Should Australia ever host the cricket world cup?

Well done to the Aussie cricketers, they’ve won the world cup at home! An ACB strategy has come to fruition – we should all be glad.

But the question is, was the world cup a great spectacle, like it usually is? Certainly the new rules made the batting spectacular with heaps of runs and sixes being scored and then there were the tense moments and games such as the noble Black caps win over the crass (let’s have another drink) Aussies and the 20 minutes of torcher dished out by the Pakistani fast bowlers at Watson (if only they could field and catch the sitters!). The magical four centuries in a row by Sanga and the brilliant scores by AB, Gale and Guptil. It certainly had it’s fair share of cricketing excellence on the field.

But apart from the TV watchers, did anyone realise that the world cup was going on in Australia. There’s never been such a boring place to have a world cup than Australia. If not for the Sri Lankans and to some extent the Indians, it would have been such a flop.

Why, you ask

1. The Aussies insulted their guests both on and off the field
2. No one, but the Aussies, wanna play on the worst wickets in the world (thanks heavens there were some games in NZ!!)
3. The locals are crass, racist and ignorant
4. The hosting cities just didn’t ummmm. . . host!!

My judgement is based on Sydney, as I didn’t travel to any of the other games. So lets consider each point.

The Aussies insulted their guests both on and off the field.

As usual there was a fair share of sledging during the tournament by pretty much all teams, but only in games that involved Australia. It’s a cultural thing. Australians feel that sledging is mental toughness. Not unusual in the world of the Neanderthal. The rest of the world thinks otherwise.

The civilised behaviour of the Black Caps made the yobbo Aussie cricketers “uncomfortable” and “they deserved it“ apparently! So they decided to take it out in the only way they know how. That, in contrast to the impeccable behaviour of the black caps.

Then we had the media getting involved in insulting the most ardent of supporters. Comments about 7-11 store etc. I didn’t hear the joke – if you wake up in an Aussie hospital and you are surrounded by whities, get the hell out of there – it’s not a real hospital! The thing about those Indians at 7-11 stores is that 3-5 years later they are surgeons and engineers (doing the stuff that one really needs a skill to perform, where one can’t be put down as not having “soft” skills).

Darn good thing the Kiwis were co-hosts – at least the overseas guests had some hospitality.

No-one, but the Aussies, wanna play on the worst wickets in the world.

Without a doubt the wealth of Australia shows in the grand facilities available for sport. In some case Aussies feel the necessity for things “bigger and better” – it compensates for a deep rooted inferiority complex they have. But it is the lucky country. We get foreign companies to come and dig the earth and make money and leave some to us. That way we become rich – not dissimilar to the wealth of the Middle East, really. Except the wealth there goes far beyond money, to a rich culture and heritage.

The ACB’s strategy of bouncy pitches has served them well. Apart from a mishap (a Blue on Blue attack - to use a war time “caption” - aren’t we just great at using phrases such as Green on Blue to paint ourselves as superior to others?) that occurred at the beginning of the season, it all went well and the cup was won. One could say the mishap was mere “collateral damage” – the phrase we like to use when we blow up innocent women and kids to smithereens as we march on, un-phased, toward our ultimate goal of greed and controlling of wealth – securing our future, one might call it (and many do!!).

Cleverly, the drop in pitches in Sydney and in particular Melbourne (where the final was) were made more bouncy. Clearly, the Aussie pitches are outliers. Apart from perhaps the South Africans, the rest of the world really would have difficulty playing on them. Some would argue that there is a home advantage where ever the game is played. The reality is different. Most pitches around the world are converging. And whilst there will always be differences, teams have a much better chance of acclimatising elsewhere.

The locals are crass, racist and ignorant.

The Aussies love to look down upon the yanks as being insular, but there is no more an insular nation than Australia when it comes to most things and in particular cricket.

Most Aussies are totally ignorant on cricket, where their knowledge, at best, might extend to the most recent ashes series in Australia. This state of blissful ignorance together with an over inflated view of their own knowledge and their national sides capabilities often results in a rude shock when other teams of “unknowns” smack them in test series (such as the recent series against Pakistan). But unknown only to the Aussie.

