David Warner sledging episode is no surprise

David WarnerSunil Gavaskar recently confided to me that he feared that the culture of onfield abuse would almost inevitably finish in fisticuffs given the way things were heading in the last couple of years Coming from a man who was revered for his courage by the mighty West Indian teams of the 1970s it was a chilling reminder that the modern game was locked in a race to the bottom led by a few international captains who show no understanding of the privilege of true leadership That it is David Warner who is in the thick of the latest incident in Durban should come as no surprise destiny calls on some people and for others they hunt her with a Kaboom batAllowing grown men the latitude to choose where one line ends and another line begins is pure folly when it comes to the modern international cricketer Most of them have little or no life experience outside the artificial bubble that has been their world since their late teens It is unrealistic to expect such naive men cocooned in a web decorated with mirrors to be anything but narcissistic They know little else They have an inflated sense of their own emotional intelligence because the system has not allowed them the chance to walk in the shoes of those less talented and less fortunateThe Australians in particular love talking about this mythical line that they never cross Except of course when they cross it And then they apologise And the next day they claim they know where that line is and would never dream of crossing it Until they cross it And then they apologise here we go againBefore the start of the SA v Australia series Nathan Lyon was adamant that his team often headbutted the line but always knew where to stop I have just spent a day at a high school running workshops on violence prevention and it never occurred to me to tell my students that according to Lyon a headbutt is not a violent act Ask anybody who has been headbutted at the pub and they will tell you that is a potentially deadly use of force but with Lyons limited life experience he makes it sounds almostloving How sweetDespite that barely a few days after that comment Lyon has now pleaded guilty to a Contrary Conduct charge and has been fined 15 of his match fee So despite his assurance that Australian cricketers only headbutt the line it took him but a few days to choke on his own words We might have to pass the hat around to pay his fine so he can put food on the table for his family Oh dear I mentioned his family Apparently there is a line in the sand that says that we cant mention families Clearly no one told his exwife about that cant mention family clause because she was in the news this week blogging about the pain she endured when her marriage to Lyon broke upWarner is a man with form but he is still entrusted with the captaincy of his country a hero to millions of children a grown man who had to be physically restrained by the mildmannered Usman Khawaja in the pavilion during a Test match Steve Smith his captain in the Test series claims he did not hear anything that Warner was alleged to have said to Quinton De Kock but his hearing improved sufficiently to hear the personal sledges that the South African uttered It comes as no surprise whatsoever that the umpires allegedly heard nothing The Proteas have a private belief that they are intimidated by the Australians You only have to watch the way they almost apologetically warn an Australian for running on the pitch compared to the fingerwagging body language when a Pakistani or Indian trespasses to understand how such perceptions are formed Perception is realityThe Warner blowup was an accident waiting to happen a storm brewing No one not the umpires the match referee or the captain could see what we could see from 11000 kilometres away in our lounge rooms When Kumar Dharmasena warned Mitchell Starc for running on the pitch Warners body language when he questioned the umpire was so aggressive that I told my children that Warner had taken his angry pills today A few minutes later my young daughter drew my attention to the vitriol directed at Aiden Markram when he was involved in running out AB de Villiers In her words Dad that Warner guy is so aggressive Someone should tell him to calm down This from a 13yearold child And all the adults in the zoo didnt see it comingDarren Lehmann has backed his man to remain vicecaptain Of course he would Boof is an expert in understanding how not to cross that line Oh except for that time when he called the Sri Lankans black cs in Brisbane in 2002 Ironically he had literally crossed the line when he said it 20 metres past the boundary rope See that line isnt always visible is it even when its painted whiteThis is where it all becomes so childish and silly Apparently sledging is okay so long as its not personal and so long as its not targeting family members Tell me what is the point of sledging if its not personal Is it sledging at all By its very nature doesnt it have to be personal What