Symonds sent home

[Matt79]

 

[social]

Love a vegemite sandwich tbh.

Don't think the "it's a comedy radio show, we were just mucking around" line is going to work. Roy and H.G. were giving him rope, but they weren't laughing at what he said or encouraging him - they were asking pretty straight forward questions. And Symonds was obviously drunk. And they weren't funny remarks. And this isn't the first time he's embarrassed himself and caused CA headaches because he's failed to make a sensible decision re: when and how much to drink.

I think it's a bit sad really. Symonds was obviously very ill-prepared for the level of wealth and celebrity he very quickly attained. This has combined with a problem with alcohol to derail his life now on a variety of settings, and he's clearly some distance from actually getting his act together. If CA chose to keep on pushing the line that "normality is the best thing for him to help him manage this", then they're ignoring the record that shows that Symonds has regularly failed to manage that 'normality'. They'd also be putting avoiding making a hard call on a staff welfare issue over the welfare of their entire employee group and business objectives...

Let's get some perspective

A ridiculously high percentage of NFL players have firearm convictions

The survival of the entire sport of professional cycling is still under threat from rampant doping offences

The credibility of athletics is in the toilet because of rampant doping offences

The NRL is forever being tainted by ***ual abuse and drunken behaviour (including a recent Oz captain being dumped outside a police station because he fell asleep in his own vomit in the back of a cab)

In cricket, players have been convicted of gambling, cheating and drug abuse

In the scheme of things, Symonds' offences rank about 8,098,987,654,321 all time

 

[Matt79]

Yeah, he also didn't crash the Exxon Valdez, shoot Kennedy from the grassy knoll, or produce Paris Hilton's last single.

All of which "perspective" has about as much relevance as your examples as to whether this was a dumb thing for a bloke who has already had probably one too many chances offered to him by his employer to stop being a dumb ****.

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Yeah, me too. When I was a kid I used to put salt & vinegar chips in them, sounds weird but tasted so good.

Hell yeah!
Same. And its not weird.

 

[Matt79]

I actually like a bit of vegemite straight up out of the jar sometimes...

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Weirdest ****s.

 

[social]

Yeah, he also didn't crash the Exxon Valdez, shoot Kennedy from the grassy knoll, or produce Paris Hilton's last single.

All of which "perspective" has about as much relevance as your examples as to whether this was a dumb thing for a bloke who has already had probably one too many chances offered to him by his employer to stop being a dumb ****.

If the issue is whether he should ever have been punished in the first place or whether the punishment was appropriate, then the answer is obviously "No."

All it did was weaken the team and hasnt taught him jack-****

In other words, a complete ****-up in management

 

[Matt79]

Weirdest ****s.

Join us... sure you might feel uncomfortable, maybe even a bit scared or foolish, but once you get into it, you'll be surprised how you develop an appetite for it,
start to crave it even...

 

[PhoenixFire]

If the issue is whether he should ever have been punished in the first place or whether the punishment was appropriate, then the answer is obviously "No."

All it did was weaken the team and hasnt taught him jack-****

In other words, a complete ****-up in management

Right, so you're basically saying that he shouldn't be punished because it didn't make any effect on him when he was punished before. Nice idea. How about we try it with criminals? The theif went to jail and carried on stealing when he came out, so we shouldn't put him in prison again.

 

[social]

Right, so you're basically saying that he shouldn't be punished because it didn't make any effect on him when he was punished before. Nice idea. How about we try it with criminals? The theif went to jail and carried on stealing when he came out, so we shouldn't put him in prison again.

Gee, nice example

Last time I checked Symonds was neither a criminal nor anything like the worst behaved cricketer

 

[Matt79]

If the issue is whether he should ever have been punished in the first place or whether the punishment was appropriate, then the answer is obviously "No."

All it did was weaken the team and hasnt taught him jack-****

In other words, a complete ****-up in management

Well that wasn't the issue, but on that issue, be ****ed with him - he's not that good a player that he can expect the rest of the world to bend itself to accomodate him. And he's turning into a pathetic joke of a barmat of a soon-to-be ex-cricketer at this rate. It's not as if plenty of people haven't already been prepared to try and help him out over the course of this process anyway.

Only thing that, in the long term, weakens the team, is allowing player's personal issues to lead to a decrease in the professionalism of the outfit. If that means that from time to time, players need to cop a punishment for screwing up, especially when at the same time he has lots of friends and supporters within the set-up trying to help him get himself right, then so be it. If a player is not smart/together enough to take that on the chin and straighten themselves out, then the team is, long term, better off without them.

 

[Matt79]

Gee, nice example

Last time I checked Symonds was neither a criminal nor anything like the worst behaved cricketer

And he hadn't been sent to jail either. So it was hardly a ridiculous example.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Gee, nice example

Last time I checked Symonds was neither a criminal nor anything like the worst behaved cricketer

Well that bolded part is debatable.

Nice of you to miss the point though.

The point is still the same though, as you well know. Don't punish him anymore because punishment doesn't have any effect. Is that what you're saying?

 

[social]

Well that wasn't the issue, but on that issue, be ****ed with him - he's not that good a player that he can expect the rest of the world to bend itself to accomodate him. And he's turning into a pathetic joke of a barmat of a soon-to-be ex-cricketer at this rate. It's not as if plenty of people haven't already been prepared to try and help him out over the course of this process anyway.

Only thing that, in the long term, weakens the team, is allowing player's personal issues to lead to a decrease in the professionalism of the outfit. If that means that from time to time, players need to cop a punishment for screwing up, especially when at the same time he has lots of friends and supporters within the set-up trying to help him get himself right, then so be it. If a player is not smart/together enough to take that on the chin and straighten themselves out, then the team is, long term, better off without them.

Oh yeah, they really helped him when they sacked him!

Furthermore, notice how quickly they welcomed him back when they lost in India? As if he had time to sort himself out if he really did have a problem (even his friggin' doctor was quoted saying that the time was inadequate)

The Oz team management is self-serving and useless - basically, if they lived in the real world, they couldnt hold down a job

 

[social]

Well that bolded part is debatable.

Nice of you to miss the point though.

The point is still the same though, as you well know. Don't punish him anymore because punishment doesn't have any effect. Is that what you're saying?

Change the punishment

Management 101

 

[Matt79]

I agree, they shouldn't have welcomed him back so soon. Should definitely have suspended (which they did - as opposed to 'sacking' him).

 

[PhoenixFire]

Change the punishment

Management 101

But you originally implied he shouldn't be punished at all

 

[Matt79]

Change the punishment

Management 101

Well I'm intrigued. Do tell - what brilliant staff-management technique would you have used to straighten him out?

 

[Johnners]

For free managment advice, call 1800-SOCIAL. Yes that's right, 1800-568 485, or 1800-SOCIAL, call now!

 

[social]

In the WI, they singled himout and treated him like a kid (on the bus 5 minutes before it leaves and all that nonense) - it didnt work

In Darwin, they totally overreacted and threw him out - it may not have worked

In essence, they've tried the two extremes of the spectrum and there are plent of measures that lie in between