Andrew Symonds reveals spat with the spinner made him drink more
Andrew Symonds reveals spat with the spinner made him drink moreDisgraced Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds has admitted that, among other things, his jhagda with Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh in January last year sparked off his love affair with the bottle and led, ultimately, to public humiliation.
Swashbuckling Symonds crashed from grace last month because of his inability to cope with the glamour and demands of stardom. He was sent back home on the eve of the World Twenty20 competition in England after a drinking incident in violation of a ban on alcohol consumption.
In an interview on the influential "Sixty Minutes" Australian television programme on Sunday, Symonds, one of the highest paid players in the IPL, says: "I sit back now and I look at it, and I think at some point I was going to blow, I was going to bust u2013 whether it was now or whether it was in two months' time.
"In that environment I was caged in. It takes a lot out of you a little bit at a time, is the best way I can explain it to you, and then there's the build up from that and then boom"
Katie Johnston, the delinquent cricketer's girlfriend of three years, adds: "He was very angry and hurt by people, which I think made him drink and the more he drank, the more the anger and hurt would come out."
Asked by interviewer Liam Bartlett if she thought he drank too much, Johnston replies: "He did six months ago, 12 months ago. After the Harbhajan thing his drinking got pretty bad, and there was one point where I sat him down and said: "Look, I think you've got a drinking problem.
"He would just go into a shell, or a cave, and I'd be there going, "What's wrong?u00a0 Like, you know, what's going on? And he just, would just, shut everything out."
Troubled timesTo make matters worse, Symonds, who is known to be a loner, lost more than Aus1 million (approx Rs 3.75 crores) in a financial collapse, all of which took a heavy toll on his relationship with his girl friend.
Symonds says of Katie Johnston: "I've been through periods where I haven't been too good, you know, and she's stuck by me that's admirable for someone who could have easily upped and left".
The programme was filmed on a boat in the backwaters of the Queensland Gold Coast, with interviewer Liam Bartlett saying "I'm heading into the wild with the wild man of Australian cricket". On board are girl friend Katie and their dogs Rex and Barnie.
When Bartlett says that Symonds "being sent home in disgrace" was because he "simply couldn't control his drinking", Johnston says: Sometimes he actually tries to stay out of trouble. He just kinda falls into it."
To the interviewer's question: "You obviously love him, but why does he deserve public support?"u00a0 Katie Johnstonu00a0 replies: "He's your typical Australian, he really is. He loves his mates, he loves cricket, he loves the footy, and he's not a bad bloke. He's actually a really good person. And I promise, anyone who actually knows Andrew would also fall in love with him. You can't help it."
Asked abut his affair
with the bottle, which was ultimately responsible for his brilliant career being booted into oblivion by Cricket Australia (which gave him a long enough noose to hang himself), Symonds replies: "I'm not proud of the times I've drunk too much and been rude to someone or broken team rules. It's unacceptable. Now I'm out of that environment, and it won't happen any more for those people and for me."
Bartlett describes the wayward Symonds as a "bad boy" because oh his "abnormal" behaviour repeatedly missing training, ignoring team meetings, turning up for games hung over and brawling in bars.
"Normal behaviour is not trying to punch somebody in a nightclub. 'Normal' is not having 38 beers when you can have two. I mean, all you had to do was behave yourself. And I struggle to understand why you just couldn't do it," Bartlett asks.
Symonds replies:"Yeah, well mate. I did most of the time but those times... I know I've misbehaved and I've acted poorly and irresponsibly. And drunken behaviour is not acceptable."
Too much, too quickAustralian cricket's enfant terrible adds: "I'd drink too much, too fast, too quickly."
Asked how much is "too much", Symonds replies: "Well everyone's tolerance is different. I don't think that's the issue. I admit that too fast, too much. I became not good to be around, aggressive."
Asked if he is an alcoholic, Symonds replies: "No, I'm not an alcoholic. I've been diagnosed as a binge drinker."
Asked what that means, the errant 34-year-old who was born in Britain, adopted as a young baby and raised in far northern Queensland, Australia, replies: "I'd go out and drink hard all in one hit, too fast, too much."
He says he's let down his teammates a number of times. "I've had to front up and apologise to them a number of times. Embarrassing, difficult, awkward situation. Not ideal."
Playing for Australia was a childhood dream, Symonds says.
Cricket Australia, in a last-ditch attempt to salvage the recalcitrant cricketer's career and prevent the inevitable train wreck, forced him to sign a contract, which imposed a total ban on him drinking in public.
WaterlooBut, watching a football match in a London pub while on a tour four weeks ago was his Waterloo. Knowing fully well a single drink could ruin his career, Symonds self-destructed: gulping one drink, then another, and another.
He says: "I was wrapped up in watching the football and then when I got back (to the hotel), yep, I knew then (that his cricketing career with Australia had been torpedoed).
Shades of: "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse" (Shakespeare, Richard III).
And reminiscent of footballers George Best and Paul Gascoigne and boxer Mike Tyson.
Sad!
