The AFL is to blame for the alarming lack of newcomersStephen Samuelson
January 2, 2011Australian cricket is sick. But as a cure, sacking captain Ricky Ponting would merely be the anaesthetic before the lobotomy.
Ponting's runs have been sorely missed, but the Australian captain is not responsible for the nurturing of talent, the selecting of teams and the development of techniques. And dismissing him from his post does not solve these problems. There are personnel at Cricket Australia whose job it is to do that.
The reality is, however, that the well of talent may just be drying up. El Nino has hit Australian cricket but it is a strong southerly breeze that is inducing the drought. Despite the pronouncements from the mythology machine down south – indigenous code means unique to, not universally embraced by – cricket is Australia's true national game.
The football codes, principally AFL, are siphoning talent from it. This is not merely a local observation; the English press have picked up on it too.
The seasons are no longer clearly defined and professionalism demands monogamists, not swingers. Long gone are the days when Keith Miller kicked 42 goals for St Kilda or Ray Lindwall played in a grand final for St George.
Popular history has it that Tom Wills invented Australian Rules football in 1858 to keep cricketers fit during the winter months. It's a pecking order worth admiring but long since ignored. Is it a coincidence that the AFL scheduled their 2009 draft to start on the same day as the start of Cricket Australia's international season? It's one thing being a big fish in a small pond, but the only fish? Diversity of the species is a necessity.
The economics of it are simple. The football codes offer more players a professional living than what cricket provides.
Cricket Australia has 25 centrally contracted players each year. Any one of the 16 AFL clubs needs 22 professional players on match-day alone. The AFL, NRL and Super Rugby clubs offer talented sportsman more pay, more opportunities and greater certainty.
Cricket Australia knows this to be true. The expansion of the Big Bash to an eight team city-based league next season is an attempt to redress the balance. Better financial reward for cricketers may end the reliance on NSW to prop up the Australian team.
If Doug Bollinger plays in the Sydney Test, eight of Australia's XI will have originally hailed from NSW and Queensland. The AFL dominated states will provide just three. South Australia will not be represented at all. Its state team is dominated by interlopers seeking an opportunity. Tom Cooper, Dan Christian, Aaron O'Brien and Tim Lang hail from NSW. Ben Edmondson has drifted in from Western Australia while former Victorians Michael Klinger and Aiden Blizzard are mainstays at the top of the order.
What happened to the talent line that produced the Chappell brothers, David Hookes, Tim May, Darren Lehmann and Greg Blewett, let alone a bevy of perfectly acceptable first-class cricketers?
But the AFL wants to grow their sport in Sydney too. Rugby league is thought to be the code most under assault from the GWS Giants venture, but if it is successful world cricket's most valuable nursery might be under threat.
For some people having an indigenous code is a source of national pride, and there is no denigrating that, but we don't want Australian sport to be a monogenetic.
So by all means embrace the cash cow that is AFL. Digest the mythology, join in the eulogising, but don't complain too loudly when Australia are thrashed by an innings a 157 runs at the MCG. Your slavish, unquestioning support for the indigenous code has ensured it.
Stephen Samuelson is the online sports editor of smh.com.au.http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/the-afl-is-to-blame-for-the-alarming-lack-of-newcomers-20110101-19ch3.html
