Peter Roebuck

[pskov]

All those who are worried should go and read the Wisden almanack editorials. People have been bemoaning the imminent end of cricket for the last 100 years!

 

[Richard]

Predict something often enough and you'll get it right eventually.

 

[krkode]

WoW, had never even given a moment's thought to the idea that the cane was still legal in India, the US of A or anywhere else.

This was when I was going to school in India in the late-90s. I would think it's fairly illegal in the US!

Hmmm, maybe this is why my parents took me to India for my early schooling...

 

[four_or_six]

Good lord, I have no memory of a time when the cane was legal. Not entirely sure when it was banned, but it may have been before my birth.

I remember one of my classmates getting caned at a regular state primary school aged about six. That would be 1987 I think.

 

[Langeveldt]

There were several kids I believe, and they were South Africans, Afrikaners to be precise. Roebuck used the defence that they would be used to such treatment coming from their background. But how does that explain why he liked to look at the marks he'd made on them? And even if you leave that fairly disturbing behaviour aside, he broke the law. I am one of those people who believe hitting children does not make them behave any better. Some, indeed most of the biggest ****-ups I knew as a kid came from homes where corporal punishment was common practice. In any case, whether corporal punishment is acceptable or not hardly matters, the fact that Roebuck suffered for utilising it is, because it explains why he acts the way does about his homeland.

Beating total strangers up isn't an integral part of Afrikaans culture, not since 1994 anyway

 

[NZTailender]

Haha, geeze, Roebuck sounds like a sadist.

 

[Burgey]

WoW, had never even given a moment's thought to the idea that the cane was still legal in India, the US of A or anywhere else.

They're bringing it back for over-use of the and smileys, TBH.

 

[Uppercut]

I've always enjoyed his writing but I wouldn't let him within a bull's roar of any child of mine


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1359991/Ex-Somerset-captain-caned-young-cricketers.html

That's pretty horrific. Can't believe it hasn't got a bigger profile than it does.

 

[Langeveldt]

I've always enjoyed his writing but I wouldn't let him within a bull's roar of any child of mine


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1359991/Ex-Somerset-captain-caned-young-cricketers.html

Wow, that happened about 5km from my parents house, against a Cricket team I used to play against.. Wonder if I know the guys involved? Guess I should have looked out for any lads reluctant to take a seat at the bar..

 

[bagapath]

Haha, geeze, Roebuck sounds like a sadist.

and a closet gay

 

[Precambrian]

WoW, had never even given a moment's thought to the idea that the cane was still legal in India, the US of A or anywhere else.

Not nowadays in my state. The student federation here is so strong that even a rebuke can land the teacher in big trouble. :-/

 

[fredfertang]

In 1986 Roebuck and Ian Botham put their names to a book called "It sort of clicks" - I wonder which of them regrets it more

 

[_Ed_]

His new article about NZ took several minutes of my life I'd now like to have back.

http://content-nz.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/380440.html

 

[honestbharani]

He knows how to write a nice articles from a literary aesthetic PoV but honestly, he changes his opinions faster than the politicians in India change alliances and I generally don't give a damn to most of his opinions. He tries to write almost in a "I watched Sehwag and Ponting grow up" like first person familiarity thingy and it just makes me want to cringe because most of the time he doesn't know **** on what he is writing about.

 

[bagapath]

this is one of my all-time favorites...

http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/377000.html

 

[Richard]

I remember one of my classmates getting caned at a regular state primary school aged about six. That would be 1987 I think.

Jeez, looks like I only escaped it by a couple of years!

 

[Precambrian]

Cricinfo - The road out of hell

Not one of his good works. In fact, I snoozed off in the middle.

 

[Langeveldt]

Cricinfo - Time to put the boot in

Could have been such a good article, but no Roebuck was writing it. Here we are trying to celebrate arguable the best South African side of all time, and all Roebuck wants to talk about are Whites, Blacks, Coloured people, Indians and Rooinekke.. I imagine being with him must be like taking a black girlfriend back to a conservative set of grandparents

 

[silentstriker]

He is very complimentary towards SA and what they've accomplished. Why didn't you like it?

 

[Evermind]

He is very complimentary towards SA and what they've accomplished. Why didn't you like it?

Because everything Roebuck writes is laden with pretentious socio-political overtones and an insufferable sense of self-importance. He seems to write like a war journalist. It's just a bloody sport. "The Road out of Hell"? It's not the holocaust survivors we're talking about, FFS, it's just a game of cricket. It's annoying hyperbole.