They say you should never meet your idol, for the risk is too great of being disappointed. Well, I’ve never met my ultimate sporting hero, and now wish he’d disappear from public view altogether.
At least once every three or four months I venture to YouTube to reacquaint myself with the wizardly on-field feats of Shane Warne. I gasp as he Gatting’s Mike or Cullinan’s Darryl or Strauss’s Andrew.
After all these years I still strain my eyes to analyse his grip, his wrist position, his delivery points, his follow through. You see, it was Warne who made me give up bowling pace as a ten-year-old due to his mesmerising mastery of the English during the 1993 Ashes.
My coaches couldn’t understand it – I was way taller than my teammates yet I wanted to forego the new ball and bowl spin? I wasn’t the only kid, though, who had been hypnotised by Warne and woken up as a newborn leggie.
Wrist spinners started to spread throughout my underage competition and even dads could be seen practising their flippers on the sidelines.
At this age I adored watching cricket, but relished playing it even more. I would leave our lounge room door open, with the TV volume unreasonably high, so I could spin webs around my mates in the garden while keeping an eye on the Australian cricket team’s latest match.
But the minute Warne was handed the ball there was a swift break in our play which lasted as long as he bowled. Every fizzing, swerving, dipping Warne delivery offered nourishment and promised celebration.
I wouldn’t even speak to my friends or family about what we were witnessing, so intense was the moment, so locked was my gaze. Not until the end of his over, once I momentarily broke loose from Warne’s spell, did I start excitedly recounting and scrutinising his six deliveries.
Sitting on the couch, I’d flick a ball from my right hand to my left, mimicking his famous habit, until my Mum would tersely remind me of our agreement not to break the parts of the house I hadn’t already damaged.
This obsession with Warne continued all the way into the mid-2000s – even as a grown adult I still saw him as my comic book hero. For 15 years, there was no one on earth I wanted to meet more than Warne.
Then he quit international cricket but tried to retain the limelight, sometimes in unedifying ways. Warne hates the tabloid media, he says, yet you sense he also courts it and revels in the attention given to his pantsman exploits.
The stories and photographs of the timeworn Casanova with his latest nubile squeeze are evidence that he is still in ‘The Game’. That even retirement can’t stop him from chalking up stats.
While his cheating ways as a married man had disgusted me, back then I mostly was distracted by his phenomenal on-field exploits. His philandering as a single man is not of any interest to me, and is not the reason I have gone off him to such an extent.
It’s his mean-spirited, vengeful attitude I can no longer ignore. Warne was justified in criticising Marlon Samuels both during the Australian summer and in the West Indies’ semi-final win against India last week.
Samuels was awful against Australia, playing as if he did not care, while in the recent semi-final his dismissal was the result of a horrendous and lazy stroke. But Warne’s rebukes of Samuels were not the observations of a professional commentator. Instead, they were imbued with ire and malice.
Warne had an infamous run-in with Samuels in the Big Bash League a few summers ago. History shows that, even above holding a ball or a woman, Warne loves to hold a grudge. He does not easily forgive and forget.
This is evident in the vindictive comments he has made time and again about old colleagues like champion Test captain Steve Waugh and former Australia coach John Buchanan.
Waugh’s crime simply was dropping Warne from the Test team at a time when that was a rational decision. Buchanan, meanwhile, largely seemed to get Warne offside by requesting he show a respectable level of fitness.
Buchanan and Waugh both have resisted the urge to bite back viciously at Warne over the years. If anything, their responses to his public sledging have suggested puzzlement at Warne’s vitriol. Both men clearly have moved on. Warne has not.
Now it’s time for me to follow the lead of Buchanan and Waugh. I have thought about writing this article several times in the past 18 months, only to decide against it.
Was there a part of me holding out hope Warne would belatedly mature and I could still realise my boyhood dream of being best mates with him? Maybe he’d add my face to that gaudy mural in his home, teach me how to master the zooter, and let me cheer him on at poker events.
Well, this is me officially putting that giddy notion to bed. While I’m sure the cricketers I write about very rarely read my opinions, there’s something about Warne that suggests he will find this piece.
And then I’ll be on his blacklist. That chubby kid who idolised him in every way, who moulded his junior sporting career around emulating him, will be just another person Warne considers a prick.
So be it. The dream is over.
Wise Old Elf
Guest
The reason why Steve Waugh needs these verification article says it all about the bloke I reckon. The true greats did not need this, they are undisputed.
Chinmusick
Roar Rookie
Ronan, I love your articles. The nostalgia that you brought back for me watching Warney bowl as a kid was breathtaking. Judging by your timeline we are roughly the same age and all I ever wanted to do was bowl leggies like him! - I have to agree that he is not the sort of bloke that is going to be best mates with everyone, but I think you have to realise that you need to be an egotostical, self-centred cockhead in order scale the lofty heights that he has. Even if you aren't that way as a kid growing up - When the whole world is bowing at your feet and telling you how good you are for a decade you are bound to come out a different man at the end. Ever listened to Elvis? Of course you have - Absolute turd of a man, punched more women than he did hamburgers, but he'll always be the king because of his music. I still think Warney is one of the most insightful brains to listen to when he's actually talking cricket. And if you haven't seen the Master Class he did for SKY UK during the 2013 ashes then you really need to do yourself a favour!!!
