Stop the hand-wringing

There’s a suggestion that there is something rotten at the heart of Australian national team sport. But look at what actually happened

So the Wallabies struggled against Ireland, the Socceroos got bundled out of the World Cup in straight sets and the Australian cricket team, mired in a cheating scandal, couldn’t win a game in England. But let the hand-wringing stop there.

The suggestion there is something rotten at the heart of Australian national team sport took hold yesterday as we watched repeat after repeat of the Philippines basketbrawl. Another team of arrogant, overpaid thugs embarrassing us on the world stage.

But look again at what actually happened. The Australian players faced an unprovoked, out-of-control assault from a couple of dozen Filipino players, coaches, officials and fans. While the Australian bench players, probably reluctantly, watched punches and kicks rain down on teammates, the Philippines’ bench emptied. The father of a Filipino player threw a chair at Nathan Sobey. Chris Goulding feared for his life as he lay on the court being kicked.

Clearly a couple of Australian players overreacted. Thon Maker has already apologised and Daniel Kickert could be facing a long suspension.

But this is not an incident that reflects on the culture of Australian sport. In fact, in the relative restraint of many of the players and the integrity of former NBA champion Luc Longley, who waded in to rescue Goulding, we see much that is admirable.