Australian Rules football was invented to keep cricketers fit over the winter months and for many years it did just that in the southern states. There were many very fine cricketers in Victoria that played footy at a good level.
But then money happened to footy. And then footy ravaged basketball, cricket and many other sports in Victoria.
The AFL has an excellent talent identification scheme and they provide an excellent path for young players to earn more money than they are ready for.
Most of us know that David Hookes said that the paper bag that contained the New South Wales representative cap also contained a baggy green.
For many Victorians that was giving voice to something they had felt for the past 15 years, that selection in the Australian team was biased towards NSW players.
My hypothesis is that only a small percentage of the best available Victorian talent is making it through to the state cricket squad. Further to that, for whatever reason, I think that the Victorian system has not nurtured those players appropriately.
As I understand, Hookes may have denied Victorian Michael Klinger some opportunities. Klinger lost his best chance because he didn’t play enough games (and therefore get enough runs) at the right time.
Perhaps Hookes could (and should) have spent more time helping Klinger to overcome his supposed weaknesses. And maybe he did so, but it doesn’t seem that way from the outside.
What I do know is that in the past 15 years there have only been a handful of Vics who were earmarked for greater honours and to discard one of only a handful seems terribly wasteful.
But what about Brad Hodge? What about Siddons, Elliott or Berry? I could could on forever.
Then there’s the bowlers; I’d argue that this trend actually affects them (especially fast bowlers) more than any other cricketer because they have an AFL body type: tall, wiry and athletic (Siddle being an exception).
The AFL is culpable for the relative lack of Victorian wearers of the baggy green. Australian cricket needs many more players putting pressure on the privileged few for a place in the Aussie team and state cricket needs the same from grade cricketers.
Shut your eyes and imagine Aussie cricket in an alternative universe where Shane Warne was just a little better at footy. One of the best players ever to play cricket gone, and for what? A four or five-year career as a bit part St Kilda player.
I’d go so far as to argue that pretty much all of the current Bushrangers side would be struggling to make the Vic seconds if AFL did not take the talent.
Recently I was told that of the 80-odd kids that started playing junior cricket with an acquaintance’s son, only three are still playing at the age of 18.
I understand that cricket is a sport that requires a large time commitment and that no matter how good you are, one good ball (or bad shot) is all it takes for you to be watching a great game from the boundary.
I’ve played enough to know that the game is cruel in that way, but is also rewarding because success is so challenging. But in many other sports one mistake doesn’t put you out of the game. In an era of instant gratification that counts against cricket.
At another club I know that there are several players still in their late 30s playing in the first team. And I don’t think it’s solely a case of selection preference.
There are not enough juniors coming through. Parents are time poor and after spending winter months at Auskick clinics don’t want to take their kids to cricket too.
In playgrounds in Victoria many kids play footy, even in summer. Maybe it’s the same in NSW and Queensland with rugby, but I wouldn’t know.
In spite of good results over the past five years (two shield, one one day and three T20 titles) cricket in Victoria is in trouble.
I don’t have hard and fast statistics or mountains of evidence, it’s just a nagging itch. No news there, I hear you say – but there is, because what the AFL has done to cricket here is coming to NSW and Queensland.
Additionally, the AFL can offer reasonable remuneration to over 600 players in any one year (and then there’s the next tier such as the VFL which can also offer some money).
Cricket would find it hard to offer decent money to more than a third of that number. The best cricketers are very well paid; they play a global game and have better endorsement opportunities. They arguably finish their career with a much more intact body as well.
But it’s hard to sell that to an 18 year old who thinks he’s invincible. Good on the AFL, they are doing what they need to do to grow their business.
This is something Cricket Australia and the state associations have to think about. If they don’t, England may win the next five Ashes series and that would be a tragedy worse than Collingwood winning the next five AFL premierships.
Duncan Gering
Guest
Cameron, I would if there were more proof, but as it stands the AFL has done such a good job of athlete identification that rugby (and league and football) have a lot of work to do to catch up.
Duncan Gering
Guest
Andy, the opening was there, so I took it. I still think that the Pies will win this year (if that's any consolation).
JVGO
Guest
Regarding basketball in which Victoria has been the traditional powerhouse and absolutely dominated at National level. Vic Metro has won the last 13 U16 girls titles in a row for instance. However NSW metro has won the last three U18 boys Australian titles after failing to win a title for the previous 30 years. The Victorian boys traditional dominance is fading away beyond U16 level. Notably by the way the Gold Coast Blaze pulled out of the NBL yesterday due to lack of sponsorship. That's 2 out of 4 professional teams on the GC out of action since the advent of the unilaterally funded GCS.
