The Roar
The Roar

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Sport's loving heart

Sean Abbott's could be an option for the upcoming ODI series against India. (AFP / Marwan Naamani)
Expert
28th November, 2014
1

The death of Philip Hughes, and the suffering of Sean Abbott, has grabbed the hearts of the nation and squeezed them hard with both hands. We can’t explain the deep sadness we feel, and have labelled it a tragedy.

But tragedy has a formula. A good man is undone by his own actions under the influence of a villain. The villain’s actions give everyone who retells the story the right to take the moral high ground, to embroider into the tragedy a thread of their righteousness.

Tragedy has become clichéd, the word we use to explain things that make us sad and angry.

Tragedy is not the word to describe the inexplicable accident that has caught Philip Hughes and Sean Abbott amidst. We’re sad and confused because there are no bad actions, no villains, and no moral high ground.

Young men are beautiful, exuberant risk takers. They die at a frightening rate. They’re not wired to manage risk and their excitement often gets the better of them. If they had no access to alcohol, drugs and cars, nearly all of them would make it to 30.

Everyone who loves a young man secretly dreads that his excitement, his confidence and his sheer joy for life will be the end of them. We hope that running with a pack of good men led by a level headed alpha male is a safe place for a young bloke finding his feet in the world of men.

Sport is his best insurance against injury and death.

Hughes and Abbott were well insured against misadventure. They were doing everything right and the tragedy formula couldn’t kick in. There were no ill-considered actions, no villains, and no malevolent influences.

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Nothing was meant to go wrong once, let alone twice. That’s the double sting.

It’s not a tragedy, it’s a horrible accident.

It’s a reminder that, sometimes, life can be terribly unfair and desperately sad. And it’s nobody’s fault.

Sports fans habitually focus on what separates them, not what unites them. Hughes and Abbott are at the centre of the rarest of sporting moments – a loss that has united people and brought out the very kindest in them.

It’s a sadness that has reminded us that people are capable of being united by compassion and love. The goodness that binds people is stronger than anything that can divide them.

Vale Philip Hughes, and a heartfelt thanks to your family for sharing their beloved son with cricket fans the world over. Sean Abbott, everyone who has heard your story has lost a little bit of their heart to you.

It’s yours to keep as you walk towards brighter days.

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