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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?