Whilst they may be ignorant, there is a win-at-all-cost mentality and an archaic tribal sense to the support base. I attended a couple of games and on one occasion had an Aussie family with a couple of 11 or 12 year olds in front of us. Each time a boundary was scored by the Aussies, they would turn around and give the group behind us a “fist-up” – almost as if they had personally dealt a killer blow! And when they forgot to, there parents would instigate it – “give it to ‘em, mate!!”. Where the group behind, in particular the kids, would look at them quite alarmed. When it was the oppositions turn to smack the Aussies, the group behind would simply dance and cheer their team on! Wasn’t that a clash of cultures (well, I use the term loosely – fist-ups may be considered more un-cultured than cultured, by some!!).

It was a good thing that not many Aussies attended the games. Apart from the few Aussie games, the locals were simply not interested – a good thing for the supporters of other teams.

The host cities just didn’t host.

The cities were completely void of any World cup fever or atmosphere. Sydney just did there usual dreary grind. It was a stark contrast to the Olympics, where the city and the locals really did host the games.

I made the mistake of driving to the first game I attended. The SCG car park was full by the time I got there and it took me almost an hour to travel a short distance on ANZAC parade and get to the Fox studio car park. There was hardly a copper in sight. Not surprisingly I missed the first 45 minutes of the game! Getting out was an even bigger disaster – It was over an hour before we even moved a meter on the 4th floor of the car park. The only concession was that when we finally did get moving the car park attendants had been shelled with so much verbal abuse that they had left the gates open and disappeared! So we had free parking!

That experience was bad, but nothing compared to what occurred when we decided to take public transport. The websites had minimal information on how to use the public transport, although it was free if one had tickets to the game. It was on a week day, so we didn’t get to central station until about 4:30pm. There was absolutely no signage on where or how we were to get the free buses nor directions on how to get out of the station with the tickets for the game. In fact, one could say that if one walked into central, apart from the many people in supporter clothing, one would have been none the wiser that a world cup quarter final was on in the city and this was a key hub in the transport arrangements!

Finally a station attendant informed us that the special bus service had been discontinued and we had to use the standard bus services – he rattled off a series of bus route numbers – not one sign to be seen. No sign suggesting the best place to catch them.

Being familiar with the area (heaven help the foreign supporters), we were able to get to the bus stand. When a bus turned up, I asked if we could travel to the SCG on the bus and was rather rudely advised that it went to Moore Park. Fortunately, I did know where that was and got on. Clearly the bus driver was in no mood to be helpful.

Then someone else, who was clearly a foreigner asked the same question. The drivers response was “did you look at the other passengers, what do you think?”!! That’s crass Aussie hospitality at it’s best!

In general, most of the games lacked any atmosphere. The party was brought to the games by the Sri lankan and Indian supporters.The only Aussie contribution being the odd Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oy, Oy, Oy chant! Do Aussies really know how to enjoy themselves. Apart from drinking themselves silly and punching each other out and being rude or racist to others, there’s nothing much in the form of fun stuff!

Epilogue

Clearly World Cup 2015 won’t be remembered for the great atmosphere nor the hospitality of the hosts. There was some great cricket and some would remember it for the Aussies winning.

The decision for the Man of the tournament was debatable – could anything beat the spectacular run scoring of Sanga?!

BTW what happened to Warner. All that big mouthing before the tournament – did he play?!! Didn’t notice much being said about him!

Unfortunately Aussie sledging is proportionate to their ranking and climaxes when they are dominant (typical symptoms of bully-boys, really), so we are going to experience a few months of absolute crudeness until they play a respectable team on decent wickets.

So, that’s another world cup done and dusted! Here’s until the next one comes 4 years on! Hopefully, the ICC will think twice about ever bringing it back to Australia! Unfortunately money controls everything!

Response to: Bomb Islamic State: is that our only strategy?

Read article here

Aly is smart to avoid offending the delicate sensibilities of the Aussie public - a strategy that ensures he remains in the mainstream public debate. But it does prevent him from addressing the real emotions and root causes that drive brilliant young men and women to leave the materialistic comforts enjoyed in the so called "developed" world and seek liberation in what must be the most hostile part of the world. It may be brain washing, but not of the type that occurs in dark, dingy smoke filled backrooms, as presented by our politicians. It is a childhood and adolescence of bullying and discrimination on every front and a complete denial of it's existence that drives this and is somewhat conveniently avoided by Aly.