Disco Stu
Guest
I've long had a simple method of judging a celebrity. Would I like to sit and have a quiet beer with them? Warne would arguably be one of the top 5 cricketers of all time, but if given the chance to have a beer with a sportsman of my choice, he would not be anywhere near my top 5 choices.
Craig Swanson
Guest
Nice trip down memory lane Ronan. I expect you were not the only youngster wanting to bowl like the great tweaker. He probably spawned (in cricket terms) thousands of kids to take up spin. Trouble was he was a once in a generation bowler. If not a century. So replacing him was a herculean task. CA tried and discarded many ruining career after career in the search for the next Warne. Yes the man was a unique bowler. His gem that deceived Mike Gatting will live long in my memory. His masterful hold over Darryl Cullinan, who was a very good a player but went to water when facing the "shiek". I like so many others have lauded Warne's onfield play but lamented his offield exploits. He was not a good role model. Somehow he could not see that as he went from one embarrassing situation to another.
Matthew Tomczyk
Roar Pro
The one question that comes to mind is that would Warne be Warne without those foibles? And would you prefer a Shane Warne in your team or a Shane Watson? Watson never took drugs, matchfixed, sent a dick pic to a woman but will be remembered in history as mediocre at best.
jameswm
Roar Guru
Just read this article. Nice Read, Ronan. Unfortunately for Warnie, he was one of the 5 or so greatest cricketers who lived, but is still a nob. Such is life.
xavialonso
Roar Rookie
I think the common phrase that we all use to sum up Warnie is "Great bowler, absolute legend of the game, but a shiitty excuse of a human being." Not everyone can be great at everything.
AlanKC
Guest
If you're trying to teach them in their teens you've missed the boat, good parenting/role modelling starts way earlier than that and outlives the teenage hotbloodedness.
HarryT
Guest
Ronan, I think you are over analysing Warne. The central appeal of Warne is a mesmerising personality. It features in every aspect of his life and is the reason for his success. Us sport lovers claim he is the greatest bowler ever. and while his wicket taking is indisputable, it is the way he took those wickets that made us love him. The arrogant confidence, the mystery ball, the shocked disbelief at turned down appeals and the aggressive sledge, were all parts of a personality that made some of the best cricketers in the world seem like bit part extras to the Warnie main event. I have seen this charisma in business and politics and the thing about it is that any number of bad traits can't diminish its lustre. And this is the point. No matter how appalling we judge some aspect of Warnie's life, there are others who are in rapturous awe of his achievements/indiscretions. Just look at the number of followers on social media, the TV ratings, the income, the endorsements and of course the notches on the bed head. Anyone who saw that jungle show would have witnessed how the cameras, fellow actors and the audiences were enthralled by Warnie. Just imagine how dire that show would have been without him. His post cricket career is extremely successful. That is very unusual. Warnie has moved on and he has a whole new and younger audience these days who revere him as we did and like us, they willingly overlook his shortcomings. It is only because we are not part of this new audience that we are no longer prepared to forgive, but it is us who have changed, not Warne.
Shaan
Guest
Kumble...hahahaha..WTF (Warne was 10000000000 times better than kumble, kumble was just an ordinary bowler like venkatesh prasad....lol)
Tinfoil Hat
Guest
Personal issues aside, I would still rather listen to Warne talk about cricket than you.
Bee bee
Guest
Thanks Darren. I guess I have been Trumped. I thought he was a successful businessman. Seems he just a rich boy who's just lived a rich boy life. At least Warne got where he is with hard work, passion for the game and talent. Gives perspective really. No matter how much of a narcissistic twerp you think Warne is he still seems like a good bloke next to Don T the Donkey.
Fred
Guest
Fascinating insight
mohan lal
Guest
I agree on ronan artical but warne to think about that
mohan
Guest
I think warne to stop these things and should think about aus coaching role
mohan
Guest
But sk warne was a very good bowl so we respect him
Alex
Guest
He does lack massively in class and gravitas especially compared to others who've sat behind a microphone in the past i.e. Benaud, Aggers, Maxwell etc ... The thing with Warne is that he often makes up for it by having the absolute best cricket brain in the stadium.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Thanks for the feedback everyone.
Tim Gore
Expert
This is a magnificent piece. Shane Warne was my absolute sporting hero and I forgave him and defended him for all his many trespasses. Now he is just an embarrassment.
Michael Keeffe
Roar Guru
Well written Ronan. The thing about Warney is if he'd actually stayed out of the limelight when he retired he'd be remembered in a good light by all. We'd remember the champion player he was and the off-field things that happened during his career would diminish with time. But he has to constantly be in the spotlight and so now whenever Warne's name is mentioned we don't think of the champion player but more the tosser we keep hearing about in the media. No one will ever question his greatness as a player, but we actually won't spend much time talking about it. I do wonder how he will be remembered in 50 years time, but for the foreseeable future it won't be in a good light.