By Adrian Musolino
December 30th 2009 @ 12:43am
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The heroes and villains of the sporting year
Geelong's Gary Ablett gets a handball away
With the 2009 sporting year in its final plays, it’s time to reflect on a year of scandals, controversy and brilliance. A year in which the ‘hero’ and ‘villain’ tags were readily used to describe the contrasting fortunes of sports’ elite.
The heroes and villains of 2009 are:
Hero: Gary Ablett Jr. The Brownlow medallist and two-time premiership player. A class act, and the most complete player in the game.
Villain: AFL Footy Show. Yes, Brendan Fevola acted like a fool at the Brownlow, but the Footy Show equipped him with a camera and microphone to do exactly that.
Hero: Hazem El Masri. Ended a glorious career on a high with the Bulldogs. He will be missed by a code that desperately needs more of his ilk.
Villain: Free-to-air television. They need to spend less time trying to convince us of their attempts to save sport for the Australian public and more time getting their sporting coverage right. Desperate Housewives promos during the Tennis and delayed coverage are reasons why people part with money for Fox Sports. That Friday night footy is still not shown live shows how backward our sporting coverage really is.
Hero: Tim Cahill. How many times did he save the Socceroos in 2009? Please be fit in 2010, Timmy.
Villain: AFC & FIFA. AFC’s stance on the Wellington Phoenix and FIFA’s apparent inaction leaves Oceania, once again, as the forgotten region of world football.
Hero: Melbourne Victory. The benchmark club of the A-League, on and off the field.
Villain: FFA (A-League) promoters. They’re not doing their job, and the FFA, for not focusing enough attention on marketing and promotion, is jeopardising the future of the A-League.
Hero: David Pocock. Pocock is one of the most exciting prospects amongst the Wallabies’ new generation. He showed flashes of brilliance in his Grand Slam tour appearances and, best of all, he’s one of us.
Villain: The tabloids and boofheads. The boofheads for their drunken, defecating, idiotic ways, and the tabloids for turning such misdemeanors into front-page news and attempting to justify their coverage.
Hero: Steve Hooker. Added world championship gold to his Olympic one, despite a groin injury.
Villain: Shane Watson. Acted like a brat when he dismissed Chris Gayle. His embarrassing exit at the Boxing Test with a century in sight was karma.
Hero: Mark Webber. Two victories for one of Australian sports’ gentlemen and a whole lot of doubters silenced.
Villain: Tiger Woods. His image will be forever scarred. Gillette’s tarnished star number one.
Hero: Roger Federer. The sole remaining untarnished star of Gillette’s claimed his first French Open, regained the world number one position and claimed the record for total Grand Slam victories. Let’s hope the Gillette curse doesn’t strike Roger.
Villain: Thierry Henry. Gillette’s tarnished star number two. Henry’s handball and his reaction in the immediate aftermath of the goal that sent France to the World Cup made him a cheat who has tarnished a great career.
Hero: Barcelona FC. The most complete club side in the game in 2009, possibly ever. They are a joy to watch.
Villain: Nelson Piquet Jr. and Renault. The ‘crashgate’ revelation was another sorry chapter in Formula 1’s awful 2009.
Hero: Valentino Rossi. Claimed his seventh premier class title, ninth in all classes, beating younger rivals, continuing to entertain. MotoGP would be lost without him.
Villain: Serena Williams, Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba. The petulant trio were not the only athletes who displayed appalling behaviour to officialdom, but their highly-publicised spats and lack of remorse shows our far some athletes have veered from good sportsmanship.
Hero: Lance Armstrong. His return to cycling was a success, with a podium on his return to Le Tour, but he attains hero status for using his comeback as a chance to increase support for his cancer charity.
Who were your heroes and villains of 2009?
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James said | December 30th 2009 @ 12:51am | Report comment
Hero. Michael Voss. Finals footy in his first year as coach. Pretty impressive. Great bloke too.
Villain. Shane Watson. I’d add that I just don’t like him.
Hero. Ryan Giggs. The dude just keeps going.
Villain. F1 politics. Boring.
Hero. Cadel Evans. Deserves some respect.
Villain. Andrew Demetriou. He had a right to protect his league but he used the media to exaggerate the point.
Robert B said | December 30th 2009 @ 1:29am | Report comment
Hero: Roger Federer, Dirk Kuyt, Fernando Torres, Manny Pacquiao
Villian: Tiger Woods, Thierry Henry, Floyd Mayweather Jnr
Marshall said | December 30th 2009 @ 1:32am | Report comment
Hero – Cahill, Kewell, Schwarzer, Libby Trickett.
Villain – Henry, Stephanie Rice (no one cares who you date), Eamonn Sullivan (more time in the pool, less on Masterchef and you might win gold!).
Luke W said | December 30th 2009 @ 9:51am | Report comment
Hero: Thierry Henry. There is no rule that says a player must confess to committing a foul. That is the referee’s job.
Villian: The Irish team/FA/supporters. For using the Henry controversy to gloss over the fact they simply choked in the second leg. They had the better play and the better chances, but weren’t good enough to take them. The WC is better without them and their whingeing.