Hilter may have had only one and Geobbels none, but the Gung-ho-Saxon-white-supremacy-Crusader mob's Balls-up (solves the mystery of the missing testicles) in the Middle East, based on a fictitious book from the dark ages has resulted in this mess. The unprecedented crumbling and succumbing of the PoMS in WWII may have liberated 5 billion people, but unfortunately the people of the ME are still attempting to banish the curse of 2-4 centuries of suppression, oppression, exploitation, vandalism and subjugation.

But, only we (Yes, us, brave Aussies) have the solution - 3,500 soldiers in an unilateral war and we'll wipe 'em “death-cult” out!

The most embarrassing aspect of this is that the Idiot-Aussie-voter gave Abbott a bounce in the polls for his war mongering!!?!! No doubt it boosted their egos, just the thought of the ADF flexing it’s muscle (what ever muscle it has!) must’ve gotten their dumb heads throbbing with testosterone!! At least in this case, they won’t be simply blasting women and kids to smithereens while “fighting” a so called “enemy” armed with weapons from the middle ages! Clearly someone sensible has advised him of the limitation of the ADF’s capability!

PS – original comment censored by Fairfax.

“Good” government starts to… umm… never, under my reign!!!

Soon after the election in 2013, the Fiberals had a chain of boo boos. OK, it was new government maybe they were just learning a few things about being in government and with a Rhodes scholar at the helm, one could be excused for thinking that, they surely would turn things around. But the stuff-ups just kept on coming to the extent that the electorate became somewhat blasé  and the polls improved (see, there are many ways to improve the polls). Then came the almighty stuff-up – the budget.

Finally, a couple of backbenchers gathered enough courage to question Mein Fuhrer and so we had the spill with no contender!!! The backbenchers haven’t, as yet, to my knowledge, been given special tablets and asked to do the honourable thing. But there clearly have been some casualties.

So, on Monday, Mein Fuhrer remained as Mein Fuhrer. Loved the “March of support” in Fiberal uniform, of course!! The Fuhrer looked glorious surrounded by his bevy, most of whom no-one had seen before, including him, I suspect! The thugs went into the party room and came out with perhaps a few less! Say, 40% less!! Great choreography! So much so, that we all knew it was another big lie!!

source

Then came the blurb about “Good government”! Obviously, adult government isn’t necessarily “good government”!!! One can’t be blamed for thinking that good government might mean a stem of the flow of boo boos!. We were all mistaken – good government means an increase in boo boos to over one a day!!! So we had four in a matter of three days and we hadn’t even made it to Friday!!!

Boo Boo #1: Walking out on the “Closing the gap” session

Source

Clearly there is Bipartisan agreement on many aspects of this issue – The fact that there is a gap, that the gap isn’t really closing, that it is perhaps a good idea to close it and finally, that nothing should really be done about it. So the reports will keep coming, but there just ain’t no votes in indigenous affairs!

But the boo boo was not that there was complete agreement on “stuff the gap”, but that the Fiberals would choose to walk out on the opposition leader’s speech on the basis that he was politicising the issue. Clearly a violation of the nudge, nudge, wink, wink agreement of not criticising each other about issues that have no votes in them. White Australia would do anything to make the gap even bigger! After all isn’t that competition, survival of the fittest, win at all cost, free market forces and all that sorta’ thin’!! We would be turnin’ into a “commie” state if we did otherwise! In any case, the Whities beat ‘em to a pulp when they first got here so why change now?!

Boo Boo #2: The Submarine debacle

Then there was the whole submarine deal cut between the South Australian MPs to get more support in the spill! Mr. Cigar man had been telling us how, due to Labor (of course), there was no time to follow due diligence on this massive contract and we all know what the Fiberals think about Australia’s great canoe building skills! But the crazy monk had hoodwinked the MPs into believing that the South Australian would be allowed to bid. But then, after the spill victory, it wasn’t quite sure as to what they could bid in! nor what the actual promise had been?@**!!!

This chaos didn’t stop there but went on to the Putin submarines only to discover that whilst Putin submarines were a BAD, BAD thing, Putin fighters were a GOOD, GOOD thing!!

