#72 – The Underarm Ball: 44 Years Later — Lessons We Still Haven't Learned
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Episode Summary:
In this episode of Sport Is Life, Ian Hawkins reflects on infamous moments in sports history, including the underarm bowling incident between Australia and New Zealand and the 2018 ball-tampering scandal. He explores how humor can help us process past controversies, the evolution of mental health support for athletes, and whether lessons have truly been learned. With references to players like Trevor Chappell and Cameron Bancroft, Ian questions how sports institutions handle mistakes and redemption.
Are we doing enough to support athletes beyond the headlines?
About the Host:
Ian Hawkins, host of "Sport Is Life," is dedicated to showing how sports can transform lives. With extensive experience as an athlete, a coach, PE teacher, community volunteer, and manager at Fox Sports, Ian brings a wealth of knowledge to the podcast. His journey began in his backyard, mentored by his older brother, and has since evolved into coaching elite athletes and business leaders. Ian's commitment to sports and personal development is evident in his roles as a performance coach and active community member. Through "Sport Is Life," Ian shares inspiring stories and valuable lessons to help listeners apply sports principles to all areas of life.
To access Ian's Performance Meditation Training, click here https://www.ianhawkinscoaching.com/performancemeditation and make sure you use the coupon "PODCAST" when you check out to get it for only $11.
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Transcript
Zealand batsman couldn't hit a six off
Speaker:the last ball to tie the game and showed
Speaker:horrible sportsmanship by throwing his
Speaker:bat in the air. And I thought that was
Speaker:fantastic. That's what we should be doing
Speaker:with things from the past. We should be
Speaker:having a laugh about them. That is funny.
Speaker:And if you dig a bit deeper, it's like,
Speaker:yeah, that was shit. Like we teach our
Speaker:kids now, no matter what happens, no
Speaker:matter what the other team does, no
Speaker:matter what the other boys decision,
Speaker:you've got to carry yourself the right
Speaker:way. Well, that
Speaker:I'm Ian Hawkins and this is Sporty's
Speaker:life. The purpose of sport, as I
Speaker:see it, is to see your vision become a
Speaker:reality, find your voice, create
Speaker:strong connections and learn to trust
Speaker:your body.
Speaker:Sometime over the last few days it's been
Speaker:the 24 year anniversary of the
Speaker:infamous underarm ball. Trevor Chapel,
Speaker:Australia versus New Zealand. I needed a
Speaker:six to win off the last ball and his his
Speaker:brother, the captain or limited bowling
Speaker:underarm to make sure that they they
Speaker:couldn't. Well, it wasn't even to win 66
Speaker:to tie to make sure that they would
Speaker:have been the match. Now there's been
Speaker:plenty. Said about it, it's given
Speaker:Australians a lifetime of. Well, for me,
Speaker:a lifetime of. Probably early
Speaker:days, a little bit of embarrassment I
Speaker:guess, but then also plenty of humour
Speaker:over the years too. Winding up our Kiwi
Speaker:friends and and for them it's it's been a
Speaker:place for the Kiwis to do the same. Take
Speaker:the piss out of us and how we're
Speaker:always cheating. This is from the country
Speaker:that gave us Richie McCaw, mind you. We
Speaker:won't go into that but you know everyone
Speaker:picks and chews when they. Picks and
Speaker:chooses when they think it's cheating.
Speaker:It's like the South Africans and the
Speaker:English. Holy than our
Speaker:attitude around cricket ball tampering.
Speaker:The same countries that use mints
Speaker:put zippers on their pockets.
Speaker:The only thing is we're stupid enough to
Speaker:use a bright yellow sandpaper instead of
Speaker:making it more subtle. So if our crime is
Speaker:lacking subtlety, then so be it.
Speaker:But The thing is, is like what? What have
Speaker:we actually learned? Because if we look
Speaker:at that, that sandpaper.
Speaker:Indiscretion. Shall we say?