Daniel King said | December 30th 2009 @ 3:12pm | Report comment
Luke W
You are right, there is no rule that says he has to confess but there is a rule that says you are not allowed to use your hands and he did…….. then had the front to admit it after the game, what a gent.
Ireland didn’t choke in the second leg, in fact they should have won 1-0 however, they did choke in the first leg.
Gibbo said | December 30th 2009 @ 10:01am | Report comment
Hero: Danny Green for smashing a highly rated yank. The Irish FFA and supporters for being pretty darn gracious in a defeat they didnt deserve. Harry Taylor for what should have been B.O.G in the AFL granny. Vic Darchinian and Stephanie Gilmour, for being tops.
Villain: The (mainly english) tabloid press for getting on their subtly rascist high horse RE: a refereeing mistake involving the Le Blues football team and a former EPL legend. Roy Jones Jnr for getting moshed by the aussie underdog in the first round!
Daniel King said | December 30th 2009 @ 3:13pm | Report comment
It’s LES Bleus by the way and i think the Aussie media are just as racist, i don’t hear “The hand of frog” on English TV.
Marshall said | December 30th 2009 @ 8:17pm | Report comment
I’ve heard it used in the English press. Did you think the English wouldn’t rub France’s face in this controversy?
Daniel King said | December 30th 2009 @ 8:21pm | Report comment
Where? I just googled it and nothing came up except Aussie and NZ stuff. Guess you’ll find it some dark, deep crevice though.
Ken said | December 30th 2009 @ 10:07am | Report comment
*That Friday night footy is still not shown live shows how backward our sporting coverage really is.
Not sure where you are (or what code you follow – might actually be more pertinent now i think about it) but RL Friday night footy is now shown live on FTA in NSW and QLD with the second game on delay. Despite the old chestnut about how they were just re-positioning the game into the prime viewing time when they delayed it, the ratings have soared.
James said | December 30th 2009 @ 10:20am | Report comment
The networks say that but people just want live games. Ratings are strong cause there’s little alternative. Think he was referring to AFL Friday night. It’s delayed on Seven til 8:30 so they can show Better Home and Gardens. Ruins Friday night footy.
Springs said | December 30th 2009 @ 10:10am | Report comment
Hero: Alan Jones for his rant against Neil Green that I just listened to. I have been waiting ages for someone to stand up against the giant media corporation. That was brilliant.
Gibbo said | December 30th 2009 @ 10:15am | Report comment
also:
Hero: Lucas Neil for walking out on West Ham instead of taking a pay cut!
Villain: Lucas Neil for signing for taking ages then finally signing with Everton on the same dollars West Ham offered!
Brett McKay said | December 30th 2009 @ 12:12pm | Report comment
All the best for the new year Adrian and Roarers all, hope the festive season has been/is being kind to wastelines and wallets..
Heroes: Danny Green, Mark Webber, Craig Alexander, the Aussie surfers (with special mentions to Steph, Mick, and Parko), Michael Clarke, Shane Watson (except when in the 90s, or bowling to Chris Gayle), my October and November form with the bat, my driver, and the footballers from all codes previously mentioned.
Villians: Tiger, Thierry, Serena, etc etc, Shane Watson (when in the 90s, or bowling to Chris Gayle), my December form with the bat, my putter, and the footballers from all codes previously mentioned…
M1tch said | December 30th 2009 @ 12:55pm | Report comment
heros – storm, cats
villians – news ltd and fairfax media
Fly on the Wall said | December 30th 2009 @ 1:05pm | Report comment
Heroes: as much as I hate boxing, Vic Darchinyan – he’ll end up better than any of our best. Ric Charlesworth – already has the Kookaburras firing better than Barry Dancer did, if that’s possible. Geelong – a great thing to happen to the town. The Crawford report – more funding to grassroots.
Villains: soccer – for continuing to offer up the worst sportsmanship, rugby league players – say no more, rugby union players – for pretending they’re any different, free to air TV – for showing far less than they should.
Brian said | December 30th 2009 @ 1:50pm | Report comment
Hero – Federer confirming himself as the greatest of all time
Villian – World’s cricket administrators
Alex M said | December 30th 2009 @ 2:09pm | Report comment
Great article!
My heroes:
Gary Ablett Jr. – has a child like exuberance for the game and is the best player in the game.
Peyton Manning- best QB in the NFL and a model athlete/person.
Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi – the heart and soul of Barcelona.
Randy Lerner – the most supportive, quiet and knowledgable US owner in the Premier League.
My dirty rotten villains:
The New York Yankees – unfortunately you can buy a championship.
Jerry Jones – owner of the Dallas Cowboys. Affectionately dubbed the new Cowboys
stadium “Jerry World”.
Cricket Australia Board of Selectors – YOU cost us the Ashes.
Brendan Fevola – have a guess??
Art Sapphire said | December 30th 2009 @ 3:32pm | Report comment
Kudos for mentioning Randy Lerner – he even put a local charity on the Villa shirts. If only he had bought the other claret and blue team from East London.
Phil said | December 30th 2009 @ 6:31pm | Report comment
yeah – screw the yankees – god I hate them
jake said | December 30th 2009 @ 2:55pm | Report comment
Heroes – All Whites for qualifying for there 2nd World cup
Villans – Channel 9 for hiding the NRL season in Victoria and cutting the grand final celebrations