In the 98 games I'd played for the Demons before today, I've never seen a footy ground take so much rain and stay open, I've never been so happy to be so sore, I've never worn goggles in a game, and I've never heard a crowd cheer so loud for a turnover.
Pretty much the only sports grounds open in Sydney this weekend have been the SCG, the SFS, Olympic Stadium, and Mike Kenny Oval in Cherrybrook. The rain fell almost non-stop in Sydney from Monday to game time, but after telling club President Pete Campbell that I'd play a game in the car park if it meant my brother in Perth and my sister in London weren't flying over to watch me play game 99, strings were pulled and the game went ahead.
After a walk to the middle to inspect the water damage the ground had sustained with the J-Bone, we went back in the rooms and I put my new sports glasses on which meant I could see the footy...a liberating experience. After a soggy warm-up, the game started and the Dees were playing like their hadn't been a drop of rain for months. We were throwing our bodies in and working hard, we just weren't working smart.
With my new glasses, I felt like I was contributing - tackling, kicking off the ground, shepherding and deft touches to teammates. in the most miserable conditions there's beer since the SCG on Friday night, there was nowhere I would rather have been. And then I got a kick, and the crowd went wild.
Hoops busted through a tackle at half forward, and looped a handball to me at centre-half forward, and because I could see, I caught the ball and threw it on my left towards the goals. The crowd erupted, and I thought the ball might be a sneaky chance of clearing the pack and skidding through for a goal, but reality disagreed with me and the ball fell 20 metres short and straight into the arms of one an opposition defender.
So that's 99 down, and 1 to go. It's hard for me to describe what this comeback has meant to me, but that attempt will come after 100, so stay tuned, and go you Dees.
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For information about Barnaby's motivational speaking, go to: http://www.barnabyhowarth.com.au/
Saturday 29 June 2013
Thursday 27 June 2013
Good things happen to good people
When my comeback to playing football became a reality, I knew it was going to be cool, but I didn't think I'd missed it as much as I have. I've been completely overwhelmed by how much this comeback has meant to me - being on the field with the boys has been sensational, but some of the things people have done to support me through this has blown my mind.
My comeback came about after a conversation with Pennant Hills' all time greatest club official, Chicken (Ian Parker), where I told him I was disappointed that I was stranded on 96 games when I had my stroke. I'd put a line through my football career, as I thought my physical impairments after the stroke would be too hard to overcome, but when Chicken told me a couple of weeks later that he'd spoken to Jarrod Myers, the coach of the Demons 4th division team who was more than happy for me to play 4 games so that I could reach 100 games, I was reminded why I love playing footy for Pennant Hills - it's a club full of good people doing good things.
One of the physical impairments I thought would be too hard to overcome, was my eyesight. My vision without my glasses (which have a big prism in the lens to help me see) is fuzzy at best. On the field I could make out a red, football shaped blur coming towards me, but that was as good as I thought things would get, as I couldn't wear my glasses on the field, and contact lens' can't be made with the prisms I need. But my teammate, Luke Turner, arranged a collection from the footy boys, and they all chipped in to buy me a pair of sports glasses. So now I'll be able to see while I'm playing and training thanks to the kindness of a bunch of good blokes.
If my mind was blown by the support I've got from the footy club, it was completely torn to shreds by the support my family have shown. My 2 brothers both said they'd come to the game with their families and watch, and if anyone pulled out of the side, both said they'd love to play. The fact that one of my brothers lives in Perth and was due to open a new bar he co-owns 2 days before the game was humbling, but when my sister Skyped yesterday morning, I was flabberghasted. My baby sister Ashley, told me she was flying to Sydney for 1 night, watching the game, then flying back to London the same night!
Acts like these help remind me why I love being a Pennant Hills footballer, it's a place where good people do good things. It's Scarlo lending me shorts and socks to play in, it's Sam and Di, Harold, J-Bone and Booker giving me lifts home, and Seb giving me lifts to training, it's Olivia digging her knuckles into my old calves, it's holding a banner with Jude to celebrate the Rat's 200th. The Pennant Hills Football Club gives me a place I feel I belong.
