aussie sportsmen and alcohol

[Ken Gargett]

article from the guardian.

Australian sportsmen and drinking - when will they learn when to stop?

Ewen McKenzie has taken a hard line with his players. Photograph: Ken Sutton/Colorsport/Corbis

And so yet another bunch of Australian sportsmen inhale too much grog and suffer the consequences. Once we all joked about the old amber nectar and the reliably droll, permanently refreshed 'cultural attache', Sir Les Patterson, but it is no longer a laughing matter. The wobbly Wallabies, 15 of whom have been disciplined for going on the lash in Dublin in the build-up to last Saturday's game against Ireland, are merely the latest to drag the good name of Australian sport across the saloon-bar floor.

The list is getting ridiculous. David Warner in the Walkabout bar in Birmingham, Kurtley Beale and James O'Connor, Andrew Symonds and umpteen rugby league players. What was once a couple of quiet tinnies in the dressing sheds – or 52 cans on a flight to London in the cricketer David Boon's case – has developed into a recurring problem.

What exactly is an "inappropriate" amount of alcohol for an Aussie sportsman as the Wallabies head coach Ewen McKenzie described the levels his players had drunk– a harbour full? Only the other day it was announced Australia's section of the Olympic village in both Sochi and Rio would be alcohol-free to avoid a repetition of the partying which disrupted some of their team-mates at the London Games. A survey last month found that 70% of Australians believe sport and alcohol are too closely related.

The old six o'clock swill, so called because of the mad post-work rush to get the beers in following the introduction of early closing in Australia and New Zealand a century ago, seems to be making a comeback.

It has to be acknowledged, of course, that this is not entirely an Antipodean issue. Bayonne recently opted to part company with Mike Phillips because of supposed drunken excesses. Gavin Henson has had his issues, as people like to euphemistically describe them. Queenstown will forever be associated with English rugby men behaving badly, although they still allege the Irish were equally as riotous a couple of weeks earlier during the 2011 World Cup.

All of which explains why McKenzie has cracked down so hard – and so publicly – on the players who blew the froth off too many cold ones in Dublin. At the 1991 World Cup you could scarcely move for Wallabies out on the town – Lillie's Bordello was a favourite haunt – during the knockout phase. It did them no apparent harm and they duly won the tournament at the expense of England a fortnight later. McKenzie was a player for Australia during that tournament. But times have changed; professionalism demands constant hydration of a different type and this particular Australia team are not, at present, a team full of world-beaters.

In the end it depends on the culture of the team concerned. If you are trying to clean up a squad riddled with off-field scandal, as has been the case with the Wallabies, there are obvious benefits in making a stand, particularly prior to a Test they would expect to win against Scotland.

It has its risks – sponsors will need to be placated – but McKenzie has clearly decided a short, sharp shock is necessary if on-field targets are to be achieved. "This is not a simple process but it needs to happen so we can have a chance to be the best team we can be," he explained. "Already this year we've spent a lot of time being crystal clear around behaviours to ensure we are in a position to take the step-up to the next level. The players need to be making the right decisions as professional athletes."

It is interesting to compare and contrast his stance with that of the Kangaroos rugby league team manager, Gareth Holmes, in the wake ofBilly Slater's recent altercation at 2.40am outside a Manchester nightclub. "The first thing to remember here is the player is the victim," said Holmes. Reports into the incident indicate that may be so, but Holmes was still appearing to suggest Slater was perfectly entitled to be out into the early hours during a World Cup. "The second thing is that this is an eight-week tour. There are times when the players will be given the opportunity to go out and they deserve to be able to do that."

"Deserve?" Only if you take the view they can be absolutely trusted to drink in moderation and be in bed before the milkman arrives. If not, you are fully entitled, as McKenzie has done, to block the well-trodden path to the bottle shop. It is a dull old rugby tour where no one is permitted a single pint of Guinness during a week-long stay in Dublin but too many Australian sportsmen seem to have a problem knowing when to stop.

[ogus]

specifically rugby league not union

[Ken Gargett]

specifically rugby league not union

not sure i follow. i think it applies to a broad range of sports.

[Fuzz AI]

Zero tolerance policy while on tour, with mandatory breathalyser tests. If you're caught out, suspension from any and all games, for 3 months.

Until sportsmen can drink responsibly (yeah, I know, fat chance), not get into violent altercations and be deemed worthy to represent Australia, then there should be zero tolerance for any antics.

