Today is the most important day in Australian sport
Columnist By Luke Doherty, 15 Oct 2010 Luke Doherty is a Roar Expert
- Tagged:
- Ashes, Australian sports, Gary Lester, Horse Racing, Ian Heads, Melbourne Cup, phar lap, Sir Donald Bradman
Today isn’t Melbourne Cup day. No, it doesn’t mark the start of the Ashes. The AFL and NRL doesn’t get underway today either. So why is today a milestone day in Australian sport? Well, today marks 200 years since the first organised sporting contest in Australia.
I had the pleasure this week of catching up with veteran journalists Gary Lester and Ian Heads. They’ve put together one of the best books I’ve come across in a long time. It’s called ‘And the crowd went wild: sporting days that thrilled a nation’.
It starts with what’s widely recognised as the first ever, according to the records of the time, organised sporting contest in 1810 and goes right through to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
They do acknowledge that sport was, of course, played before this date, but it was of a more ad-hoc nature.
So October 15, 1810.
A three-day race carnival was organised around Hyde Park in Sydney at the insistence of Governor Lachlan Macquarie. Macquarie disliked sport, but thought the race carnival would be a good way to bring order to a wild colony in disarray following the ‘rum rebellion’.
Macquarie banned drinking, gambling and swearing at the newly assembled course and the well attended meet gave birth to a passion for sport that is the envy of the world.
Who would’ve thought that a race meeting without gambling or drinking would be able to provide order?
Macquarie is dubbed ‘the father of Australian sport’ in the book. Not bad for a man who preferred war to sport.
Heads and Lester have dug deep.
I’m not generally a horse racing fan, but my favourite tales from the book come from the turf, like the Melbourne Cup not only being run on a Thursday from 1861 to 1875.
New South Wales trainer Etienne de Mestre and his Nowra stabled champion Archer won the first two cups. Victorian authorities, so incensed by Archer’s success, banned the champion from the third running of the Cup. Officially they said de Mestre didn’t get his entry form in on time.
A rivalry that still exists today between NSW and Victoria was alive and thriving.
Then there’s Phar Lap, a figure up there with Sir Donald Bradman in Australian sporting folklore.
You see, Phar Lap wasn’t very good to start with.
Lester points out during our chat that even his breeding was rubbish. In his first race at Rosehill Racecourse in Sydney he started at odds of 33-1 and ran 13th … out of 13.
Chapter 6 is called ‘When Ned Kelly met Larry Foley’. Yes, that is Ned Kelly the wild outlaw.
The Larry Foley in question is described as a master boxer from Sydney. The occasion was a bareknuckle battle against Victorian-based Englishman Abe Hicken on the banks of the River Murray in early 1879.
Kelly and his gang had just robbed a bank in the NSW town of Jerilderie, which is about 170 kilometres north of Echuca, and decided it would be a good idea, while still evading the authorities, to take in the fight.
Foley would win a bloody battle and one of his rewards was a handshake and a chat with Kelly himself.
All of the modern day feats are there, too, and it got me thinking: what is the greatest sporting achievement in Australian history?
Is it the first Ashes win by an Australian cricket team? Makybe Diva’s Melbourne Cup winning heroics? The St George Dragons run of rugby league premierships? What about Australia’s success at recent Winter Olympics?
Does success against international competition rate higher than that achieved on our own shores?
We’re a proud sporting nation. It’s remarkable, given our size, what Australian athletes have achieved.
If you love sport, then today is a day to celebrate. It seems we have a lot to thank Governor Macquarie for.
You can follow luke on twitter @luke_doherty and on Sky News Australia.
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You can follow Luke Doherty on Twitter @Luke_Doherty and on Sky News Australia.
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October 15th 2010 @ 7:00am
Brett McKay said | October 15th 2010 @ 7:00am | Report comment
great stuff Luke, the histories of Australian sport don’t get covered any better than they do when Lester and Heads are involved. ‘Prolific’ doesn’t even begin to describe their wealth of sporting knowledge in this country.
Australia’s greatest modern-day sporting achievement?
