aussie sport is on the downhill slide.

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Good post!

I assume it is the Perth Sunday Times:- Wouldn't use that 'rag' to light the barby fire

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Nope, its from the dark recesses of my own small mind,the original post is from the UK editor of Cricinfo.

The Sunday Times

A stockbroker in the Lord Nelson pub in Sydney on Friday night was equally blunt: “Our cricketers are superannuated, self-satisfied old men who are overpaid, oversexed and frankly can stay over there.”

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and what has a "name not mentioned" stockbroker got to do with this, are these the creditable witnesses to this piece of bull#hit......and Lampards ravings about it ...

"Hams" could have asked the cleaner of the MCG toilets on a saturday morning after a friday nights AFL game at which the cleaner just lost his weeks wage, coz his team lost and wasnt in a happy mood and also lost his only pet monkey in a freak surfing accident that same week.....the cleaner may have added extra truth (had he only been asked) to this fine piece of Pro Fart (slash) Lampard style post....

The Sunday Times

June 26, 2005

Sports fans getting downhearted down under

Paul Ham, Sydney

The debacles on the cricket pitch and the prospect of losing the Ashes for the first time since 1987 have struck home hardest

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Joke....must be

“Australia does not have a well-developed sense of being a glorious loser,”

Looking at the posts above... Maybe this part is true..?

totster

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Are u Lampard's Love child......