Prime Minister Scott Morrison: the Prime Minister for Footy
THERE have been some massive prime ministerial sporting fails. Howard with his cricket “bowl” that was more a lawn bowl. Hawke getting smashed by a cricket ball and Turnbull missing a free throw in basketball. But ScoMo can play footy. Sit back, watch the videos, and laugh and compare.
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THERE have been some massive prime ministerial sporting fails. Howard with his cricket “bowl” that was more a lawn bowl. Hawke getting smashed by a cricket ball and Turnbull missing a free throw in basketball. But ScoMo can play footy.
Abbott was a surfer and did not actually suck, and Turnbull could sail to make up for his lack of dunk.
But the Shire’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison prefers to get out on the paddock and kick the footy. And he has got a bit of go about him.
The avowed Cronulla Sharks fan ran around with the boys from the Clontarf Academy for future rugby league stars at Endeavour Sports High School in Caringbah.
The Prime Minister elicited howls of approval for a nifty flick pass from the young students before successfully stopping a fast runner in his tracks with a well-timed tap.
However, not every Prime Minister has been so deft on the field.
Former Liberal Prime Minister John Howard infamously bowled a tragic howler during a visit to Pakistan after a devastating earthquake in 2005.
Mr Howard blamed the ball used at the impromptu match with local troops and children when he recounted the tale at a 2015 event at King’s College.
Labor’s larrikin Prime Minister Bob Hawke nearly lost the sight in his right eye when a mistimed crack at a hook shot during a Press vs Parliament cricket match in 1984 saw his glasses shattered into his eye.
Kevin Rudd dobbed himself in after a spectacular series of failed attempts to do chin-ups during a media spot in 2013.
In the video released by Mr Rudd, a personal trainer tries to help him hoist himself onto the chin-up bar in a local park with no success before the former prime minister ultimately managed a quick series with the help of some suspended rings.
He’s a keen surfer who honed his skills on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, but former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has had a few memorable wipe-outs in his time.
Mr Abbott broke one of surfing’s ten commandments when he infamously dropped in on 17-year-old Gold Coast surfer Ivy Thomas at a Sunshine Coast break in March 2016.
Recently-toppled Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull also had his own sports fail, releasing an ineffectual netball-style shot that fell well short of the hoop at a Perth basketball court in 2017.
Everybody knows Harold Holt wasn’t crash hot at swimming, in the end — but fellow former prime ministers Julia Gillard and Paul Keating have no sporting fails on record (that we know of).
Mr Morrison made a strong showing at his first sporting test on Thursday but it is early days yet for the newly-appointed PM.
Former St George Dragons legend Jeff Hardy runs the Clontarf Academy program, which draws Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boys from rural and remote NSW to play rugby league and become engaged in community life.
“These boys come from right across western NSW, and they have a lodge in Kareela where lots of them stay while they’re down here,” Mr Morrison said as he cooked bacon and eggs on the barbecue for breakfast.
“It’s a life-changing program for these boys, a lot I’ve met are now working and at university and what Jeff’s done with this program I can’t put into words.
“He’s changing young boys’ lives.”
Mr Morrison sat down for breakfast in the sunshine with the boys before addressing media about an ABC sketch which mocked his Christian faith and the fallout from the Liberal Party’s leadership struggles last week.
“My faith teaches me to love everyone, to love each other, and to turn the other cheek,” Mr Morrison said.
“I’m the Prime Minister, I work for all Australians every day — I’m on their side and I’m about bringing them together, not creating differences and pushing them apart.”