Doing It For Your Mate
The Sunday Age
Sunday August 10, 2008
Collingwood's travails this week have highlighted the fine line between looking out for your teammates and doing the wrong thing by your sport. Here are five cases where mateship enhanced reputations.
1. Golden logic "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". STAR Trek fans would well recall an ailing Mr Spock sacrificing himself to a radioactive engine room to avoid an even bigger crisis for his crewmates. Swimmer Craig Stevens may well identify with the pointy-eared one's sentiments. When Australia's Ian Thorpe toppled from the blocks and was disqualified from the 400 metres at the Olympic selection trials in March 2004, it prompted weeks of speculation about how the probable gold medallist could find his way back into the event. Needless to say, it started an agonising few months for relative unknown Stevens who had finished second to Grant Hackett in the Thorpe-less trial. Under intense media pressure, he decided to relinquish his 400 spot in favour of the world record-holder and eventual Athens gold medallist. Last week, Stevens - who is now in Beijing where he'll compete in the 1500 freestyle and, you guessed it, the 400 - mused on the incident, saying he had no regrets. "I think now it's made me a better athlete, a stronger athlete and a stronger person." Asked when he realised he had made the right choice, Stevens didn't talk about the paid interview he won from Channel Seven, but did mention: "Just after Athens and having the whole Olympic experience and watching Ian race that event and just enjoying it." Spock would no doubt approve of the logic. 2. For the little fellaEVERY sporting club in Australia, in the world, has a moment when the group as a whole steps up to honour a sick or fallen teammate. In Australian football, the moment that has entered folklore is Hawthorn's 1976 triumph as teammate Peter Crimmins was dying of cancer. Crimmins had been an integral part of the up-and-coming Hawks teams of the early 1970s, but illness had taken its toll by September '76 when coach John Kennedy famously told his players to win the game for "the little fella". Hawthorn duly defeated North Melbourne by 30 points in the grand final and, later that night, the premiership cup, champagne and some worse for wear Hawks players arrived at Crimmins' bedside - a moment made all the more poignant by his death only days later. Hawthorn has never forgotten the moment or the man; its best and fairest award is now called the Peter Crimmins Medal. 3. Uphill battles WATCHING the recent Tour de France, it was hard not to be impressed by the ability of Australia's Cadel Evans to hang in for so long despite lacking the benefits of a strong team around him. But, in the end, the most impressive thing about the tour was that the winner, Carlos Sastre, got to Paris in the lead because of the men around him who were prepared to sacrifice their position for his success. Team CSC featured the talents of one of the world's top time-triallers Fabian Cancellara, Australian sprinting great Stuart O'Grady and brothers Andy and Frank Schleck (pictured clowning around on a rest day). On the 17th stage, 13.8 kilometre climb to L'Alpe d'Huez, it was the whole team that allowed Sastre to claim the break he needed to defeat Evans. And the Australian knew it, saying: "What made the difference was also that (Team) CSC had a very strong team. For three weeks, every time I turned around, I had one of them next to me." Sastre said: "My teammates gave 1000% for me." 4. Lifeline FORGET driving home from the pub, Australian kayakers James Castrission and Justin Jones put their life in each others hands, and their paddles. Their epic 62-day journey from Australia to New Zealand across the Tasman sea ended earlier this year, after foul weather saw them struggle to complete the 2200-kilometre journey. They ended up travelling more than 3000 kilometres and arrived in New Plymouth, New Zealand, two weeks later than planned. And they were not alone while on the water. Mike Henning, the Kiwi who set up the global tracking system to follow the journey, was hailed as the pair's lifeline. The trust they placed in Henning was recognised this year when the trio shared the Australian-New Zealand 'Spirit of Mateship Award' - a Tourism Australia initiative honouring those whose acts are an outstanding example of trans-Tasman mateship. "This award is all about mateship and the special bond that Kiwis and Aussies have when it really counts," Jones said when accepting the award. "We are so competitive when it comes to rugby and cricket but, when it really comes down to it, each nation will always support the other. Castrission added: "Thank you NZ, you guys rock." Er, yeah, well let's not take things too far. 5. Another age NO consideration of selfless mateship would be complete without the moment of sportsmanship upon which all others are judged - John Landy stopping to assist the fallen Ron Clarke during the mile run in the Australian national championships at Olympic Park, Melbourne, in 1956. Landy stopped to check Clarke was all right and continued on to win the race in four minutes 4.2 seconds. One spectator was the Reverend Alan Moyes who wrote it was "the most incredibly stupid, beautiful, foolish, gentlemanly act I have ever seen. I doubt if there has ever been a reception given an athlete in all of history as those 22,000 people gave Gentleman John Landy that day". But Landy is still embarrassed about the episode, saying: "I wish it had never happened. Simply because I think sport's about winning and about records. It's not about those sort of things. That was very personal business and I think it unfortunate that such a lot is made of it." Clarke (left) and Landy are immortalised in a Swan Street statue of the moment.
© 2008 The Sunday Age