is the point of sledging somebody if youre not referring to that person Imagine this sledge to Virat Kohli I say Virat old chap were you aware that your neighbour stole a cucumber Now be a good lad and play a dumb shot will you please Seriously unless the cucumber belonged to his poor grandmother its ridiculous to think that all the sledging dished out by Australia was not personal Of course it was You only have to look at the bile spewing out from Warners mouth in the aftermath to the De Villiers run out to know that this was an intensely personal attack And guess what It didnt work Markram went on to make a magnificent century under pressure possibly even spurred on by the nonpersonal sledgesThe whole point of this deplorable practice is that it is meant to be personal It wouldnt bloody well work otherwise But the way some cricketers tell the story there is an invisible line that nobody agreed to nobody can see or touch but is yet so sacred and sacrosanct that it cannot be crossed Even though we dont know where that line is Or if it even exists You know youve crossed the line when the Australians say youve crossed it Got that lads All clear now As Kane Williamson observed with customary dry wit he must have missed the memo that specified which topics the Aussies consider to be off limitsHave the ICC drawn up a list of topics that cross the line Race religion homophobia are the buzzwords I recently ran the education sessions for the Australian U17 and U19 teams male and female covering off this topic I have done the same for Rugby Australia for nigh on 10 years now As I warned the cricketers at the time you risk severe sanctions if you think its only quarantined to these issues Quarantining simply doesnt work in this situation ndash its like going into a hospital and only wanting protection against two diseases Either the ward is a sterile environment or it isnt As we have seen we cant trust these grown men to stick to a strict list of insults that dont target personal issues Unless the line in the sand has been clearly agreed to by all parties what topics are allowed to make the list Mental health courage cowardice selfishness substance abuse dishonesty a death in the family infidelity illegitimate children where do you draw the line Who decides what is hurtful Even bushpigs have feelingsI umpired an U12 game on Saturday where I warned a young boy for using obscene language I specifically warned him that if he kept using those filthy words someone would complain Two hours later he racially abused a female cricketer and the matter is now in the hands of the club president His father was the other umpire and apparently did not hear or see any of the alleged abuse occurring Perhaps the temporary hearing loss that Smith experienced is an epidemic The boys excuse was that he said this Indian girl is rubbish but he didnt use expletives Never mind that she wasnt even Indian Even if he didnt drop the Fbomb whats a 12 year old kid doing sledging an opponent in the first place Why was her Indianness of any relevance unless it was meant to hurt Surely he would not have said this Australian girl is rubbish so clearly the racial element was added as a personal dimension to add to the hurt Does this qualify as merely headbutting that mythical Lyon Line or is this a case of personal abuse that crossed the line Who decides The girl The boy The parents Nathan Lyon His exwife Oh sorry was that too personal See what I meanWe are getting closer and closer to that moment in time when there will be a punchup If Khawaja had not acted so swiftly to restrain the rabid Warner this incident might have been the moment when Gavaskars prophecy came true It is scarcely believable that this could happen to grown men highly paid professionals in a Test match knowing full well that the eyes of the world would be on them Faf du Plessis is honest enough to admit that the sledging was a twoway street but he is adamant that personal insults were meted out to De Kock before he responded in kind Tit for tat Sisters mothers wives bushpigs ndash they are all fair game when the gloves are offThe BorderGavaskar Trophy promises to be a headbutting contest of epic proportions India will have huge crowd support which will inflame tensions where harmony and diversity could coexist Kohli and Smith will be duelling for the tag of best batsman in the world Neither of them have the faintest idea of where that line is not the faintest intention of looking for this mythical beast It does not exist It cannot exist There is no line that can adequately describe men behaving badly And we hold our kids to a higher standard when the adults their heroes hide behind pathetic excuses that wont pass muster in any normal workplaceTheres always an upside though At least when it comes to Warner theres no danger of the famous brain snap That would be an oxymoron Or just a plain moron Sorry was that too personalMichael Jeh is a Brisbanebased former firstclass 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