Speaker:Did we actually get the aftermath of that
Speaker:right in a day and age? And we're
Speaker:supposedly treating our sports
Speaker:people with the best
Speaker:possible mental health strategies
Speaker:industry standard they talk about. I
Speaker:mean, you look at like Trevor Chapel,
Speaker:he's probably had a lifetime of of
Speaker:negativity from time to time. I'm sure
Speaker:there's been plenty of opportunity for
Speaker:him to to. Live a
Speaker:life of relative anonymity. But I'm
Speaker:sure he I imagine daily he would cop
Speaker:something about that. A question I asked
Speaker:about that. Just just the way
Speaker:these sort of things are and how
Speaker:people just don't forget Scotty Boland
Speaker:talks about everyday
Speaker:Michael, not every day, but how regularly
Speaker:people yell out at him build that man of
Speaker:statue just walking in the streets. From
Speaker:the commentary where he where he took the
Speaker:six for three or whatever it was against
Speaker:the English a couple of years ago. This
Speaker:is sports fans keep these things,
Speaker:particularly things that have got a bit of
Speaker:humour about them. Humour as time
Speaker:passes. What do you
Speaker:think about the like?I'm sure you've got
Speaker:no counselling, Trev. Greg's also
Speaker:talked about how at the time they were
Speaker:under such stress they were overworked,
Speaker:underpaid. And he'd
Speaker:been talking to the establishment about
Speaker:the need for more rest and, and the, the
Speaker:challenges they were experiencing. And,
Speaker:and like he said, looking back, in a way,
Speaker:it was a cry for help. He's like, we're
Speaker:not going to do this. We're not going to
Speaker:be your puppets anymore. You're going to
Speaker:have to look after us better. But I'm
Speaker:sure there was, they were not getting any
Speaker:help with their mental health or
Speaker:emotional health back then. And I'm sure
Speaker:in the aftermath of that, they weren't
Speaker:either because it's not how things were
Speaker:done. Here players talk about even just
Speaker:coming into a new team or was cutthroat,
Speaker:these people that meant to be your
Speaker:teammates when you're a young player
Speaker:treating them like absolute shit.
Speaker:But again, if we Fast forward now to the
Speaker:modern day, like you look at someone like
Speaker:Cameron Bancroft, who was the
Speaker:one put in charge of this ridiculous
Speaker:yellow sandpaper affair.
Speaker:These can't seem to be marked like he
Speaker:scored a bulk of runs over the last few
Speaker:years when our Bunny hasn't been
Speaker:fantastic and they've tried a heap of
Speaker:different people but. Unless someone can
Speaker:correct me, I'm pretty sure he hasn't got
Speaker:another crack in the test team, or if he
Speaker:has, it's been a limited opportunity.
Speaker:And I remember him saying at one point
Speaker:saying we've got to know what else I can
Speaker:do. The leading run scorer a couple years
Speaker:ago and I still couldn't get a start. So
Speaker:I just wonder, like what have we actually
Speaker:learned? Was he getting looked after?
Speaker:Were people getting around here? Were
Speaker:people from the establishment actually
Speaker:looking after them? Now in saying that,
Speaker:it definitely has come a long way. Mental
Speaker:health and and the well being of players
Speaker:has come along way.
Speaker:But are we doing a good enough job?
Speaker:Going over anniversaries like this that
Speaker:are, that are not particularly not
Speaker:particularly positive like is there any
Speaker:need to?Just doing a bit of
Speaker:research for this episode, there was an
Speaker:article from Trevor and the.
Speaker:How many years is it? Did I say 20 year
Speaker:, 40 year
Speaker:, 4044 year
Speaker:981. So yes, 44 year
Speaker:anniversary when the 40 year anniversary?
Speaker:Saying like.
Speaker:There's it's a negative thing in your
Speaker:life. What, what purpose is apologising
Speaker:now? Like what, what would it like talk
Speaker:about his brother never apologising? And
Speaker:he said like, well, I'm not sure what
Speaker:could it do to anyone for apologising.
Speaker:And you know, it's what's done is
Speaker:done. And I just there's, there's a,
Speaker:there's actually something to that, like.
Speaker:Is there anyone realistically hanging on
Speaker:for 44 years about
Speaker:something that happened so long ago? And
Speaker:if so, why would they still be heard
Speaker:about it? But life throws you stuff
Speaker:that's challenging. That's shit. Like
Speaker:that's just life. But if you stay
Speaker:stuck?
Speaker:Dwelling on those things and feeling
Speaker:some way cheated or.
Speaker:We're holding a grudge. You're just
Speaker:making yourself suffer. You're punishing
Speaker:yourself. It's really
Speaker:interesting why, why we even do that,
Speaker:which is why what prompted me to
Speaker:do this, this particular episode
Speaker:was the meme I saw where it was saying
Speaker:44 years ago today.
