Australia prides itself as a place where sports stars, like the prime minister himself, can appear in public without too many constraints. But for how long?
Cricketer Andrew Symonds may have been contemplating that question on a day when Nick D’Arcy pleaded guilty to an assault which left fellow swimmer Simon Cowley with five permanent titanium plates securing fractures to his jaw, eye socket, hard palate, cheek bone and nose.
The names will change but recent history indicates the headlines will stay the same, unless there is an abrupt cultural change amongst sportsmen, the public or both.
When Symonds was approached by a photograph hunter while drinking with rugby league players in a Brisbane hotel on Sunday night, he was already on a final behaviour warning from Cricket Australia.
That followed a series of fines, suspensions and incidents involving drunkenness, nightclub arguments, no-shows for the team bus and a team meeting, and the player’s own admission he had an alcohol problem and a stress-related illness.
Symonds denied any wrongdoing at the Normanby Hotel.
He was said to be drinking light beers, it was early, around 7pm, the other patron was ejected, Symonds left soon after, and police were not called.
Symonds said in a statement the other man, reportedly an armed forces official, had “acted unreasonably towards me while I was with friends, at which time I took steps to remove myself from the situation”.
It may be unwise for someone already in cricket’s last-chance saloon to a) drink; b) drink in public; and c) drink in public with rugby league players.
But it is not illegal, and it does not contravene any code.
Neither is it illegal to decline to be photographed with a complete stranger, or to be curt in declining such a request, not that anyone has suggested Symonds was rude.
He may in fact have behaved impeccably in the face of an unwarranted intrusion from a member of the public.
A CA investigation is yet to determine all of that.
It’s unfortunate this incident occurred just one match after Symonds returned from a suspension, though poor timing isn’t a crime, either.
An adverse finding could result in the 33-year-old all-rounder being kicked out of international cricket.
But even if he was a blameless victim, he has featured in more unsavoury headlines and he might think twice the next time his sporting mates suggest a drink.
It was such an outing that ended in the death of David Hookes four years ago.
Players have had good reason to be wary of the public in recent years, and the reverse is certainly true.
If the trend continues, however, sports stars will end up living in hermetically sealed bubbles.
It will be us and them, mixing like oil and water.
And what sort of open, egalitarian sporting nation will that leave us with?
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