Australian Cricketer...

[La Colombe]

... looks like someone's been tampering with his balls. What were they playing at? Idiots. 

 

 

[woody2]

11 minutes ago, La Colombe said:

... looks like someone's been tampering with his balls. What were they playing at? Idiots. 

 

 

cricket........

[Shake me up Judy]

All this emotionalism and traumatised masculinity is as bad as the cheating. Scripted and stage-managed; a public ritual to elicit sympathy and closure. No mention of cheating today; all grief and loss like someone had died. Absolute bollocks.

Richie Benaud will be spinning in his grave. 

[paswt]

Spot on SMUJ , "when all else fails burst into tears" , better still if you claim to be a ''born again christian" as well  .

Not a dry leg in this house to see  the big rufty tufty cricketer blubbing like a big baby , did he lose a member of his family or had some tragedy to deal with , No the big tart got caught out cheating and has lost out financially because he's no longer 'selling' breakfast cereals , what a pathetic wimp.

It's not unknown for people to cheat at sport but if you decide to then don't grizzle when you are caught bang to rights IMO .

I have no interest in cricket but a lifetime ban on cheats may be the incentive to encourage others not to .

Just seen the red eyed coach weeping at a press conference  , honestly who does he think he's kidding?

Rant over

[Lost Login]

With the pressure to get results cheating is rife in many sports all be it at various different levels from those who habitually take drugs to those who appeal for a catch, throw in etc knowing that they did not take cleanly or it is the other sides ball. In football handling the ball to try to prevent a certain goal appears to be seen professional defending, handling to score a goal is not. Often we just accept cheating in the sports or by the teams we like and call it gamesmanship. If any player who tried to cheat in the premier league was banned for a year we would be watching five a side.

That is not to condone what these players have done. Like others before them they got caught although for some reason, possibly due to them being Aussie's or the power of social media they seem to be taking a fair bit more flak than those who have gone before, which is fair enough in Warner's case, and their punishments much hasher.

I appreciate that what level of "cheating" is deemed acceptable in any sport appears to be subjective, although in my view it should not be and you see it at all levels with the park tennis player happy to call a ball out on a crucial point if they can get away with this. That is not to exonerate these players and I am pleased they are being fairly severely punished. I just wish cheats in all sports were treated similarly so the message gets across however to basically to accuse two of these guys who faced the media as faking it is in my opinion total baloney. I could not imagine what it must be like having to face up to the press in such circumstances knowing you have ruined your life, let millions of fans down, let your family down etc but those guys to be looked to me as if they were genuinely struggling to hold it together and in a pretty bad place. It would have been much easier to do what Warner has done to date and go to ground. This will live with them for the rest of their lives and whilst I am pretty pleased they got caught and are being punished I think you have to be a pretty hard hearted soul to watch and not to feel a bit for them having to go through those interviews and I just hope that on top of the punishment they get some level of support.

[Shake me up Judy]

Good post LL. No, they weren't faking it, that's not the point. It's the way they wallowed in self-indulgent 'grief' and turned what was a grubby act of cheating into wounded male pride and redemptive ritual. There was a time when they'd have taken it on the chin and never played for Australia again. It's not just cricket, because as you said in your post, cheating has infected most sports from top to bottom, and has become a legitimate tactic where winning is everything, losing is nothing, and sportsmanship and the game has lost all meaning and value.    

[the stinking enigma]

The whole thing is bonkers. Totally blown out of all proportion. All teams cheat to try and gain reverse swing. Englands jelly bean method was particularly successful. A hysterical overeaction that's becoming more common

 

[woolley]

Too much blubbing and heart on sleeve bollocks in general nowadays. Most unedifying.

[manxb&b]