We know about the issues that cricket has faced. The ball-tampering scandal ruined the standards of the current Australian men’s cricket team, taking away key players because of their illegal insistence to win.
It led to Dave Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft being ostracised into months of exile, treated like criminals due to their arrogant disregard of time-honoured rules and ethics. The dust hasn’t fully settled, yet it is widely recognised that Australian cricket’s culture crisis bubbled over in Johannesburg on that fateful day.
But is cricket the only sport with these kinds of cultural issues?
We see it on an annual basis. Well-paid individuals like Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios rely on a lack of training and a year spent throwing tantrums and bridling themselves in some type of controversy when coming into the most important two-week home grand slam they face and receive warm welcomes until they are bundled out in a fit of anger.
As the years progress, we have seen the tantrums increase to the point where they turn on their own compatriots, slamming Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt and complaining about the lack of preference they receive. How is this not worse than the one-off ball-tampering incident that occurred in March 2018?
When the press made clear the circumstances in South Africa, the public outcry was fierce, and it has barely relented every time the issue has been brought up. People have rigidly affirmed that they won’t watch Australian cricket again because of the trio, while others have claimed that their children have been marred by the poor behaviour of their role models.
Yet at the same time we see Tomic make a fool of himself on the tennis circuit while getting paid marvellously. When the Australian Open comes around we pin our hopes on him and Kyrgios because of their potential when they first broke onto the scene, not because of their poor work ethic and immature behaviour.
I know that an individualistic sport like tennis provides different mental challenges and stresses on the players, but this behaviour should never be tolerated. They receive barely a punishment, only a loss of the money, which they accrue so quickly and heavily.
In rugby league, we hear about whole squads being blacklisted from nightclubs and areas in Sydney because of their behaviour there. Role models? I don’t think so.
AFL players have steadily become involved in lewd text scandals and are recorded consuming illicit drugs. These illicit substances have resulted in many more problems that have tarnished the game.
I recognise cricket has had its fair share of controversy and cultural issues. The perpetrators were dealt with harshly and fairly. But is that just the tip of the iceberg? Is this a wider issue that has infiltrated our national pride in sport?
Perhaps our indulgence of and infatuation with sport has created such a bubble of pressure that we can’t help but produce copious amounts of sportspeople who act poorly and arrogantly to the point of creating embarrassing scandals.
This isn’t just a cricket issue. As proven by certain tennis players and other Australian sports, this could all be under the umbrella of one central issue that is sweeping over our sporting landscape.
Unless harsher punishments are dealt by sports other than cricket, we may never truly right these wrongs and properly punish these immature individuals who exploit our love for sport for their own selfish and material benefit.
CJ
Guest
Agree with a lot of your comments. As to the generational issues, see photos from the fifties and there are legions on young kids getting tennis lessons on suburban and country courts in Queensland and like places. To succeed in tennis now requires a lot of money and dedication. Not every one has that kind of money and not as many kids now want to grind it out 6 hours a day. Of course too, we don't have a Harry Hopman to force the elites to do it. How would he have dealt with Tomic? The thing about the big three (well, there are so many) is that when they take enforced breaks from tennis through injury, they use the time off to hone their game. Like Rafa and his serve. Never thought of Newcombe as a tool. Rather, a great servant of Australian tennis.
Matt H
Roar Guru
Player managers ...
IAP
Guest
I dunno, there's been lots of tantrums at this year's Aus Open, and they haven't come from Australians. It's trendy to self-flagellate at the moment, but we're really no worse than anyone else.
Wal
Roar Guru
I think the problem stems from the hangers on, slowly the more senior players of any given sport have had their influence over the next generation eroded by the clingers and yes men. Plenty of young sports stars have over the years overstepped the mark, but in the past, there has been a senior there to give them a quiet word to pull their head in. Instead, a Kyrios, Tomic, Warner has an entourage telling they are victims and always in the right.
Bg100
Guest
The difference with Hewitt, Cash etc is they trained hard and had passion for the game outside of just money. De Minaur, Millman seem to be the same. Kyrios and Tomic look like they would rather be anywhere else than on the court. As soon as things get difficult it's someone else's fault, they don't fight to turn things around. It is this attitude that is the most disappointing thing to me.
BA Sports
Roar Guru
Your last paragraph is why I think it is hard to call it generational and infact hard to throw a blanket under everyone to account for the behaviour/performance issues. Was Lleyton always well behaved and loved and adored? no. Neither was Phiilipousis before him, or Cash before him. Masuer was a party boy, Newcombe and Edmonson wer and still can be tools. That is just in Tennis, the same can be applied acorss all sports i am sure.
Bilbo
Guest
I, like Damo, think it is more of a generational issue. I don't recall players in the 90's saying ey, do you know how I much I earn at press conferences or I don't need this sport, I can retire. Even Destanee Aiava said last year she's in it for the money. While I'm sure some players in the past felt or thought the same way, they were clever enough not to say it. Unlike what parts of the media has tried to make us believe, neither Nick nor Bernard were a serious chance of winning a slam in the past due to their lack of conditioning and mental toughness. There is a reason why Djoko, Nadal and Fed have won around 50 slams between them, they train hard and are mentally tough. The pleasing thing over the last six months is that the game and some of the attention has moved past Bernie and Nick. We now have players like De Minaur, Millman and Ebden ranked above them. These are humble, hard working players that deserve to fill our Davis Cup team.
Smiggle Jiggle
Roar Guru
When you promote entitled duds, then this is what you get.
Ben
Roar Guru
No, not just 'competitive'. That's a defeatist frame of mind. The culture problem within Australian sport is two-fold. On one hand we've lost the 'whatever it takes' approach, and simply settle for 'oh, you tried hard'. Than on the other hand, most teams seemingly aren't being picked on form, but rather the 'crowd pleaser' aproach. How the Australian test selectors even entertaintained the thought of selecting Aaron Finch is an example of this approach.
Lorraine Stacey
Guest
Couldn"t agree more,But we still keep watching!!
Damo
Guest
I'd go as far to say it's actually a generational issue that's not just isolated to sport. But that discussion is about a year's worth of articles.
jim boyce
Guest
I would argue it should not be about dominance on the field but being competitive at the top level. Failing to be dominant on the field , we seem to be intent on being dominant off the field for all the wrong reasons. I hope this is not happening to the Matildas but there seems to be an element of this in a number of other sports beside, Tennis, Cricket and League. Bit hard to see whether it is perculiar to just Australia, certainly does not seem to be evident in NZ.
Ben
Roar Guru
The culture problem is far worse than a few dummy spits and some sandpaper. We're no longer a country that prides ourselves on dominance in the sporting field. But rather material and superficial garbage. The easy stuff.