It is such a shame that things have reached a stage such as this.
Bar row put Andrew Symonds on the outer
Source: The AUSTRALIAN | Peter Lalor | September 12, 2008The Australian team has been concerned about Symonds for some time, but things have grown worse of late and missing a team meeting for a fishing expedition was the last straw.
When disciplined by his peers, Symonds showed no contrition.
“I have had some time to reflect on the events that took place in Darwin,” Symonds said a few days after his ejection. “I would like to say thanks for the many messages of support that I have received over the past day or so. I appreciate your best wishes. I’ve been asked to think about what is important to me and I will take this time to do that.”
No matter how hard you read his prepared statement you will find no apologies, expressions of regret or acknowledgment that he may have erred. He did, however, go as far as to suggest that it would be nice if he was left alone.
It is not long ago Symonds problems in India and the Indians splashed headlines.
That does not stop me from saying I feel that the game of ‘cricket’ will be the loser here. I cannot imagine the present Aussie line up without him in the team.
Reading this article,
it is obvious that things had been brewing for a while – it is as likely that
1. he perceived he was being discriminated against by his managers – by his own dressing room.
2. his frustrations were vented through on the pitch against his opposition.
Was the Aussie dressing room reaction to the mention of racism so loud reflection of their own guilt?
It throws up multiple possibilities and it is unlikely his problems were an unilateral thing
sending him off for psychological help will not solve anything.
No matter how hard you read his prepared statement you will find no apologies, expressions of regret or acknowledgment that he may have erred. He did, however, go as far as to suggest that it would be nice if he was left alone.
Symonds was sent away to work through a “process” before being readmitted to the side but has shown little interest in it.
Cricket Australia has refused to spell out what those processes are, suggesting it is a welfare issue, but Symonds is believed to have been instructed to seek psychological help and to keep fit, presumably by training with Queensland. There was little sign of him doing either, although he has been put in contact with a psychologist with whom he has dealt before.
If Symmonds feels he had experienced discrimination within the dressing room,
it has to be explored, not just for the benefit of
Symmonds himself,
or his interaction with opposition but also the Australian squad.
An ostrich head in the sand attitude cannot be the way forward.
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Symmonds
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Comments:
4 Comments
Cricket Australia sacked him not just to get him some psychological evaluation, but also to prove a point that indiscipline will not be tolerated…He even had some problems in cooperating with his captain “Clarke”…
He services will be missed badly in the forthcoming series !!
Thanks for stopping by, Aravindan.
I accept every individual who breaks the team disciple has to be cautioned.
What I am speculating is there may have been events behind scenes that resulted in this deliberate missing of team briefing.
If that be so, then CA needs to go back a review it from the start – and perhaps more individuals may need to be cautioned for negative, if not discriminative, behaviour.
Unless that is done, Andrew Symmonds, the player he is capable of being, will be finished.
Yes i agree to some extent that Symonds has been made the scapegoat by CA. They were the people who backed him when the issues of racial abuse came up and now even those cases are considered as a whole in questioning his psychological stability. Symonds himself is responsible for his own misery more than anybody. Its a matter of fact that the game of Cricket doesn’t let personalities like him, who don’t know to curb/fake their instincts on/off the field, to survive long !!
True,
there are individuals who are on a short fuse to self destruct.
Symmonds may be one of them – it will be a loss for cricket.
I was speculating from an individual’s psychological perspectives.
Any individual – not necessary Symmonds, or cricketers or anyone famous.
I wondered if any part of Symmond’s behaviour ia a result of racial discrimination by his own management/dressing room. It is a possibility – that being incapable of countering it – he manifests it on others.
Didn’t he say – he didn’t mind any racial slur if it was from his ‘mates’? To me it sounded like a weak excuse for similar abuse within his dressing room.
If I am right and it is true – then the whole Australian dressing room uproar regarding the Harbhajan episodes – is just hypocrisy.
Neither will it ever solve Symmond’s problems.