For mine, it would be hard to top the Sydney Olympics, both in terms of the performances of the Australian athletes, and for the way the event was planned, executed, and embraced. The scores of garishly dressed volunteers are still used as a benchmark for major sporting events, ten years on….
October 15th 2010 @ 12:13pm
Luke Doherty said | October 15th 2010 @ 12:13pm | Report comment
Too right Brett. They’re an unbelievable source of knowledge.
October 15th 2010 @ 7:12am
Vinay Verma said | October 15th 2010 @ 7:12am | Report comment
For mine Australia’s greatest sporting achievement is Bradman. Everytime he batted. There was front page headline in an English paper on the Invincibles tour(I stand to be corrected here) which just said: BRADMAN OUT! For the English,then,this was like winning the war. Think Australia,think Bradman.
October 15th 2010 @ 9:34am
beaver fever said | October 15th 2010 @ 9:34am | Report comment
Think Australian think Bradman, Dawn Fraser, Walter Lindrum and Pharlap.
Interestingly 3 of them are from the Depression.
October 15th 2010 @ 12:20pm
Luke Doherty said | October 15th 2010 @ 12:20pm | Report comment
Definitely provided hope and distraction in times of national/international trouble. That’s what I love about sport.
October 15th 2010 @ 2:08pm
punter said | October 15th 2010 @ 2:08pm | Report comment
Hard to disagree there BF.
October 15th 2010 @ 12:18pm
Luke Doherty said | October 15th 2010 @ 12:18pm | Report comment
There is a great yarn in the book that recalls Bradman saying that his 334 wasn’t his best innings because he gave up a few chances. He said the 2nd test at Lords in 1930 where he scored 254 out of a total of 423 was his best and most technically sound. What an amazing man!
October 15th 2010 @ 7:14am
Beer O'Clock said | October 15th 2010 @ 7:14am | Report comment
Its unfair to compare sporting achievements. In particular ones from different eras.
Each have their own reason for being great. Americas cup win, Socceroos making 2006 world cup in dramatic fashion, olympics. AFL premierships, NRL premierships, 2003 rugby world cup final Ashes etc etc etc.
October 15th 2010 @ 7:29am
Tristan Rayner said | October 15th 2010 @ 7:29am | Report comment
Great article Luke. On Australia’s greatest modern-day sporting achievement, given my considerable interest, a few insights into Makybe Diva: a champion, and she’s officially an international raider horse having been bred in Ireland and foaled in England.
The weighting given to her by handicappers is also a contentious issue, with those of Bart Cumming’s ilk unhappy with the kind weights set for Cup win 2 and even Cup win 3, when historically a greater impost would have been imposed (see Light Fingers & Think Big for Bart’s arguments, and compare to the 65.5kg carried by Carbine for the win in 1890, or Pharlap’s 68kg in 1931 where the Red Terror booted 8th place under incredible weight), as well as the watering of the track in the preceding days arguably done to ensure she would have every chance in Cup 3. I’m sure there’s an element of sour grapes for competing trainers
This year, the VRC are running a sort of field of dreams for the “Greatest Cup Never Won” to celebrate the 150th Cup.
Names such as Pharlap, Carbine and Makybe Diva head the weights – the winner of the race, to be decided by 22 judges, will be announced on Cup Day this year, and will be very interesting indeed.
October 15th 2010 @ 12:26pm
Luke Doherty said | October 15th 2010 @ 12:26pm | Report comment
That will be interesting for sure. They were great days with the Diva. Do we really have a “people’s horse” this year?
October 16th 2010 @ 6:50am
Tristan Rayner said | October 16th 2010 @ 6:50am | Report comment
Not really in the Cup – Alcopop would be the closest to the public’s heart should it win, a great story behind it, it just needs to win more to become the “people’s”
Hot Danish is probably the people’s horse, and Hay List will become one.
October 15th 2010 @ 7:46am
Redb said | October 15th 2010 @ 7:46am | Report comment
Funny how the authors examples both feature a supposed NSW win over Vic.
I guess it must kill to see Victoria’s Spring Racing Carnival and the Melbourne Cup make Sydney’s efforts look like a picnic meet by comparison.
NSW may have started horse racing (Melbourne wasn’t settled until 1835) but Victoria has sure made sport its own ever since.
