Slats4ever
International Vice-Captain
Every month without fail I pick up the latest Alpha from my newsagency. This month was even better as they compiled a list of Australia's top 101 sports stars of the last 30 years.
Some interesting stats which came from the list were 11% were cricket stars, 11% were AFL stars, 9% Rugby League, and 7% Rugby Union.
31% of stars came from NSW, 30% from QLD and 23% from Victoria. 84% were male and 16% female.
There was a lot of controversy about where Cathy Freeman was rated with one expert calling her easily the greatest sportsperson of the last 30 years. TBH that's hogwash in my opinion and her position of 6th I feel was about right, perhaps even closer towards 10th woulda been a better relfection. Baring in mind she's only ever won one Olympic gold medal and even then that was without arguably the best athlete in her discipline competing. I think there's been over 100 gold medal winners at the Olympics in Australia so why is she so different (Alpha readers agree with me with only 21% saying she should be higher and 54% saying she was lucky to make the top 10)
Here are some of the people I think were unlucky not to get a mention:
Glenn Boss (Makybe woulda made it if animals were included and Bossy is Makybe)
Liz Ellis (awesome netball player)
Jonny Warren (Our best soccer player for so long)
No doubt more will come to mind over time. There are also a few changes I would make to where people are on the list.
Stephen Bradbury came in at 98th... He should be up a little higher, about 80th. He was our first Winter gold medal winner.
Sarah Fitgerald came in at 97th.... 5 time squash world champion. Enough said.
Louise Sauvage came in at 75th... Nine paralympic golds and coming over such adversity. At least top 30 material.
The Woodies came in at 71st... After winning 11 Grand Slams and helping our Davis Cup so much deserve to be top 30.
Stephen Larkham came in at 70th... Way too high. Doesn't really deserve to be in top 101.
Michael Milton came in 58th... With 11 paralympic medals and heaps of world records should be at least top 40.
Lauren Jackson was 43rd... Best player in the WNBA. Should be way higher than 43rd. Top 20.
Alan Jones was 40th... Too high...
Peter Sterling 36th... Too high, there were so many greats from Parra in that era and he fed a lot off them. How he's higher than Alphie Langer I don't know.
Tom Carroll 25th... I don't really know the guy at all and in order to be in the top 25 your avg punter ought to know you. He should be about 90th.
Jeff Fenech 14th... Never quite could be classed an absolute champion of boxing and is probably about 50 spots too high.
Wayne Carey 4th... How he could nudge out people like Andrew Johns, and Allan Border defies belief. He was only good when Nth Melbourne were good and he totally fed off his team. Should be about 50 lower.
Ian Thorpe 3rd v. Greg Norman 2nd... Should be other way round.
Shane Warne got the top gong due to his spinning wizadry. It's great that one of our greatest cricketers who has drawn so much of the publics attention has been able to deal with it all and go on and be one of Wisden's 5 gtreatest players ever.
Some interesting stats which came from the list were 11% were cricket stars, 11% were AFL stars, 9% Rugby League, and 7% Rugby Union.
31% of stars came from NSW, 30% from QLD and 23% from Victoria. 84% were male and 16% female.
There was a lot of controversy about where Cathy Freeman was rated with one expert calling her easily the greatest sportsperson of the last 30 years. TBH that's hogwash in my opinion and her position of 6th I feel was about right, perhaps even closer towards 10th woulda been a better relfection. Baring in mind she's only ever won one Olympic gold medal and even then that was without arguably the best athlete in her discipline competing. I think there's been over 100 gold medal winners at the Olympics in Australia so why is she so different (Alpha readers agree with me with only 21% saying she should be higher and 54% saying she was lucky to make the top 10)
Here are some of the people I think were unlucky not to get a mention:
Glenn Boss (Makybe woulda made it if animals were included and Bossy is Makybe)
Liz Ellis (awesome netball player)
Jonny Warren (Our best soccer player for so long)
No doubt more will come to mind over time. There are also a few changes I would make to where people are on the list.
Stephen Bradbury came in at 98th... He should be up a little higher, about 80th. He was our first Winter gold medal winner.
Sarah Fitgerald came in at 97th.... 5 time squash world champion. Enough said.
Louise Sauvage came in at 75th... Nine paralympic golds and coming over such adversity. At least top 30 material.
The Woodies came in at 71st... After winning 11 Grand Slams and helping our Davis Cup so much deserve to be top 30.
Stephen Larkham came in at 70th... Way too high. Doesn't really deserve to be in top 101.
Michael Milton came in 58th... With 11 paralympic medals and heaps of world records should be at least top 40.
Lauren Jackson was 43rd... Best player in the WNBA. Should be way higher than 43rd. Top 20.
Alan Jones was 40th... Too high...
Peter Sterling 36th... Too high, there were so many greats from Parra in that era and he fed a lot off them. How he's higher than Alphie Langer I don't know.
Tom Carroll 25th... I don't really know the guy at all and in order to be in the top 25 your avg punter ought to know you. He should be about 90th.
Jeff Fenech 14th... Never quite could be classed an absolute champion of boxing and is probably about 50 spots too high.
Wayne Carey 4th... How he could nudge out people like Andrew Johns, and Allan Border defies belief. He was only good when Nth Melbourne were good and he totally fed off his team. Should be about 50 lower.
Ian Thorpe 3rd v. Greg Norman 2nd... Should be other way round.
Shane Warne got the top gong due to his spinning wizadry. It's great that one of our greatest cricketers who has drawn so much of the publics attention has been able to deal with it all and go on and be one of Wisden's 5 gtreatest players ever.
