The death of a sportsman - and refusal to learn the bitter truth

Now that Mr. Tony Greg, that paragon of rectitude who threatened to make the West Indians “grovel” - which referred to the behaviour imposed on black slaves - has joined in with his myopic view about SG not using the example of David Hookes, I think the box that is David Hookes’ death, that is shut tightly closed by CA, Australian players and other white cricketers around the world, needs to be opened. There are lessons there, and SG was referring to those lessons.

Type in “David Hookes” in Google and you will see a plethora of references to his untimely and tragic death. Apparently Hookes was a well respected and loved cricketer in Australia. Fair enough. The more important bit is about him leaving a living will to donate his organs. Very creditable, and I think my estimation of the man rises up considerably. But neither respect nor love should hide the facts surrounding his death and the hard lesson that it teaches: Once the boundaries of civility are crossed, tragedy is invariably the result. The outraged reactions by Australian and other white cricketers to SG’s comments is but a facet of their denial of that lesson and their continued insistence on clinging to a lifestyle and view of humanity that is crass. Neither Alan Border nor Tony Greg apparently want to give up on their right to behave like larrikins.

For a detailed, intelligent and an objective analysis of the death of David Hookes read the book published by UNSW. The link for it is:

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:6kz3PUJpLDUJ:www.unireps.com.au/itemimages/datafiles/oct06t.pdf+%22David+Hookes%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=71&gl=uk