Tom Minear: Usman Khawaja’s critics can’t have it both ways

If we want athletes to ditch the cliches and be themselves, then Tom Minear argues we can’t complain when they take a stance like Usman Khawaja on Palestine.

There are sadly few Australian athletes like Usman Khawaja, whose sincerity and sense of humour set him apart from those who speak in cliches and are unwilling to be themselves.

It is sadder still – but nevertheless predictable – that admiration for the batsman was only called into question last week because he dared to offer his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Khawaja did so respectfully. He planned to write “all lives are equal” and “freedom is a human right” on his shoes, two uncontroversial statements compared to possible alternatives. But the International Cricket Council banned his protest – if you could even call it that – and critics told him to stop talking and start batting.

Usman Khawaja wore a black arm band during the first Test. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Fans rightly want to enjoy their favourite sport without a dose of politics, although they also want to feel like they know their favourite athletes. It’s a fine line, and I’d argue Khawaja remained on the right side of it. (If anything, the kerfuffle mostly succeeded where the sport’s administrators had failed in alerting the public to the start of the summer of cricket.)

Those in the cheap seats can’t have it both ways, as much as they try to. They can’t whine about athletes evading questions with boring answers – on the rare occasions they are even allowed to face the media – and then complain when they offer honest opinions.

The comparison is often made to the US, where athletes are far more comfortable sharing what’s on their mind. Sometimes this gets them into trouble, such as when Australian-born NBA star Kyrie Irving declared the Earth was flat, but it is inevitably more interesting.

Cameron Smith joined the controversial Saudi-funded LIV golf tour last year. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

It helps that they are also far more available to the press. Only once was I held back from a locker room for post-game interviews, and that was because Bill Clinton stopped by.

Some US journalists take this access for granted. When Australian golfer Cameron Smith joined the LIV tour, he was asked about his hair care routine, whether he could grow a beard, and if he would use his $US100m deal to “buy Australia”. Another reporter told him three times that he was “chill” and asked for “advice on how I can not snap my clubs”.

Between those cringe-worthy questions from the golf press pack, it was only the visiting Australian journalists who grilled Smith on the Saudi Arabian government’s sports-washing agenda in funding the new league. What was that about sport and politics not mixing?