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The word ‘tragedy’ is thrown around a lot in sport. For once it’s warranted, as New Zealand batsman Jesse Ryder was beaten into a coma last night.
Ryder was set upon by four men in an apparently unprovoked attack outside a restaurant in the Christchurch suburb of Merivale.
He is currently in intensive care, with a fractured skull and a range of internal injuries.
Witnesses have all expressed bemusement as to how the bashing began, with a series of punches inside the venue’s courtyard soon spilling over into the street, where Ryder was surrounded, beaten and kicked as he lay on the ground.
One witness was also sure that the attackers knew Ryder’s identity.
The news is devastatingly unfair. Where the Ryder of the past was suspended from the New Zealand several times over alcohol-related incidents, the batsman had taken a sabbatical from international cricket and was trying to address his issues with drinking.
He seemed to have made good progress, with an in-form and happy domestic season, and looked set to come back stronger and better for the Black Caps when his self-imposed exile ended.
He was also set to fly out to India tomorrow to begin his Indian Premier League contract with the Delhi Daredevils under captain Mahela Jayawardene.
Even in the very best-case scenario, the attack will cost Ryder potentially the highest pay-day of his career, with that contract worth over $300,000 New Zealand dollars.
But far more important are the risks to his life, or the quality of it. There is no sign yet whether Ryder will make a recovery, or to what extent he will recover if he can.
With injuries of this nature, a return to elite sport is remote, but even a return to a reasonable level of health may be a distant challenge.
There is little one can say in these circumstances that doesn’t seem trite. Words are helpless against the nature of such attacks, the outrageous presumption of a group of people to actively ruin, in a few short minutes, the life of another.
There are no circumstances in which this sort of mentality should be allowed to prevail. Yet it persists, its gears oiled by a liberal helping of booze.
News reports have speculated over whether Ryder was drinking in the venue, as though this somehow renders him culpable.
It’s the same kind of attitude that has been so deservedly taken apart following the Steubenville trial in the US, where reports of rape are routinely accompanied with descriptions of what the victim had been wearing or drinking.
Victims should never be cast as inviting their own assaults. Full stop.
Had Ryder started a fight, you could imply some culpability. But witness reports don’t give any support to this. And even one man throwing a punch would never invite such a sustained response from four others.
In recent months, Ryder had been maturely managing his own recovery. His story was a source of quiet inspiration to many.
Now, Ryder faces another recovery, one whose outcome lies far less squarely in his own hands. A career is forgotten as a life must first be saved.
A tragedy indeed.