 

Boo Boo #3: Children in detention report

The report was out on the 11th of November. The government hid the report so that it could not be debated appropriately. What probably also happened, though this has not been analysed by the media is that the government frantically released as many as they could in the 2-3 months that followed prior to the next parliament sitting – so much so that, the number had change by almost 200 between morning and Malcolm T turning up at Q&A!!! But no one really knows the numbers, as they are kept secret due to national security!!

But Phonies response was to shoot the messenger!

Quite frankly, this is another one that simply does not have any votes. Aussies have no interest in “illegal queue jumpers” kids or otherwise! In this case Abbott didn’t even acknowledge that children in detention was not such a great idea!

Here’s a justifiable cause for a Royal commission!

 

Boo Boo #4: Jobs holocaust

The less said about this one, the better!!

 

… and the Boo Boos didn’t stop there!

They just keep pouring out at a rate that we’ve not experienced before. It’s almost as if he shouldn’t open his mouth at all. He should take the approach he’s taken before!!

So we’ve had the

• Sack the Whip
• Invade Iraq unilaterally!
• Cementing the State sponsored murder of the 2 Australians in Bali.

I’ll leave these ones for another time!

For those thinking they might have had some display of competence after the spill, they must be pretty close to given up. The Fiberals struggle between giving themselves good leadership by changing it and looking like Labor or remaining as it is and hoping for some “Children overboard” racist opportunity to come along. Unfortunately the Aussie public don’t seem to be reacting to the racist card that much either (over used by little Johnny Howard) – Phoney’s already tried that one. 

Maybe there is a compromise – the Fiberals with no leader, perhaps. This way they would get rid of the mad monk but not really replace him – so not really like Labor (see, I can be smart at times!)!! It’s not as if the PM’s been doin’ us any favours!

Scott “please think I’m a nice guy” Morrison is really a nice guy!!

Did anyone notice Scotty brushing up his image (see here )?! When the article was first published there was an even more awkward pic with him in full attire standing on a beach with sand and water flowing between his toes!!!

So, Scotty stopped the boats supposedly without lining the refugees up and shooting ‘em! All in secrecy, of course, for operational matters! I used to see his mug shot and think how similar he looked to some of Dubya’s secretive faceless neo con bunch – not doubt Scotty, with his line of thinking, would have fitted in perfectly.

Almost as a joke on the Aussie public, Abbott has unleashed Scotty’s fascism on the next most needy group, the unemployed! It won’t be long before we have bright orange paddy wagons zooming the streets rounding up the new unemployed and dumping ‘em in ghettoes where they can’t be a scourge on the Aussie society (particularly the born-to-rule rich)!

It will all be in secrecy, controlled by the SS enthusiastically calling out “Heil Scotty” and strange salutes. The laws, no doubt, will be amended to ensure that members of the SS cannot be prosecuted for atrocities conducted under secret operations.

The unemployed will be in there for up to six months, until they find a job or else, disposed by means of the most economically efficient manner. Anyone else who believes they need assistance (social services) will be treated as a leaner and will be dealt with in a similar manner.

Hey guess what?!! We’ve dropped the unemployment rate to near 0%! Heil Scotty!!! We’ve even reduced the social services cost to near $0-00 (just a few billions for the mates), saving billions of the born to rule wealthy’s tax – Heil Scotty!!

One’s gotta wonder why the sudden PR campaign! Could he be positioning himself for Mein Fuhrer of d Vaterland!!!?

But, of course, the true believers will take him for his word as not being an ideologue – no not even close – he is just a softy “doer”! And in the world of the dumb-Aussie-electorate, those true believers are as high as 45% – Heil Scotty!!

Uncle Rupert gives us a lesson on patriotism

  Rupert Murdoch Verified account‏@rupertmurdoch

Abbott again. Tough to write, but if he won't replace top aide Peta Credlin she must do her patriotic duty and resign. More

11:42 AM - 28 Jan 2015

So uncle Rupert says “Ditch the Witch”!!! This is quite an amusing action by uncle Rupes on many a front. As hard as one may try, it’s pretty hard to pin this particular stuff-up (the “knightmare”) on the “Witch”!