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For information about Barnaby's motivational speaking, go to: http://www.barnabyhowarth.com.au/
My comeback came about after a conversation with Pennant Hills' all time greatest club official, Chicken (Ian Parker), where I told him I was disappointed that I was stranded on 96 games when I had my stroke. I'd put a line through my football career, as I thought my physical impairments after the stroke would be too hard to overcome, but when Chicken told me a couple of weeks later that he'd spoken to Jarrod Myers, the coach of the Demons 4th division team who was more than happy for me to play 4 games so that I could reach 100 games, I was reminded why I love playing footy for Pennant Hills - it's a club full of good people doing good things.
One of the physical impairments I thought would be too hard to overcome, was my eyesight. My vision without my glasses (which have a big prism in the lens to help me see) is fuzzy at best. On the field I could make out a red, football shaped blur coming towards me, but that was as good as I thought things would get, as I couldn't wear my glasses on the field, and contact lens' can't be made with the prisms I need. But my teammate, Luke Turner, arranged a collection from the footy boys, and they all chipped in to buy me a pair of sports glasses. So now I'll be able to see while I'm playing and training thanks to the kindness of a bunch of good blokes.
If my mind was blown by the support I've got from the footy club, it was completely torn to shreds by the support my family have shown. My 2 brothers both said they'd come to the game with their families and watch, and if anyone pulled out of the side, both said they'd love to play. The fact that one of my brothers lives in Perth and was due to open a new bar he co-owns 2 days before the game was humbling, but when my sister Skyped yesterday morning, I was flabberghasted. My baby sister Ashley, told me she was flying to Sydney for 1 night, watching the game, then flying back to London the same night!
Acts like these help remind me why I love being a Pennant Hills footballer, it's a place where good people do good things. It's Scarlo lending me shorts and socks to play in, it's Sam and Di, Harold, J-Bone and Booker giving me lifts home, and Seb giving me lifts to training, it's Olivia digging her knuckles into my old calves, it's holding a banner with Jude to celebrate the Rat's 200th. The Pennant Hills Football Club gives me a place I feel I belong.
------------------------------------
For information about Barnaby's motivational speaking, go to: http://www.barnabyhowarth.com.au/
Monday 24 June 2013
My Mother's mojo
I just pulled out some osso bucco for lunch that my Mother made and froze a few weeks ago, and it made me think about how lucky I've been to grow up in the family I've grown up in.
It's a bit sad that my Mother still makes my lunch for me at 33 years of age, but it's something that she does so well and so often without expecting praise, that it is at risk of being taken for granted, but nobody takes my mother for granted. My mother is like a tube of Selley's liquid nails, when things look shaky, she steps in with her tambourine, has a glass of wine and makes things better. Her parents were the "liquid nails" of our family, but after the death of her mother (where Mum played that bloody tambourine as people were leaving the funeral), Mum has taken over that mantle seamlessly, hence the osso bucco for lunch.
Mum recently said to me that she felt she was "losing her mojo," and as I consider myself something of a mojo loss and retrieval expert, I wanted to give her my thoughts on her comment. Mum is a bit like Superman in the scene where he catches Lois Lane and she says to him "You've got me, but who's got you?" She's had people's backs for as long as I can remember, but now it seems she's wondering who's got her back, and the answer is everyone. Mojo isn't a matter of what you're doing, it's a matter of how you perceive the importance of what you're doing - making osso bucco probably sucks, but the act of making lunch for your son is beautiful.
If Mum needs any reassurance to help her perceive the importance of what she's doing, and thus reboost her mojo count, she just needs to look in her own garden, where the 4 seeds she first planted nearly 36 years ago have flowered into a television channel manager with a wife and children, all with impeccable manners, who all live in the home they own, a diabetic stroke survivor who is getting ready to play his 100th AFL game for the mighty Dees, a co-owner of a new bar that's due to open in Perth in the next month, and a globe-trotting event manager who lives and works in London.