“the greatest sporting achievement in Australian history?….”The St George Dragons run of rugby league premierships?”
Your kidding right.
October 15th 2010 @ 12:29pm
Luke Doherty said | October 15th 2010 @ 12:29pm | Report comment
I didn’t say it was. It was just an example. Melbourne is the undoubted home of sport in Australia. You only have to be in the city 5 mins to realise that. Wasn’t it though more petty for VRC officials to ban Archer because he won? Sounds like sour grapes to me!
October 15th 2010 @ 2:04pm
Ken said | October 15th 2010 @ 2:04pm | Report comment
“”The St George Dragons run of rugby league premierships?”
Your kidding right.”
You don’t think it was impressive? You’re a tough marker, 11 straight premierships and they had to change the rules to stop them.
BTW There is no doubt the Melbourne Cup is the premier horse racing event of the year, apart from that the Sydney racing scene holds it’s own just fine.
October 15th 2010 @ 2:07pm
punter said | October 15th 2010 @ 2:07pm | Report comment
It was before my time, but one of the main reasons I follow the mighty Dragons.
October 15th 2010 @ 7:57am
sheek said | October 15th 2010 @ 7:57am | Report comment
Luke,
Lovely stuff, & the book seems right down my alley – I’ll be wanting a copy!
Yes, there was sport before 1810, & I guess it depends on one’s definition of ‘organised’. I ran trivia nites for a long time & a favourite question was the first sport held in Australia. The answer was rowing races between crews of the first fleet, & later with visiting ships.
The Larry Foley in question also had the expression “happy as Larry” attributed to him. Foley was undefeated in his boxing career, for which he won a tidy sum of money. He also had a cheery disposition & it was assumed he was happy with his lot in life.
Tristan.
In the ‘Greatest Melbourne Cup Never Run’, if the organisers are serious, none of the top weights can win – which means neither Phar Lap, Carbine or Makybe Diva. This is the best of the best, racing each other in a handicap, & any weight advantage will be significant.
On a personal note I’ve always considered Carbine a slightly better horse than Phar Lap. On the track, Carbine’s record & deeds is slightly more impressive. He also was one of, if arguably, the greatest stallion breeder in Australasian history.
I also hold the view that while it’s very dramatic to believe American gangsters “got at” Phar Lap, his death was more probably just a terrible accident.
October 15th 2010 @ 8:21am
Brett McKay said | October 15th 2010 @ 8:21am | Report comment
Sheek, you ran trivia nights before 1810??
October 15th 2010 @ 8:48am
sheek said | October 15th 2010 @ 8:48am | Report comment
Brett – ha, ha!
I’m old but not THAT old…..
October 15th 2010 @ 8:55am
Brett McKay said | October 15th 2010 @ 8:55am | Report comment
it had to be said
October 15th 2010 @ 12:31pm
Luke Doherty said | October 15th 2010 @ 12:31pm | Report comment
Is that really where happy as Larry came from?
October 15th 2010 @ 7:03pm
sheek said | October 15th 2010 @ 7:03pm | Report comment
Luke,
Apparently so. I have a neighbour mate called Larry, & we use it against him all the time. He’s so straight & genuine, & always preaching, but with a heart of gold. So it’s so easy to take the piss out of him. At least he can laugh at himself.
So basically because of him, I read up on it, & it is often attributed to Larry Foley.
When everything is just so fine with my life, I say I feel like “Larry Riley”, as in “happy as Larry” & “life of Riley”…..
October 15th 2010 @ 3:25pm
oikee said | October 15th 2010 @ 3:25pm | Report comment
I agree Sheek, anyone who has not read Carbine”s acheivements, surgest you do so, simply amazing, no unbeleivable, no, not humanly possible, That makes sense.
I showed my wife and even she who thought Red Rums 3 Grand nationals were outstanding, which they are, i have the tape right here, but Carbine, mate, he was beyond beleif as a horse.
P.S Red Rum was also runner up in 2 other Grand Nationals. When the fence’s were really high. He beat a aussie horse called Chrisp i think if i remember rightly.
But no, Carbine, i think i have a book on his feats.
