Fifty years on, Dennis Lillee’s spell still mesmerised the crowd

But now Lillee told us something we didn’t know.

A few months later, Lillee received a large envelope. Inside was a large photo of the incident, showing him fruitlessly proffering Her Maj his autograph book. Signed below, in her elegant hand, was written, Elizabeth R …

“Oh, hang on! Now I’ll be in trouble,” Dennis said, looking in your humble correspondent’s direction.

No, Mr Lillee, just this once, we’ll let it pass!

At the end of the chat, the entire room gave him a heartfelt, spontaneous standing ovation. It was a wonderful night, and a demonstration of cricket’s capacity for community, and doing good things. They raised $435,000 on the night, of which 99.6 per cent will actually get to the homeless, including such great charities as Stepping Stone House.

It was a great credit to principal organiser Darshak Mehta and his board, and proof positive that even 50 years on, D.K. has still got it. I kid you not, he was mobbed for a full 30 minutes afterwards.

Dutton’s input unwelcome

Which brings us to today’s election, and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s contention that Welcome to Country ceremonies are stinking up the joint, most particularly when it comes to sporting events. I respectfully beg to differ.

The issue burst upon us in the last week when neo-Nazis in Melbourne interrupted an Anzac Day service during the Welcome to Country. Initially, after stating the obvious that the neo-Nazis were a disgrace, Dutton stood shoulder to shoulder with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in supporting the whole concept of Welcome to Country.

Of WTC, Dutton said on the Friday that it is “an important part of official ceremonies, and it should be respected. We have a proud Indigenous heritage in this country, and we should be proud to celebrate it as part of today … And we should always remember to do that and remind ourselves … that Indigenous Australians played a very significant part, and still do today, in the Australian Defence Force.”

By Monday, however, in what was just the latest of many flip-flops in his campaign, he had reversed his position.

When asked if Anzac dawn services qualified as being “significant” enough to feature Welcome to Country ceremonies, he replied: “No.”

And he went further, also taking specific aim at the WTC at “the start of a football game, [where a lot] of Australians think it is overdone and cheapens the significance of what it was meant to do. It divides the country … ”

Uh, no. What divides the country, Mr Dutton, is seeking to make it a political issue by focusing on it a few days out from the election, in an apparent attempt to harness racial division for your own political purposes.

And it is a credit to the NRL and the AFL that they quickly came out and said they will continue with the practice, thanks anyway, as did Rugby Australia. And the RSL itself also came out in support of Welcome to Country! Not looking too divided to me?

In the meantime, the first and most obvious thing to say is that if you find yourself on the same side of an argument as neo-Nazis – the very ones who got the debate going in the first place – it might be a fair clue that you’re barking up the wrong tree, when siding with the barking mad? And yes, ideas are not responsible for the people who believe in them, but who truly thinks the WTC should be one of the main issues going into the last week of a federal election?

Of course, there are many who think that Welcome to Country is overdone, and I, for one, think it really can go too far when successive speakers at a podium all say the same thing, and sometimes say it for too long. But, by and large, it is a wonderful Australian tradition, inclusive in nature, and sport, specifically, can take a bow for how it has embraced it.

And thanks, I know, too, this item will draw fire from punters saying, “How dare they welcome me to MY country? My mob has been here for four generations!” In the first place, if it comes to that, OUR Indigenous mob has been here for a thousand generations, and in the second place, in this sense “country” is not as in “Australia”, but as in “from the Hawkesbury to the Cooks River, from the ocean to the Nepean”, etc.

As once explained by Brendan Kerin, a cultural educator from the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, “A Welcome to Country is not a welcome to Australia. Within Australia we have many Aboriginal lands, and we refer to our lands as ‘country’. So it’s always a welcome to the lands you’ve gathered on.”

And yes, too, Dutton may say whatever he damn well pleases, just as the Libs can – and I am not making this up – do preference swaps with One Nation, and put each other second on their card. No, really. We’re a democracy, and today we can all decide who we want to run the show.

But, I repeat, on this specific issue, if you find yourself on the same side of the debate as people who have swastikas up on their bedroom wall at mum’s place, up against the RSL, yours might be the team letting the side down.

Kiss and tell

The appointment of Les Kiss as the next Wallabies coach? It was sort of … odd.