If mojo is about perception, you don't need to do anything differently, you just need to step outside your situation and see how important what you're doing is.
Postscript:
I just got back from lunch and the osso bucco was sensational.
------------------------------------
For information about Barnaby's motivational speaking, go to: http://www.barnabyhowarth.com.au/
It's a bit sad that my Mother still makes my lunch for me at 33 years of age, but it's something that she does so well and so often without expecting praise, that it is at risk of being taken for granted, but nobody takes my mother for granted. My mother is like a tube of Selley's liquid nails, when things look shaky, she steps in with her tambourine, has a glass of wine and makes things better. Her parents were the "liquid nails" of our family, but after the death of her mother (where Mum played that bloody tambourine as people were leaving the funeral), Mum has taken over that mantle seamlessly, hence the osso bucco for lunch.
Mum recently said to me that she felt she was "losing her mojo," and as I consider myself something of a mojo loss and retrieval expert, I wanted to give her my thoughts on her comment. Mum is a bit like Superman in the scene where he catches Lois Lane and she says to him "You've got me, but who's got you?" She's had people's backs for as long as I can remember, but now it seems she's wondering who's got her back, and the answer is everyone. Mojo isn't a matter of what you're doing, it's a matter of how you perceive the importance of what you're doing - making osso bucco probably sucks, but the act of making lunch for your son is beautiful.
If Mum needs any reassurance to help her perceive the importance of what she's doing, and thus reboost her mojo count, she just needs to look in her own garden, where the 4 seeds she first planted nearly 36 years ago have flowered into a television channel manager with a wife and children, all with impeccable manners, who all live in the home they own, a diabetic stroke survivor who is getting ready to play his 100th AFL game for the mighty Dees, a co-owner of a new bar that's due to open in Perth in the next month, and a globe-trotting event manager who lives and works in London.
If mojo is about perception, you don't need to do anything differently, you just need to step outside your situation and see how important what you're doing is.
Postscript:
I just got back from lunch and the osso bucco was sensational.
------------------------------------
For information about Barnaby's motivational speaking, go to: http://www.barnabyhowarth.com.au/
Saturday 22 June 2013
Game 98 - Match report
Last week I played football for the first time in 8 years, but this week I got to sing the club victory song for the first time in 8 years, and it felt REALLY good.
It was a tight game at three-quarter time, but Pennant Hills played the last quarter like how I've tried to live me life: they just focused on the game plan, and the result took care of itself. We won the game by 40 points.
The game could have gone either way at 3/4 time, but the Demons had faith in their game plan and their mates, and it started to show on the scoreboard. Thanks to some super human efforts from some of the mighty Dees, (Hoops had so many tackles his arms were sore after the game, and Darch - the fittest bloke at the Pennnant Hills Football Club - ran harder than I've seen a footballer run in a long time) Pennant Hills Div 4 went into the rooms and sang the victory song.
The game was won because we didn't get distracted by the thought of winning, we just focused on the task that lay in front of us, did it as well as we could, and went back in the rooms after the game and sang the song with gusto.
"It's a grand old flag..."
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For information about Barnaby's motivational speaking, go to: http://www.barnabyhowarth.com.au/
For information about Barnaby's motivational speaking, go to: http://www.barnabyhowarth.com.au/
Thursday 20 June 2013
The Comeback in The Age
Senior sports writer for The Age
A Sydney footballer beats the odds to push for 100 games, writes Peter Hanlon.
Monday 17 June 2013
CEOs to put their money and their mouths on the streets
A group of Australian CEO's are going to see what life is like on the other side of the fence when they leave their green pastures for a night, and take part in the CEO Sleep out on the streets of Australian capital cities.
The CEO Sleep out is an event that aims to raise funds and awareness for homelessness accross Australia by having business leaders sleep on the streets and experience what it is to be homeless in winter.