JVGO
Guest
Regarding the impact of insularity the title of the article actually addresses the issue. Victoria has for long held that there is a conspiracy against it in regards cricket selection and the article points out that this is actually far more likely the result of the influence of AFL. If you lack an objective criteria for judging yourselves or interacting with your competitors it is pretty likely you will revert to paranoid delusional thinking such as a conspriacy theory. America patently suffers from this syndrome. Other delusions central to Melbourne's justifications of its own insularity are that it is somehow the greatest sporting city in the world (based strictly on AFL I imagine) and that it is in every way superior to Sydney. These are massive delusions, just ask anyone from the rest of the world. If Australia becomes anymore insular or delusional than it already is it could be pretty scary.
JVGO
Guest
The article is actually about AFL's impact on cricket with Victoria being the model and examplar.
JVGO
Guest
You lot are the ones being defensive. AFL is under no threat in the Southern States and I have never advocated any reduction of its stranglehold there. The argument simply is that if Australia wants to remain competitive in the international sports which are primarily selected from the northern states, in particular cricket, the rugby codes and soccer as well as the olympic sports, then the push by AFL to supplant the other sports and dominate to any extent similar to the way it does in the southern states needs to be resisted and the obvious outcome needs to recognised and peoples decisions need to be made on that informed basis. For me (and I'm sure most northerners) I get way more enjoyment out of watching the wide array of sports in the northern states and the way our Australian teams compete in them than I will ever get from watching a monolithic club competition between the likes of Geelong, Essendon or Fremantle. The traditional balanced fabric of the different sports in the northern states has a proven track record of creating highly competitive international sportsmen and teams. Over 50% of players to represent the socerroos for instance have derived from Western Sydney. There is every indication, as this article points out, that the AFL centric model in the southern states doesn't provide this outcome to anywhere near the same extent. to me the expansion of AFL culture nationally threatens a massive loss to our sporting culture for the prospect of very little gain.
Redb
Roar Guru
Only have yourself to blame Brett, you agreed with known anti AFL troll JVGO. #tarred :)
Cameron
Guest
But not all good batsmen turn out to be good captain's as well - get it?
Brew
Guest
Fair point, Storybridge. In basketball that player would have a number of opportunities to play at international level for overseas clubs and for the Boomers. There is nothing worse than living in a state where AFL dominates the media, and, at the same time the AFL decision makers won't allow a team to exist in the state. ARL is the next most parochial Aussie sport. To think that State Of Origin is considered more intense than international league is cause for concern. International competition should ideally be the zenith in any sport.
Charles
Guest
Agreed, look what they did to Copeland as well, even though he did absolutely nothing wrong! Why can;t they see the value in players like McDonald and Copeland, they serve a great purpose...narrow minded is all.
me, I like football
Guest
What are you talking about?
me, I like football
Guest
Brew, you seem to think that Aussie-rules supporters think that their sport is some international juggernaut, guess what they don't and more imprtantly they don't care, and most don't want it to be. Stop making strawman arguments to justify your hate for a sport.
me, I like football
Guest
You say that as though it's a bad thing.
me, I like football
Guest
come on AR, Clarke was touted as a future captain by the Sydney media long before he donned a baggy-green and was therefore given more oppurtunity in his early years than that was afforded to most other batsman as good or better at the time. Lucky for them he has proved to be a capable player, but so could of a number of batsman if given the same oppurtunity.
me, I like football
Guest
Too bad, the other sporting bodies should make their sports more attractive
me, I like football
Guest
then what's the problem?
Disco
Roar Guru
If the selectors weren't so obsessed with bowling fast, McDonald could well have been a regular in both formats over the past few years.
BigAl
Guest
No they're not! . . . http://esvc000101.wic055u.server-web.com/about/index.html
Rab4life
Guest
Ok this is what i don't understand these players they have the size, speed etc to make it to aussie rules yet they haven't played the game at all and clubs would rather pick these players over those who have played the game since they were a kid go figure.....The only thing i get out of this article is that it doesn't take much to make in the sport and makes the sport look easy.
Storybridge
Guest
It's not just cricket. During the telecast of the Tigers vs Suns game, the commentators were remarking about one of the Suns players who had excelled at high jump and could have been on his way to London, all while remarking what a wonderful story it was. So instead of going to the Olympics for an unforgettable experience and the chance to be immortalised as an Australian gold medallist, he's instead playing for an AFL team that may be lucky to win 1 game a year, almost certain to be discarded if it doesn't work out, with virtually no recognition. That the AFL/NRL duopoly are poaching so many talented sportspeople and spitting them out should be of concern.