I guess it’s all very simple from Uncle Rupes perspective. There are really only two palatable options and a third that isn’t – i.e. “Ditch the Witch” (Common Aussie parlance for sack the Chic), Boot the Lunie (Phoney) or jump ship (not too palatable).

Not surprisingly Uncle Rupes goes for the “Ditch the Witch” – a conservative approach that is much aligned with the party die-hards and the ol’e dinosaur himself and an approach that is an everyday occurrence in the western corporate world. When the ship is sinking, first look for scapegoat options then nail the chic (oooops! sowwee!!!). It maybe that ultimately the boss is accountable, but it never is the boss that is crucified. Uncle Rupes is an expert at this as was shown with his rather uncomfortable manoeuvres in relation to the phone tapping scandal (Camillagate and the whole lot of other gates!) – he searched for scapegoats and then nailed the red-head! As I said, no surprise that he opted to Ditch the Witch.

Rupert Murdoch Verified account‏@rupertmurdoch

Forget fairness. This change only way to recover team work and achieve so much possible for Australia. Leading involves cruel choices.

11:50 AM - 28 Jan 2015

Another interesting aspect of Uncle Rupes command is that usually grandfatherly advice of this nature, is provided behind closed doors or in private phone calls. Of course, uncle Rupes opted for the most private of media channels - twitter! So, this was clearly not a message to Phony or the “Witch”, it was to the sponsors of his papers – you and I!!

So, what was the message that uncles Rupes was getting to us? Heaven knows what goes on in this twisted dinosaur's mind, but it usually has something to do with money and selling news papers (when it comes to Australia). It is clear to me that uncle Rupes is on a winner here. He knows, just as well as you and I do, that the “Fiberals” are not gonna get anywhere at the next elections with Phony at the reigns (ooops, sowweee again!!). So the Fibs have to, yes you got it, opt for one of the three paths mentioned before. So whatever option the Fibs take, uncle Rupes will look like the knowledgeable sage who gave good advice – in other words the “I told you so” syndrome. There is no doubt that he and his paid shock-jock disciples have already jumped ship. So this was a last witch (wow! I’m in good form!!) effort to salvage something.

The third strange aspect is this “patriotism” BS. As the saying goes “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel“. Uncle Rupes dumped patriotism for money sometime back – not as if he didn’t have pots of it to begin with. But he’s got the blow-torch well and truly aimed at the “Witch” under the guise of patriotism. Of course, she doesn’t really have the stacks of dosh that Rupert has and can ill afford to commit harakiri. I don’t know much about her, but I suspect that she is, just as many of us are, an intelligent individual, simply trying her darndest to do the best at her job.

Maybe there is solution here, and the overly patriotic uncle Rupes can spare some of that dosh he’s gotten by minimising his tax, say $500k a year, and donate it to the unpatriotic “witch”! How’s that for a solution?

The real problem is that uncle Rupes has missed the boat entirely. With Phony at the helm, the ships not going anywhere. The “witch” maybe gone but the half-wit will still be making his “captain’s calls”!!

As for the Fiberal party and their leader captain Phony, they have no where to go, really! They all know that the only way to make any impression what-so-ever in the next election, is to remove the disasters that keep coming from captain Phony. But that would draw comparisons to the Labor Party’s fiasco and possibly intimidating wall punching around Julie Bishops ears!!

Even if they did think of replacing him, who would they replace him with? Malcolm “I don’t believe in market forces anymore and high speed internet is only for the rich like me” Turnbull or Julie “I haven’t a clue about much, but I look pretty wearing my pearls with other diplomats” Bishop. Then there are a few others who they should keep as far from the public eye as possible to prevent a police state like Scott “In my police state, who cares about human rights (or wrongs) I can be a Natzi with refugees ‘cos no-one will know, but hey, I stopped the boats” Morrison and there is that fun guy stuffing around with education, ensuring it is exclusively for the rich – keeps the wages down!

So the Fiberals and the right wing media come up with statements like the stuff with the knighthood “verges on fatal” or “could be fatal” rather than, is fatal, Kaput, fine, dead and burried!!!

To add to their burdens, good ol’e uncle Rupes has issued a fatwa and we all know of his IS like, take no prisoners approach – there will surely be blood and executions – (that’s metaphorically speaking!), if not loyally obeyed. Hence the obedient hush in the media for what is one of the most bigoted, sexist, elitist set of statements that could be made. I’d love to have seen the media frenzy if these pathetic statements had been made by the “Grand Mufti of Auburn”!!

