I’ve never understood people who have no interest in sport. I mistrust those minority miscreants. With so many sports available, there must be one they could find enjoyable.
A lot of people I’ve met who have no interest in sport give their love to politics. I can’t see the point. It doesn’t make sense.
John Howard 2007, loved like sport by some
I’ve been close to politics for about ten years. It has hardly been enjoyable, because I hate politics like I hate Essendon. The proximity, though, has given me insight to the psyche of those enmeshed in politics and provided valuable understanding of their passion.
Some people love politics more than sport. They are members of political parties and hand out voting cards during elections. They love and hate members of their own party like fans love and hate footballers.
Observing the political sycophants at close range has proved to me that politics imitates sport imitates life.
Save for the bat, ball or engine, there is virtually no difference.
Compare the Labor Party’s leadership battle to the crisis at Melbourne. The media coverage was the same, vindictive and rabid. Journalists called for Julia Gillard to quit, for Kevin Rudd to challenge. Journalists predicted Mark Neeld would be sacked as coach and pondered his replacement.
When Mickey Arthur was sacked as Australia’s cricket coach it came without warning. That shows how tight Cricket Australia is. Within hours journalists were outing Arthur as having lost his players and the faith of his employer.
Gillard was outed by caucus vote three months before the 2013 federal election. It’s up to Rudd to set another date.
Mickey Arthur was sacked by the board two weeks before the 2013 Ashes campaign. His replacement, Darren Boof Lehman, was appointed for the same reasons he was forced to wait so long to make his debut for Australia; because he likes a beer and a smoke during a chat.
Neeld was sacked midway through the 2013 season by a board vote. It was perceived as harsh, but whenever there is a problem change must be made. Competitors take notice and confidence is restored.
Sport, like life and politics, is built on trust. When that trust erodes, things implode. Plenty of people have been sacked by their partners in 2013, kicked out of relationships because of poor performance, broken promises or trust issues.
Gillard, who was sacked by the same mechanism she used to gain power, gave a dignified exit speech. She had no other option. Her words betrayed the truth. Only those close to her know how she really feels.
Neeld was the same. He was stoic and calm during his final press conference when he must’ve been furious and hurt. He also withheld the truth. Arthur did the same.
Few people in public life truly vent. If they do they are often described as bitter and fragile. People sacked out of relationships experience the same emotions but, like the aforementioned sacked, they can vent to their friends and family without fear of public reprisal.
Rudd, after losing a challenge last year, declared he would never challenge again. At the time his regret was seen as genuine. No one questioned his motive for telling the truth. It turned out to be lies.
But truth is restricted to timing. As renowned boxing promoter Bob Arum once famously said, yesterday I was lying, today I’m telling the truth.
Truth is open to interpretations. When second chances are offered, truth is flexible and easily rejected.
How many times have you heard an aggrieved mate say his relationship was over, we’re not getting back together, ever. Yet in two weeks, your mate’s life is encumbered by the same woman.
People get second chances. Men and women reform relationships despite major breaches of trust. Politics is no different. Sport is no different either. How many coaches have uttered the cliché, I will never coach again, I don’t have the fire.
Malcolm Blight and Mick Malthouse are two famous and recent examples. No different to Rudd’s determination that he was through with leadership challenges, or your mate’s assertion that he’s had it.
The truth is nobody knows what to believe.
One of the clichés in football suggests there are two types of coaches, sacked coaches and those waiting to be.
It’s the same in life and politics.
Clubs and coaches pride themselves on teaching footballers how to play and teaching boys how to be men in life. Life teaches people how to behave and nurture relationships. Politics is the same. Great leaders are rightly honoured.
But sport, life and politics also teaches people how to backstab, denigrate, cheat, lie and conspire.
Football, life and politics, despite being separate and entwined entities, are inherently the same. The only difference is the industry.
Friends today are enemies tomorrow. The player a rookie learns from is the same man he wants to tip out of the team. The woman you’re coveting is looking at your partner and hoping to unseat her. The opposition MP wants to expose his opponent’s ignorance and inability to lead.
Unsettle, disturb, ruin, to prove you’re better. These are the similarities between life, football and politics. It’s tough to stay involved.
We make examples of others, whether they are sportspeople, politicians or mates. We don’t try to live their life but we often crave it.
When there is crisis we learn, but learning is often limited. People learn what they will.
A week ago, Essendon captain Jobe Watson admitted to taking drugs. His admission has earned him praise for humility and his determination to tell the truth. Well done him, but it doesn’t change the fact he may be a drug cheat. It doesn’t alter Essendon’s attempt at breaking the rules.
Rudd has come back, determined to learn from history, but a lot of his peers don’t want to work with him.
Arthur was sacked for being too rigid at training and too lackadaisical off the field, yet he’s touted as Queensland’s next coach.
Neeld was sacked with extreme prejudice but his worth is hardly diminished. His stint as senior coach will be enough to get him a gig as an assistant next year. It will be just like going to the back bench, as Rudd did, and as plenty of senior coaches have done.
Loyalty, like passion, is transferrable, to clubs, political parties and partners. We move on because we have to.
Sport is a social lubricant that keeps Australia rolling. It penetrates society, holding it together. Politics is the limitation and the law, on what we can and can’t do. Our relationships are based on love, limitations and moralistic laws.
We admire athletes and love sport or politics. But never place all your faith in love and admiration. They are simply sportsmen and politicians. We will never have full control over either industry.
We may hate the machinations of politics and brutal nature of sport, but our lives are the same. The only difference is that we have full control over our lives.
Pride Cup results:
|
88 |
Adam G (7) |
|
86 |
Kristine (6), Matt (7), Russ (7) |
|
85 |
Anne (6) |
|
82 |
Sandra (5) |
|
81 |
Wayne (6), Stevo (5), Andy (6) |
|
79 |
The Pole (5) |
|
77 |
Adam L (5), Matt B (4) |
|
76 |
James F (5) |
|
74 |
Dallas (6) |
|
71 |
Jim (7) |