Speaker:A New Zealand batsman couldn't hit a six
Speaker:off the last ball to tie the game and
Speaker:showed horrible sportsmanship by throwing
Speaker:his bat in the air. And I thought that
Speaker:was fantastic. That's what we should be
Speaker:doing with things from the past. We
Speaker:should be having a laugh about them. That
Speaker:is funny. And if you dig a bit deeper,
Speaker:it's like, yeah, that was shit. Like we
Speaker:teach our kids now, no matter what
Speaker:happens, no matter what the other team
Speaker:does, no matter what the other boys
Speaker:decision, you've got to carry yourself
Speaker:the right way. Well, that was no good.
Speaker:You shouldn't be throwing your bat in the
Speaker:air. I'm pretty sure we were all reacted
Speaker:in a similar way. But like, what's he
Speaker:doing?But yeah, so I love,
Speaker:I love the humour in that. I love this.
Speaker:I've been too way too serious at times.
Speaker:And we've got a. Have a lighter side to
Speaker:these things. We've got a yeah,
Speaker:move on from shit from 44 years ago. Like
Speaker:what are, why do we hold on to these
Speaker:things? And it's a lot of the work that
Speaker:I'm doing when I'm, when I'm coaching
Speaker:people is helping them let go of
Speaker:stuff that perhaps you're still having an
Speaker:impact. Sometimes they're very much
Speaker:conscious of having an impact. Sometimes
Speaker:not so conscious. They say they've moved
Speaker:on, but they can't actually change the,
Speaker:the habit that to, to actually move on.
Speaker:They're still getting maybe a physical
Speaker:reaction. Different circumstances,
Speaker:whether whether that's when they're
Speaker:playing sport and they have to go into a
Speaker:similar scenario and maybe they haven't
Speaker:had success or whether they're.
Speaker:Just facing some some.
Speaker:General day-to-day moment where they
Speaker:still react in a way that they, you know,
Speaker:they don't want to remember working with
Speaker:someone a few years ago, they wanted to
Speaker:be better in a like from a public
Speaker:speaking perspective. And when we dug
Speaker:into why that might have been, and it's
Speaker:usually something that's not that
Speaker:significant, but it's still playing out
Speaker:and breaking that pattern. But one of
Speaker:the, the easiest ways to move past things
Speaker:is to, yeah, make it more fun, make it
Speaker:more playful, be more curious.
Speaker:Don't dwell in these things.
Speaker:And of course, if you feel like you are
Speaker:dwelling and you just can't seem to move
Speaker:on, and that's when you reach out for
Speaker:help and. And get someone
Speaker:who's going to be able to help you get
Speaker:past that. Like I said,
Speaker:they do a much better job in that
Speaker:spawning space of supporting.
Speaker:Athletes. Coaches.
Speaker:I'm sure your workplace is too. If you've
Speaker:got your own business, that might be a
Speaker:bit more of a challenge. I do tend to
Speaker:work with a lot of business owners, but
Speaker:sometimes what is happening in a
Speaker:corporate environment is is very much
Speaker:about box ticking from my experience.
Speaker:Working in corporate for over 20 years,
Speaker:but also from the people I've coached who
Speaker:still work in that space.
Speaker:So. What have we
Speaker:learned? We've learned that perhaps we
Speaker:need to take life not so serious,
Speaker:that sportsmanship has come a long way.
Speaker:But sometimes players will still make
Speaker:mistakes, they'll get it wrong, they'll
Speaker:do things that are stupid, that are done
Speaker:and. The general
Speaker:population will judge him for it, and
Speaker:that's just a given. But we don't have to
Speaker:get involved in that. You don't have to
Speaker:get involved in that. You don't have to
Speaker:allow yourself to be drawn into that
Speaker:negativity because it does have a
Speaker:negative impact on your psyche and
Speaker:your behaviour and yoursuccess.
Speaker:Time to, like I said, be more curious,
Speaker:be more playful, make it more fun, but
Speaker:also have that unrelenting
Speaker:desire to improve. To
Speaker:to have success and to get
Speaker:the absolute most out of your life that
Speaker:you're possibly can.
Speaker:You've taken the time to listen to this
Speaker:whole episode. Now it's time to take
Speaker:action. Commit to one thing you've
Speaker:learned today and make it happen. And to
Speaker:avoid any obstructions, join the Sporty's
Speaker:Life movement by clicking on the link in
Speaker:the show notes.