A good choice and all, but why announce something now, that is well over a year away, now that Joe Schmidt has agreed to hold on until July of next year?

TFF went to the press conference and chatted briefly to Kiss afterwards. He did agree that his has been an amazingly peripatetic career, from being a rugby league star with the North Sydney Bears and Kangaroos to making his way in rugby coaching, all the way to the very top.

When I asked him what he had learnt from the likes of the famous Bears coach Frank Stanton, his response was quick.

“I learnt that the best players are the ones who know how to pull it out and perform at the highest level, on the biggest occasions,” he said.

Max Jorgensen, I think he was calling your name …

What they said

Eddie Jones to the SMH’s Tom Decent, whose number he once blocked, after denying Decent’s story that Eddie was negotiating with Japanese rugby, while coaching the Wallabies: “I apologise, mate. Serious. I didn’t try to piss you off mate, but you know, I probably did treat you unprofessionally, so I apologise mate.”

Benji Marshall before the West Tigers’ game against the Sharks on picking Lachlan Galvin: “Why would I care what people say? Everyone wants to know why [I decided to recall him]. I pick the team, you don’t need to know why.” I’m going to go with, because it’s been demonstrated that you lose without him. Did I get it right?

Galvin after the Tigers’ great win: “All I want to do is play rugby league. That’s the reason I live, to be honest, to play this game. That’s all I want to do – work hard and let my footy do the talking.” I knew it. You knew it. Sooner or later, someone had to let their footy do the talking.

Geelong coach Chris Scott on the AFL fining players for showing their middle finger in the “up yours” manner: “This stuff, it just doesn’t matter. In the modern world, if flipping the bird is just horribly obscene and a shock to people’s senses, then, I don’t know, that’s not the world I’m living in. You get a lot more obscene stuff watching music videos on YouTube, I would suggest.”

Aussie Morgan Cibilic after a tough day at Bells Beach: “It is what it is at the end of the day – you can’t argue with the ocean.”

Novak Djokovic after another first-round loss: “[It’s] kind of a new reality for me, I have to say, trying to win a match or two, not really thinking about getting far in the tournament.”

Inter Milan manager Simone Inzaghi on 17-year-old Barcelona player Lamine Yamal: “He is a talent that is born every 50 years. I had never seen him live [until today] and today he impressed me.”

Bill Belichick after a controversial interview in which his 48-year younger girlfriend interrupted and made herself the story: “The final eight-minute segment does not reflect the productive 35-minute conversation which we had, which covered a wide range of topics related to my career. Instead, it presents selectively edited clips and stills from just a few minutes of the interview to suggest a false narrative – that Jordon [his girlfriend] was attempting to control the conversation – which is simply not true.” There’s a dozen jokes available here, but I am not brave enough to make any of them. Do your own.

This exchange took place between the Herald’s Michael Chammas and Andrew Johns, after the latter refused to commentate in protest at bunker decisions last Sunday:
Chammas: “You were telling me that you’re just at the shops. I don’t know how you can afford that because surely Channel Nine docked your pay for not calling the last 23 minutes of the game?”
Joey: “There’s nothing like a silent protest. I was just so frustrated. That game was an absolute beauty. A full house with diehard Tigers fans, and once again, the bunker was deciding who wins. Let the players decide. When I saw the [Fonua] Pole contact, it was the softest one of the weekend. I just had a gutful of it.”

Team of the week

Jeremy Crawshaw. Aussie punter drafted by the Denver Broncos.

Lachie Galvin. Hopefully this brings the saga to an end. He said he didn’t want to re-sign, he was dropped, he came back, they won.

Jack Crisp. Will break the streak of consecutive VFL/AFL games when he plays his 245th straight on Saturday.

Jack Robinson and Isabella Nichols. The Australian surfers prevailed at Bells Beach.

Auckland FC. A-League premiers in their first season. Remarkable!

Vaibhav Suryavanshi. The 14-year-old scored the second fastest IPL century, hitting three figures in 35 balls, before getting a two-ball duck in the next match. Everyone after me, “It’s a funny game, cricket.”

Liverpool. Champions of the Premier League for the 20th time.

John Mayes. The former Kangaroos halfback, who won three premierships in three years in the 1970s with Manly and Easts, has been struck down by illness. All strength, John and family.

Twitter: @Peter_Fitz