So you ask what my prediction is. Well, that is a tough one, considering the irrational behaviour of the Fiberals and the multitude of forces in play. However, I suspect Phony will hang on to the leadership and punch-up anyone who dares challenge him and lead the Fibs to a disastrous defeat at the next election.

BTW, I think there should be a clause in the constitution that triggers an election when the sitting party’s support diminishes below say 35%. Right now, it would save everyone, including the Fiberals a lot of strife, Here’s to another GG step-in incident!! Where’s Lizzie when we need her – maybe sulking about the title of Dame she didn’t get!

Rupert Murdoch calls on Tony Abbott to make 'cruel choice' and sack Peta Credlin

Phony’s given his boss a demotion

Aren’t we all glad that the silly-season is over and the clowns are gathering back at the great circus tent for the even-more-silly-season! Phony could barely wait till his vacation was over to start clowning around.

So, the question is “what drives someone to give their boss a demotion?!!” Is it simply the fact that they can, is it plain ignorance and stupidity or is it a far more deep rooted urge?

There has been much written about how stupid the knighthood thing is and that it has little significance to . . . ummmm. . .anyone, really!!! OK, the Duke may have to carry a bigger burden on his chest, which is already over-laden and of course, he might feel a tad offended by the cheek of the “spear throwing natives from the colony”. I can imaging the bureaucrats in London scrambling to the rules books to figure out if this joke was in fact legal and proper(!!) and if so can the colonies really demote a Prince(?) and will it be the Queen next?

May be this business of having colonies that one has little control over, isn’t what it is made up to be. In the good ol’e days a couple of massacres on the streets and a public execution or two would have brought back order. But now, what action does one take?! They must wish that little Johnny boy failed in his lopsided bid to kill the republican movement forever! If Australia was a republic then the concept of knighthood would not even have existed and even if it did, one could politely (or non-politely) decline!

These must be the moments when dear ol’e Lizzie wishes she had handed over the crown to that Lova-boy-total-looney, Charles! She would have been stuck between a rock and a hard place – do I offend the natives in the colony (by refusing the nomination) or do I demote the hubby?! She may have hoped the natives would come to their senses, but in this case, that would be unlikely ‘cos there are oodles of minerals and resources in the colony, but sense is one thing  that is terribly lacking – it’s running amok!

I sometimes do wonder what goes on in the Dukes mind. Maybe people of his generation and up-bringing love the adoration from the colonies and get great pleasure from such titles and therefore see nothing stupid about the whole affair.

Looking at it from Phoney and his band of vagabonds’ perspective, well, those backbenchers really must feel frizzled and frazzled! What the media analysts have failed to point out is that whilst this decision has no impact on anyone, it is “Captain Phoney’s” sense of judgement that is on exhibition. The Fairfax poll suggested a 93% view that it was a stupid decision. How does one come back from that?!

One has to admire the “Fiberals” sense of loyalty. They know the mess that was created by the Labour shenanigans and clearly do not want a messy leadership battle. So, they keep “copping” it. The media keep saying that this will be the last stuff-up Phonie could afford and have been saying so for the last 3 or 4!

Even if the Fiberals decided on a leadership, who would they go to. I-like-to-look-pretty-and-glare-at-people-but-have-no-idea-Bishop or I-stuffed-my-chances-with-the-budget-Hockey or I-have-no-back-bone-Turnbull?!! Really the options aren’t great.

It is my view that Phoney has resigned to the fact that he will be a one term PM (even the racism card that did so well for little-johnny-boy is working for Phoney). He is now attempting to build his legacy. A legacy that is driven by values that are deeply ingrained in his DNA. It’s rarely that one notices some of the idiosyncrasies of politicians until they come under pressure combined with media scrutiny. We certainly saw that with Rudd and now we see it with Phoney – although some had been displayed in his university days.

A man who spent a great amount of time studying Catholicism and fantasising the pomp and majesty of his native country can very easily have a framework that is quite disturbing. Whilst Phoney appears to be quite a “fun” person in social terms (compared to Rudd, who was clearly a nerd and social misfit), there is a serious side to him that is driven by 200 year old values and unhealthy level of religious belief. I suspect he does believe that Lizzie is some form of deity, just as the pope has a direct lineage to god!

