For sports writers, it’s been one of those weeks. It’s only Tuesday and yet, already, the sheer number of news stories flowing in are starting to pile up.
And while many of them were expected – like the Origin teams being announced or the Socceroos’ impending World Cup qualification – many of them have been truly unexpected. More than that, they’ve been unwanted.
It started last week with the news that Australian batsman David Warner was involved in a physical altercation with an English cricket player. Warner was quickly fined and suspended for four weeks amidst allegations that he has a drinking problem – something that the opener has vehemently denied.
The news quickly then turned on footballer James Tamou, who was caught drink driving despite being four times over the legal limit.
Tamou – one of the stars of NSW’s Game 1 Origin heroics – was quickly suspended by the National Rugby League for two games and shamed for his actions. He will not take part in Origin 2 on June 26.
That, however, would be only the tip of the iceberg.
Monday brought with it the now infamous Blake Ferguson saga, with the Canberra Raiders’ star formally charged by police for indecent assault. He was suspended by the NRL, and while the Raiders might plan to stand by their troubled centre (per Canberra Times), the reality is that Ferguson’s image – along with the game of rugby league – has already been tarnished beyond repair for now.
Canberra, like so many others, is both “speechless” and “disappointed”.
However, even that news was overshadowed by what was to be revealed around lunchtime on Tuesday with the revelations that Victoria police have charged St. Kilda star Stephen Milne with four counts of rape following an alleged attack on a woman in 2004. Milne – a two-time All-Australian – continues to protest his innocence, but investigations are now set to take on an entirely different look.
Much like the sporting complexion of Australia.
See, sport is as fundamental to the identity of Australia as anything else.
It’s what unites and divides us all at the same time. It is what allows us to develop and harness relationships that we otherwise would never have thought to grow. And for the most part, sport plays that role perfectly.
Wander down to your local footy field or soccer ground on Saturday and you’ll see it. Take the stands at the ANZ Championship or soak up the sunshine mixed with wind at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and you’ll see it too. Talk to someone at your local pub or bar when the footy’s on and they’ll be calling you “mate” in an instant.
But sport, like seemingly everything else in the world, has a dark side to it as well.
It isn’t always celebratory cheers and incredible comebacks. It isn’t all about mate-ship, camaraderie and rejoicing over shared victories.
As this month alone can testify, sport has its dark spots. And when the light of the media and public scrutiny finds those dark spots – or the dark spots find them – it’s clear that not everything and everyone involved in sports is a positive thing.
Not everyone can be a hero.
In fact, for there to be a hero, there must be a villain. For there to be the “good guys” in sport, there must also be the “bad guys”.
The “bad guys” per se, are evident. That’s not to say that the players themselves are evil and that everything they do for all of time will be bad. Anyone who thinks that way seems to misunderstand that athletes are still humans; they are prone to the same mistakes and same problems as everyone else. What it does mean is that the “bad guys” are the ones that, for however long, lower the effectiveness of sport.
They reduce the impact of what sport can do, and right now, the image of sport is perhaps lower than we’ve seen in a long time.
Now is not the time for them.
Now is the time for sporting heroes, and for good guys to re-emerge once more.
What we need now is for the successes of athletes to make front-page news. Instead of celebrating an impending World Cup berth, victory in Hockey, and the prospect of defeating the British and Irish Lions, the news is filled with names like George Burgess, Glen Boss and the slew of fallen stars listed above.
That’s got to change immediately. We don’t need their names right now.
What we need, are the names of sport’s “good guys”.
I’m not sure where all the good guys have gone in sport. But one thing I do know – we, as viewers and fans of sport right around this beautiful country, need them to emerge out of the woodwork and give us something to cheer about.
Chief Justice Earl Warren once said that he always turned to the sports section first. His reasoning was that the sports section records people’s accomplishments while the front page records nothing but people’s failures. But at this rate, our back pages are soon going to bear an uncanny resemblance to the front.
For that, sport needs its good guys to shine.
Be that the Socceroos, the Wallabies, Queensland or New South Wales. Whoever you’re cheering for and in whatever code you’re following, cheer for the good guys to win and for sports news to be filled with positive stories once more.
Goodness knows we need it now more than ever.
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