[Ken Gargett]

Problem is that, generally, the bigger star you are the more you get away with. Hence any "rules" are meaningless if they only are enforced on the disposables. Think how much some stars got away with before action was taken: O'Connor, Cooper, Fevola, Cousins, mens 100m swim relay team, Symonds, just to mention a few.

Sent from my Xperia Z1

been happening for years. one thing that was a joy was that cooper not in the mess in ireland. do we have the new mature cooper?

i think culling more than a third of the team including guys like ashley-cooper is evidence mckenzie not just targeting the disposables. we hope other sport might get the message.

[El Presidente]

Play a test match on a Saturday, have a good win, getting on the turps "as a team" Saturday night or Sunday lunch ....no one gets into trouble...is not a problem at all. Anyone who says otherwise has never laced on a boot.

Getting on the piss Tuesday night before a test Saturday is not acceptable, ANYTIME!. This is not club rugby, this is test rugby, you are representing your country for the love of God.

[Ken Gargett]

Play a test match on a Saturday, have a good win, getting on the turps "as a team" Saturday night or Sunday lunch ....no one gets into trouble...is not a problem at all. Anyone who says otherwise has never laced on a boot.

Getting on the piss Tuesday night before a test Saturday is not acceptable, ANYTIME!. This is not club rugby, this is test rugby, you are representing your country for the love of God.

Spot on but it was very different way back when, or even not so way back.

I remember stories about a famous St George half back, in their glory days, who'd regularly turn up for Sunday’s game in Friday's work clothes, stinking of piss. Never made it home. Still played for Australia and a great of the game.

I remember talking with one of the greatest dual internationals of all time from more recent times. Playing Rugby, he'd confess to being out all hours and blind drunk a few nights before a Test. When he moved to League, he found it so much tougher that he gave up the grog.

I always remember, as I have told Rob, attending a country ball in 1980, the night before Qld took on a full strength All Blacks – back when they used to do full tours and a series of tests. Still one of the greatest days of Qld rugby, knocking off the All Blacks 9-3. no tries and a Roger Gould field goal from the sideline on the wrong side of half way. Brilliant game.

At one stage, Tony Darcy, who had a blinder, the Qld prop, got in an old style brawl with both the All Black props. He had been the bouncer at the ball the night before, though when I crashed around 4am, Darcy was on the dance floor with a bottle of Bundy in each hand, swigging away. Heroic stuff! And he played the house down.

Different standards.

[El Presidente]

Spot on but it was very different way back when, or even not so way back.

I remember stories about a famous St George half back, in their glory days, who'd regularly turn up for Sunday’s game in Friday's work clothes, stinking of piss. Never made it home. Still played for Australia and a great of the game.

I remember talking with one of the greatest dual internationals of all time from more recent times. Playing Rugby, he'd confess to being out all hours and blind drunk a few nights before a Test. When he moved to League, he found it so much tougher that he gave up the grog.

I always remember, as I have told Rob, attending a country ball in 1980, the night before Qld took on a full strength All Blacks – back when they used to do full tours and a series of tests. Still one of the greatest days of Qld rugby, knocking off the All Blacks 9-3. no tries and a Roger Gould field goal from the sideline on the wrong side of half way. Brilliant game.

At one stage, Tony Darcy, who had a blinder, the Qld prop, got in an old style brawl with both the All Black props. He had been the bouncer at the ball the night before, though when I crashed around 4am, Darcy was on the dance floor with a bottle of Bundy in each hand, swigging away. Heroic stuff! And he played the house down.

Different standards.[/font][/size]

They weren't being paid $500,000 a year

if you are a professional....as they are all today, it is naturally a different kettle of fish. Mind you there were no mobile phones/camera in those days. Move the technology back 30 years and Darcy wouldn't have got away with it. Good luck to him.

As a shithouse No 6 who has played on 4 continents until the age of 36 I can tell you that if I was being paid decent money then my body and soul would belong to whomever wrote the cheque (I am a *****). However, until that day came (cheque), Rugby is about playing hard and living hard.

[Ken Gargett]

agreed.

imagine a photo today of a wallaby prop on a dance floor at 4am, with two bottles of rum, 10 hours before playing the all blacks.

[El Presidente]

agreed.

imagine a photo today of a wallaby prop on a dance floor at 4am, with two bottles of rum, 10 hours before playing the all blacks.

Albeit somedays (last England test) you would swear they had3 bottles of rum 10 hours before

Seriously, I could have 3 bottles of wine and not move as much.

[CaptainQuintero]

England (football) certainly seemed more successful and enjoyable to watch during the 80's and 90's with the "dentists chair" + Gazza et al