October 15th 2010 @ 7:24pm
sheek said | October 15th 2010 @ 7:24pm | Report comment
Oikee,
Of course there’s not much in it. Purely from a statistical point of view, the stats are as follows:
Carbine (b.1885) – 43 starts, 33 wins, 6 seconds, 3 thirds, one unplaced (4th). Win % ratio – 76.74.
Phar Lap (b.1926) – 51 starts, 37 wins, 3 seconds, 2 thirds, 9 unplaced. Win % ratio – 72.55.
Carbine was good from the start, while Phar Lap took a while to hit his straps. Carbine was bred in “the purple” as they say, & passed on his excellent genes. Phar Lap overcame ordinary breeding. Phar Lap is apparently a Thai (Sinhalese) word meaning “lightning”.
Finally compare these two with Tommy Smith’s two champions, Tulloch & Kingston Town.
Tulloch (b.1954) – 53 starts, 36 wins, 12 seconds, 4 thirds, one unplaced (7th 1960 Melbourne Cup). Win % ratio – 67.92.
Kingston Town (b.1976) – 41 starts, 30 seconds, 5 seconds, 2 thirds, 4 unplaced. Win % ratio – 73.17.
Tulloch was a much better horse than his win % ratio suggests. He didn’t race his entire 4 year old & most of his 5 year old (often a horse’s best years) career due to a serious illness that nearly killed him. He was over-raced as a 6 year old basically to make for the lost years, but while still a champion, he had lost a bit of his edge.
His poor run in the 1960 Centenary Melbourne Cup (100th MC carrying a massive 64 kgs) with a huge field of 32 runners, was attributed to an usually poor ride by his jockey Neville Sellwood, who had him back too far on the final turn into the straight.
Tulloch finished 7th about 3 lengths from the winner. He made up an enormous amount of ground, more than any other horse over the final 400 metres or so, but Sellwood had left his run too late in a big field.
Sorry about the history, but I guess someone will enjoy it……….
October 16th 2010 @ 6:53am
Tristan Rayner said | October 16th 2010 @ 6:53am | Report comment
Loved it, thanks sheek.
One question in regards to win ratios: how do the American horses manage to have a 100% win record? Here in Aus, we place far less emphasis on the fact and generally the trainers aren’t afraid to break a winning streak. Because it’s more highly valued in the USA, do trainers search for races where their horses won’t be beaten, or are they just extraordinary?
October 16th 2010 @ 8:16am
sheek said | October 16th 2010 @ 8:16am | Report comment
Tristan,
I’ve never really pondered the question, but I think it is a bit of both. Seabiscuit for example raced a helluva lot, & was unplaced often, but is perhaps an exception.
There are a lot of ordinary horses in racing, especially, or even, in America. There’s a sameness to their racing also, which I detest. Mostly 1200s (6 furlongs) through 2000s (mile & quarter), very little over that.
A lot of horses win the triple crown (in comparison to our Melbourne spring big 3). Or even 2 out of 3. The only horse I can recall off the top of my head to win the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate & Melbourne Cup in the same year was Rising Fast in 1954.
Okay, that’s a bit different from the American 3yo classics, but still, the point is, there isn’t the depth there that you would expect.
Most of the good horses, especially if they’re entires, are quickly sent of to stud certainly by the end of their 4yo career. So that helps protect their scoresheets!
This is another thing I detest, & I think racing suffers from greatly. The early retirement to stud of champion horses. Racing is denied the opportunity of seeing many great horses compete against each other at ages 5, 6 or even 7.
It’s to racing’s loss, I reckon. Sooner or later, they’re going to have to balance breeding paychecks with the overall health of the racing industry by keeping champions racing longer.
My great fear is that we’re copying the American racing too closely, in almost all respects. I find it absurd some people are trying to push the Golden Slipper as our most valuable race. It’s pure Americanism.
And yes, the Americans are selective in the races they choose for their champions. That’s part of the breeding portfolio all over again, preserving as good a racing record as possible…..
October 16th 2010 @ 8:55am
Tristan Rayner said | October 16th 2010 @ 8:55am | Report comment
Great stuff sheek, valuable insights.