For one CEO, sleeping on the streets will be something of a homecoming. After leaving an abusive and then hostile home at 14, Gary Poole spent a part of his life on the streets of Melbourne. His earliest memories are of his father being abusive, so along with his mother, he left for a life of uncertainty.
His mother found true love, but Poole didn't fit into that happily ever after scenario.
"I was the baggage," Poole said, "so I made a very difficult decision then to leave home."
As a 14 year old boy, he slept on the streets with other grown men which was daunting, but he eventually found his way.
"It was scary, but as painful as it was; it wasn't as painful as it was to be at home." Poole told ABC News.
"The first couple of nights it was the local park, in the toilets, and then I learnt the train stations were a good place to get comfortable."
Being immersed in life on the streets made Poole more certain he had to get out, he spent his complete life savings of $327 on a computer course, and was motivated during his studies by the chance to give himself a better life.
"I studied night and day until I got the highest score that anyone ever got in that course - out of pure desperation."
After a few years, and a few jobs in the computer industry, Poole found himself in a unique entrepreneurial position in the serviced apartment trade, which led to his quick rise to CEO.
Now Poole is the owner operator of a luxury bed and breakfast in the Gold Coast Hinterland, but on June 20, he'll join other business owners to see how brown the grass is on the other side of the fence.
The CEO Sleep out is an event that aims to raise funds and awareness for homelessness accross Australia by having business leaders sleep on the streets and experience what it is to be homeless in winter.
For one CEO, sleeping on the streets will be something of a homecoming. After leaving an abusive and then hostile home at 14, Gary Poole spent a part of his life on the streets of Melbourne. His earliest memories are of his father being abusive, so along with his mother, he left for a life of uncertainty.
His mother found true love, but Poole didn't fit into that happily ever after scenario.
"I was the baggage," Poole said, "so I made a very difficult decision then to leave home."
As a 14 year old boy, he slept on the streets with other grown men which was daunting, but he eventually found his way.
"It was scary, but as painful as it was; it wasn't as painful as it was to be at home." Poole told ABC News.
"The first couple of nights it was the local park, in the toilets, and then I learnt the train stations were a good place to get comfortable."
Being immersed in life on the streets made Poole more certain he had to get out, he spent his complete life savings of $327 on a computer course, and was motivated during his studies by the chance to give himself a better life.
"I studied night and day until I got the highest score that anyone ever got in that course - out of pure desperation."
After a few years, and a few jobs in the computer industry, Poole found himself in a unique entrepreneurial position in the serviced apartment trade, which led to his quick rise to CEO.
Now Poole is the owner operator of a luxury bed and breakfast in the Gold Coast Hinterland, but on June 20, he'll join other business owners to see how brown the grass is on the other side of the fence.
Saturday 15 June 2013
Game 97: Match report
I've played in a night final on the MCG for the Sydney Swans, I've captained a Sydney AFL representative team, I got best on ground in the Pennant Hills Demons first premiership, and I won Best and Fairest for a reserve grade team in the VFL, but today's game for Pennant Hills fourth division was the most significant game I've been a part of.
Talking to the "J-Bone" on the way home made my last few hours that much more special. J-Bone (Jackson Turner - one of my teammates) asked me what had happened the night I had my stroke, so I told him about the fight, the torn artery and the blood clot lodging in the tear, but it was when I told him I was in a coma for 4 days and my family and friends were told to come and say goodbye, that I realised today might be the best game of footy I've EVER been a part of.The fact that it was at Rosedale Oval in front of about 50 people made it even better - some of the 50 people were some of my best mates from football, my brother and his family, Gus and Col came down, and of course my 19 teammates (we were 2 short)
Today's game ended in a draw (it was 44-44 at one stage!), but it wasn't the result that reminded me why playing footy is such a privilege - for 2 hours everybody in a red and blue jersey threw everything they had into the game to help their mates try and win, and when it finished in a draw, some blokes were bummed, others were proud, but whatever we were feeling, we were feeling it together.