By bestowing a knighthood to the deities spouse (a demi-deity), he has cleared the barriers to heaven. His next step would be to glorify the pope in some manner. Unfortunately that might be quite a challenge as from what I can see, the current pope is down-to-Earth as a pope can be and would consider a knighthood as frivolity!

Phoney must truly believes that he has been chosen by god to liberate and lead his people to prosperity. So we keep having these “Moses returns from Mount Sinai” moments that he calls “Captain’s calls” with commandments that he truly believes are from god!

• Help the rich chicks breed ‘cos we need smarter kids
• Bring back Knights and Dames – that will fix the worlds problems.

What is most disturbing is that the Dumb-Aussie-Voters elected this man as captain of “Team Australia”. We are fortunate that Aussies are so dumb that they don’t know what’s hit ‘em!

At least this has provided the catalyst for the creative juices of many a cartoonist – some of my favourites:

Illustration:John Shakepeare (SMH)

Illustration:Ron Tandberg (SMH)

Illustration:Andrew Dyson (SMH)

Illustration:Alan Moir (SMH)

Illustration:Cathy Wilcox (SMH)Link

Illustration:Matt Golding (SMH)

Response to: Sledging shows Australian cricket culture has lost its moral compass

Read article 1, article 2

The crude, crass Aussie mentality raises it's ugly head as expected. The win-at-all-costs mentality, which is well and truly revered by Aussies, drives this bogan behaviour. But sadly most Aussies don't even realise what the rest of world thinks of them and some are even proud of it.

At a higher level (than these stupid remarks), clearly there is a refusal to accept that English speaking countries are (or have already) losing control of cricket. So, with bogans like the Aussie players on the field, there is bound to be more of these loutish encounters.

Warner is cricket's version of Beale. No matter how many times he offends, he is considered a potential match winner and will always be in the team - win at any cost. Unfortunately sometimes players with good skills come in ugly packages and when the bureaucracy worship them (never mind the public), the packages become even worse.

Whenever ugly sledging incidents occur, there is usually one common factor - Australia. Aussies have been up to this rubbish since Chappell (Ian), Lillee and Marsh (a selector, so what hope!!) under the pretext that "we play hard". Sorry, most teams play hard, they just have different value sets, vastly differing from the crass Aussie values. It baffles me that Aussies are treating this any different from what happens in pretty much every match that the Aussies are involved in.

When I travel in the sub-continent I watch plenty of cricket and other sports. Sledging just is not even contemplated. Just add an Aussie team and it's rampant, regardless of the sport.

I watched a game of soccer a few nights back where the Aussies were beaten by South Korea. There were 2 Koreans stretchered off due to elbow contact to head, in what is referred to as a "limited contact sport". The Aussie commentator's excuse was that it was necessary to keep their balance - clearly the Aussies need to elbow the opposition in the head to keep balance - something that the other teams manage without! Or maybe, he was referring to keeping balance on the score card!

It was ironic that Ian Chappell, of all people (a bad proponent of this loutish behaviour) should suggest that someone might get walloped by a bat, if it went on. Aussies have never been able to keep the riff-raff out of their teams. Many other teams have not quite known how to deal with louts on the cricket field and the Aussies kept interpreting this as “mental toughness”. 

Being a bully on the field may be considered "being tough" by many an Aussie, but others consider it tougher to play fair and refrain from loutish behaviour - it's just a different intellectual level.

Unfortunately for the sport of cricket, over the last 50 or so years, the Aussies (supported by the other "white" cricketing nations) have had too much control of the administration of the game. So, whilst sometimes frowned upon, Aussie sledging has been mostly accepted.

What's worse is that in the "new world" where India is the dominant country, not much will change as the young Indian players are just as good at dishing out this rubbish. Although there is some hope as sledging incidents are still mostly restricted to games with Aussie involvement (even the Indians don't sledge elsewhere).

Commenter

Cockeyed Observer

Date and time

January 21, 2015, 11:31AM

PS: I merged a couple of comments here – one of which was censored and the other published by Fairfax – yes, I am successful in getting some comment under the watchful eye of the censor!