Agree with a lot of your opinion too, in fact I was thinking of writing something up myself regarding the loss of wonderful horses to stud at a young age rather than seeing clashes between champions. The most recent I can think of is Wanted, who after getting a number of good placings in Group races finally won the G1 Newmarket and then went to stud!
Everyone loves a real ‘warhorse’ and for the moment, at least the geldings are raced until they fall apart. So You Think must now be worth a fortune as a stallion, however you get the feeling Bart would rather win races than see his champion shuttling around to mares.
The 2yo MM & Golden Slipper events are definitely overblown – I’m not sure why they are so highly valued, probably the lottery type situation it creates for winning a fortune with a 2yo rather than needing to forge a Melbourne Cup winner through hardwork and tenacity.
October 15th 2010 @ 8:46am
Tortion said | October 15th 2010 @ 8:46am | Report comment
You mean sport without gambling, drinking, WAG’s, market strategries, growth strategies and strategy strategies. That isn’t really sport is it?
October 15th 2010 @ 12:35pm
Luke Doherty said | October 15th 2010 @ 12:35pm | Report comment
It’s amazing how complicated it’s all got.
Also I’m chucking it out there – John Aloisi’s world cup qualifying penalty is for me the most important moment in Australian sport.
October 15th 2010 @ 2:05pm
punter said | October 15th 2010 @ 2:05pm | Report comment
You have my 100% backing there, easily my most important sporting moment in this country.
October 15th 2010 @ 5:20pm
Tortion said | October 15th 2010 @ 5:20pm | Report comment
I thought so at the time but now I think the momentum that it provided has well and truly been lost. It was exciting because qualification had been so hard which I think the average Australian no longer thinks is the case. I can’t see Australia not qualifying for some time. We will certainly qualify in 2022.
By far the most important moment in Australian sport is the formation of the AIS.
October 15th 2010 @ 5:59pm
Luke Doherty said | October 15th 2010 @ 5:59pm | Report comment
That’s a good point re the AIS. Not exactly a moment to make 75 thousand go wild but important all the same. I think December 2 when FIFA gives us the world cup (I’m feeling confident) that could kick start things again and last for some time.
October 15th 2010 @ 10:55pm
Tortion said | October 15th 2010 @ 10:55pm | Report comment
Yeah who knows? I think we will get it but I’d say I am probably with the majority in saying that it would be great if we got it but my life won’t change either way.
October 15th 2010 @ 6:00pm
BigAl said | October 15th 2010 @ 6:00pm | Report comment
For sheer delerious excitement and wide spread expressions of joy (including the PM) you couldn’t beat the Americas Cup win.
At the time I was as over the moon as any/every one – but looking back now it all seems a bit cringeworthy !
I certainly wouldn’t get excited about another challenge.
October 15th 2010 @ 7:32pm
sheek said | October 15th 2010 @ 7:32pm | Report comment
BigAl,
If a sporting achievement is measured by its elusiveness, then the America’s Cup is right up there. The American schooner America won a sailing race off Cowes, England in 1854, & the owners of the ship were presented with a cup by Queen Victoria which they of course, named the America’s Cup.
The America’s Cup was held by the Americans from 1854 to 1983, a span of 129 years. While challengers were at irregular intervals, it became the symbol of the most elusive but most desired prize. Great names of industry like Sopwith (aircraft) , Lipton (tea) & Bic (pens) all failed to secure the prize.
Until of course, a bunch of crazy but talented & determined Aussies came along in 1983……
October 16th 2010 @ 8:44am
abnutta said | October 16th 2010 @ 8:44am | Report comment
Agree. Added to the fact that the Americas Cup is still the oldest contested trophy in international sport.
October 16th 2010 @ 11:57am
warlach said | October 16th 2010 @ 11:57am | Report comment
Couldn`t agree more! Any event that sells the entire country out of Champagne and green and gold ribbon has to rate as “The One”. Coincidently, it broke the longest stranglehold in world sport at the same time.
October 16th 2010 @ 3:49pm
BigAl said | October 16th 2010 @ 3:49pm | Report comment
yes ! – which led to Australia changing it’s ‘official’ sports colours from blue&gold to green&gold..