Word must have got around at the Moorebank Magpies (our opposition) that I was playing a come back game after 8 years, as one of their players came up to shake my hand after someone in their team had just kicked a goal to level the scores and the siren sounded, and said "tough way to end a comeback." And I thought to myself, "No mate, that was beautiful."
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For information about Barnaby's motivational speaking, go to: http://www.barnabyhowarth.com.au/
Thursday 13 June 2013
Footy's back after an 8 year drought...
On Saturday I will play my first game of AFL for the Pennant Hills Demons in 8 years, and whatever the level above excitmemet is, that's what I am right now, but I'm surprised at what I'm most excited about for my return game.
Whether you think footy is a noble pursuit of human excellence, or just a bunch of boofheads running around chasing a bit of pigskin, there are elements about football that people from both sides of the fence can appreciate, and those are the elements I'm so excited about.
I'd love to take a hanger, kick a 70 metre barrel out of the guts, or kick a goal after the siren to win the game, but what I'm looking forward to the most is all the off-field normality. It's turning up to the game early and walking out to the middle with Cousy and Laino talking about Cousy's hammy, getting shorts and socks off Scarlo in the rooms, sitting down and pulling my guernsey over my head, getting my ankles strapped by the physio and throwing an offcut of ankle tape at the back of someone's head.
Then to cap off the day, the excitement continues when we go back to the club and have a beer after we've belted out the victory song.
It's a grand old flag...
------------------------------------
For information about Barnaby's motivational speaking, go to: http://www.barnabyhowarth.com.au/
Whether you think footy is a noble pursuit of human excellence, or just a bunch of boofheads running around chasing a bit of pigskin, there are elements about football that people from both sides of the fence can appreciate, and those are the elements I'm so excited about.
I'd love to take a hanger, kick a 70 metre barrel out of the guts, or kick a goal after the siren to win the game, but what I'm looking forward to the most is all the off-field normality. It's turning up to the game early and walking out to the middle with Cousy and Laino talking about Cousy's hammy, getting shorts and socks off Scarlo in the rooms, sitting down and pulling my guernsey over my head, getting my ankles strapped by the physio and throwing an offcut of ankle tape at the back of someone's head.
Then to cap off the day, the excitement continues when we go back to the club and have a beer after we've belted out the victory song.
It's a grand old flag...
------------------------------------
For information about Barnaby's motivational speaking, go to: http://www.barnabyhowarth.com.au/
Tuesday 11 June 2013
44 is back
For information about Barnaby's motivational speaking, go to: http://www.barnabyhowarth.com.au/
Monday 10 June 2013
Bionic eye a reality
Close your eyes and walk around a room where children have been playing, or put on a blindfold and try to imagine why you find your partner so beautiful, or put a cardboard box over your head and cross the road. Now imagine that's how you lived your life everyday, but someone just told you a pair of glasses had been invented that would help you see for the first time. Well that just happened, with the unveiling of the prototype of the world's first bionic eye.
If successful, the bionic eye has the potential to help over 85 per cent of those people classified as legally blind. It is hoped the device, which involves a microchip implanted in the skull and a digital camera attached to a pair of glasses, will allow recipients to see the outlines of their surroundings.
It is a team of Australian industrial designers and scientists who have brought the bionic eye to the world, and with trials beginning next year, Professor Mark Armstrong from Monash University in Victoria says the bionic eye should give recipients a degree of extra mobility.
"There's a camera at the front and the camera is actually very similar to an iPhone camera, so it takes live action for colour and then that imagery is distilled via a very sophisticated processor down to, let's say, a distilled signal."
"That signal is then transmitted wirelessly from what's called a coil, which is mounted at the back of the head and inside the brain there is an implant which consists of a series of little ceramic tiles and in each tile are microscopic electrodes which actually are embedded in the visual cortex of the brain."
Professor Armstrong says is it is hoped the technology will help those who completely blind, enabling them to navigate their way around.
"There's a number of different settings ... so you could set it to floor mapping for example and it creates a silhouette around objects on the floor so that you can see where you're going."
Johnny Diesel said "You never miss your water 'til your dry," and for people who have never been able to see, they've been dry for a long time, so Professor Armstrong believes the bionic eye might help people experience things in a completely new way.
"What we believe the recipient will see is a sort of a low resolution dot image, but enough... [to] see, for example, the edge of a table or the silhouette of a loved one or a step into the gutter or something like that," he said.
"So the wonderful thing, if our interpretation of this is correct - because we don't know until the first human trial - [is] it'll of course enable people that are blind to be reconnected with their world in a way."
How does the bionic eye work?
- A digital camera embedded in the glasses will capture images.
- An eye movement sensor inside the glasses will direct the camera as you turn your head.
- Digital processors will modify the images captured by the camera.
- A wireless transmitter will then present the image that you are "looking at" to a chip that has been implanted at the back of the brain.
- The chip will then directly stimulate the visual cortex of the brain with electrical signals using an array of micro-sized electrodes.
- The brain will learn to interpret these signals as sight.
If successful, the bionic eye has the potential to help over 85 per cent of those people classified as legally blind. It is hoped the device, which involves a microchip implanted in the skull and a digital camera attached to a pair of glasses, will allow recipients to see the outlines of their surroundings.
It is a team of Australian industrial designers and scientists who have brought the bionic eye to the world, and with trials beginning next year, Professor Mark Armstrong from Monash University in Victoria says the bionic eye should give recipients a degree of extra mobility.
"There's a camera at the front and the camera is actually very similar to an iPhone camera, so it takes live action for colour and then that imagery is distilled via a very sophisticated processor down to, let's say, a distilled signal."
"That signal is then transmitted wirelessly from what's called a coil, which is mounted at the back of the head and inside the brain there is an implant which consists of a series of little ceramic tiles and in each tile are microscopic electrodes which actually are embedded in the visual cortex of the brain."
Professor Armstrong says is it is hoped the technology will help those who completely blind, enabling them to navigate their way around.
"There's a number of different settings ... so you could set it to floor mapping for example and it creates a silhouette around objects on the floor so that you can see where you're going."
Johnny Diesel said "You never miss your water 'til your dry," and for people who have never been able to see, they've been dry for a long time, so Professor Armstrong believes the bionic eye might help people experience things in a completely new way.
"What we believe the recipient will see is a sort of a low resolution dot image, but enough... [to] see, for example, the edge of a table or the silhouette of a loved one or a step into the gutter or something like that," he said.
"So the wonderful thing, if our interpretation of this is correct - because we don't know until the first human trial - [is] it'll of course enable people that are blind to be reconnected with their world in a way."
How does the bionic eye work?
- A digital camera embedded in the glasses will capture images.
- An eye movement sensor inside the glasses will direct the camera as you turn your head.
- Digital processors will modify the images captured by the camera.
- A wireless transmitter will then present the image that you are "looking at" to a chip that has been implanted at the back of the brain.
- The chip will then directly stimulate the visual cortex of the brain with electrical signals using an array of micro-sized electrodes.
- The brain will learn to interpret these signals as sight.
Thursday 6 June 2013
Sheedy prefers the carrot to the stick
A "spray" from the coach of any sports team is entertaining, but GWS Giants AFL coach Kevin Sheedy believes abusing players is an 'old school' tactic that gets in the way of educating players, and there's no room for it in today's game.
Sheedy's message that education and communication is more important to a player's development than an old-fashioned spray is one that coaches of all sports would benefit from taking on board, but his team is in it's second year of competition, so his view that the carrot is more effective than the stick is reassuring from the man in charge of moulding "basically an under-20 side."
"Most of them don't have a car licence and are heading towards their 21st birthday in the next year or two." Sheedy said about his young side.
His views on the futility of belittling players by berating them have been formed over a lifetime as a player and a coach in the AFL, it was a match in 2001 when he was coaching Essendon against North Melbourne when the power of positive reinforcement helped the Bombers to notch up the greatest comeback in the AFL.
Essendon were more than 10 goals down in the second quarter but Sheedy was surprised at how positive his coaching group remained. The coaches made the decision that "It's no good ridiculing players and taking their heart and soul out." Sheedy said "We had to get them to believe immediately that the game was still there to be won"
Getting players to believe they could turn around a 10 goal defecit by helping them look on a negative situation positively was probably easier when coaching a reigning AFL premier, but coaching a group who have probably never eaten a push pop or seen an episode of The Goodies is a different prospect. Under the care of Kevin Sheedy, the Giants look like they're in safe hands. The wise man says that helping young players to find their mojo is more important than winning games
"When you're in the situation of building a young team, you better give them belief and confidence they're moving in the right direction, even though they're being beaten by an opponent."
Sheedy's message that education and communication is more important to a player's development than an old-fashioned spray is one that coaches of all sports would benefit from taking on board, but his team is in it's second year of competition, so his view that the carrot is more effective than the stick is reassuring from the man in charge of moulding "basically an under-20 side."
"Most of them don't have a car licence and are heading towards their 21st birthday in the next year or two." Sheedy said about his young side.
His views on the futility of belittling players by berating them have been formed over a lifetime as a player and a coach in the AFL, it was a match in 2001 when he was coaching Essendon against North Melbourne when the power of positive reinforcement helped the Bombers to notch up the greatest comeback in the AFL.
Essendon were more than 10 goals down in the second quarter but Sheedy was surprised at how positive his coaching group remained. The coaches made the decision that "It's no good ridiculing players and taking their heart and soul out." Sheedy said "We had to get them to believe immediately that the game was still there to be won"
Getting players to believe they could turn around a 10 goal defecit by helping them look on a negative situation positively was probably easier when coaching a reigning AFL premier, but coaching a group who have probably never eaten a push pop or seen an episode of The Goodies is a different prospect. Under the care of Kevin Sheedy, the Giants look like they're in safe hands. The wise man says that helping young players to find their mojo is more important than winning games
"When you're in the situation of building a young team, you better give them belief and confidence they're moving in the right direction, even though they're being beaten by an opponent."
Monday 3 June 2013
Larrikinism can make people a character or a peanut
When men are gentle, fair and kind, they are forgiven the odd bit of larrikinism, in fact it can be seen as charming, but when larrikinism is taken too far, it is just flat out rude. There is no doubt that there is room to be a good person AND a bit of larrikin, but as my Grandmother used to tell me - "Everything in moderation..."
While not being the catalyst to make comment on societal behaviour, the resignation of Swimming Australia's president Barclay Nettlefold after accusations of making an inappropriate remark towards a female staff member in a lift at the Australian Swimming Championships in Adelaide last month is the straw that broke the camel's back
Nettlefold was appointed after the Australian swimming team's limited success at the London Olympics, and was in charge during the "Stilknox probe," where the mens 4x100 metre relay team interrupted their teammates games preparations as they went on a late night, sleeping tablet fueled rampage of stupidity. If the accusations against Nettlefold are proven true, his rein over the inappropriate behaviour of members of his own team has some "pot calling the kettle black" similarities to Eddie Maguire giving advice to 13 year olds about racial tolerance.
Rare acts of larrikinism when interspersed with human decency by good people can be legendary. When Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh told South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs "You've just dropped the World Cup," after Gibbs dropped Waugh while he was on 56 (he went on to make 120 runs on the way to Australia winning the World Cup). Waugh's infamous jibe highlights how thin the line is between "larrikinism" and "inappropriateness." Waugh not only got away with his comment, he was praised for it, not because of the semantics of what he said, or who he said it to, but because he is, at heart, a good person.
Good people who have an odd larrikin streak are referred to as "characters", but larrikins with an odd streak of decency are referred to as "peanuts." So we could all take my grandmother's advice and use everything in moderation.
Good people who have an odd larrikin streak are referred to as "characters", but larrikins with an odd streak of decency are referred to as "peanuts." So we could all take my grandmother's advice and use everything in moderation.
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